Time to break away from the standard plaster ground works. This product brings latex rubber to the market. This is a set of latex street and sidewalk sections that will give you great new options in building urban dioramas.
What you get Kancali brings us these great street sections, see their related link.
When you order the Variety pack you get five sheets of latex; included are 1. a herringbone brick street section, 2. an oval brick street section, 3. a basic street section, 4, a street section with a detail, and 5. a sheet with two side walk sections. You Also get a nice instruction sheet with a preparation guide, use suggestions, and painting tips. It it shipped well and is professionally packaged.
If you\\\'ve never used latex ground works the first time you open these will make you question your diorama building techniques. There is no patching of broken pieces from shipping, no sanding edges, no adding volume to your ground work to elevate for the extra bulk of plaster. This stuff is well made, good quality strong latex is used. Kancali also embed threads into the rubber to give it extra strength and to eliminate any stretching.
Latex has its advantages. If your diorama has uneven ground work (by design) you can easily apply this flexible sheet over your prepared ground with ease. Fitting it is very easy because it flexes. Test fitting by folding or easily wedging flexible material into tight spots is easier with latex than plaster. Cutting it to fit is a breeze, just use scissors.
Street sections The street sections are very nice, the bricks are uniform in size and uniform in layout. There are no gaps or \\\'odd\\\' shapes.The size of the sheets is very good (5.5\\
Detail sections In the variety pack you get one oval street section that has a nice detail that could have a street light, fountain, or tree placed in it.Again, the same uniformity is found in this section. You can integrate this section with any of the other by simply cutting matching interlocking edges.The long street section with detail can be used for a tree, lamp, or sewer manhole. In each of these you can cut out the \\\'blank\\\' detail section for added realism. You can build on top of it and add extra detail material depending on your application.The sidewalk sections are nice too. They come with a nice edging molded on. One is a straight section, the second one has a nice rounded corner for an intersection application. The size and uniformity of the mold are very nice.
Painting/Finishing Finishing these is easy to do. The latex can be painted in just about any hobby paint on the market. Kancali gives you a sheet with suggested finishing ideas which is great for modelers who are new to dioramas or latex. You can follow their suggestions or use your own tried and true methods. I finished mine with a base coat of hobby paints, then various coats of color to give a unique look to various bricks. I also put down a wash of dark brown in the gaps. All of this went very well, I had no problems what-so-ever. Lastly I applied two coats of pastels, one gray one dark brown.
SUMMARY
Time to break away from the standard plaster ground works. Latex is the new road surface.
About Scott Lodder (slodder) FROM: NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
I modeled when I was a teenager. College, family and work stopped me for a while. Then I picked it back up after about 12 years off. My main focus is dioramas. I like the complete artistic method of story telling. Dioramas involve so many aspects of modeling and I enjoy getting involved in the ...
