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Next step, start to place and fasten the various ground elements, including grass tufts, bushes, logs, micro roots, etc. The grass tufts were created by placing a bunch of dots of white glue mixed with brown paint onto wax paper and then applying a mix of static grass to each. Allow to dry and...

The trees and bushes will consist of a combination of scratch built and purchased items. The items that were purchased came from Dioramapresepe out of Italy. They have their own website, but I just purchased off of Etsy https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Dioramapresepe. For the deciduous trees we...

Light rippling has been added near the rocky areas. The intent is this stream is very slow flowing and meandering with a little turbulence near disruptive and shallow elements. We had used masking tape to seal the ends of the creek prior to pouring the resin but on one side we...

Pour continued Once this process is finished we covered the project with card board to prevent airborne contaminants including cats off of it. We used plastic cups to space the covering from the board. The cure time is 12 hours. The next morning reveal.

Pour continued We were very close to the calculation for the amount of resin (~2L). As you can see, due to the viscosity of the resin, the surface tension causes issues where it comes into contact with the shore. This is dealt with by breaking the surface tension with toothpicks...

The moment we’ve been waiting for, the main creek resin pour. If this goes south there won’t be any way to save the project. We started by roughly calculating the amount of resin that would be required for the ¼” pour. It should be around 2L (64 fl oz). Next, we setup a production line and...

To test ripples and waves we tried two products, Mod Podge (Gloss) and Woodland Scenics Water Ripples. For the Mod Podge we tried right out of the jar and thinned. We used an empty air brush to blow things around. A variety of brushes were used to dab on the Woodland Scenics product...

Next up, the E-Z Water. Essentially this is a thermoplastic that you are supposed to heat up until it’s thin enough to pour. You can’t add acrylic paint to it so coloring isn’t as easy as the resin. It has a yellowish tint before even starting and they warn you not to overheat it. OK, so...

Next up, another version with more green tint. Also this channel has rocks to see how it pours around those elements. The meniscus is always a challenge in miniature. Some TLC with a tooth pick around the edges helped to reduce the worst of this effect.

Testing water mediums. The two options being tested are crafting resin vs. Woodland Scenics E-Z Water. The results were interesting. First up the resin. We wanted to add a greenish tint so we mixed in a little acrylic paint. This was already a con for the E-Z Water as you can’t simply mix in...

The contouring of the dirt is largely complete. Touch ups were required due to shrinkage of the Celluclay. We used a Tamiya textured “dirt” paint for the touch ups to add interest and modulation. Note the drift wood we added to various spots to add additional interest. We’ll add some additional...

After everything dried the result was much better than the first try. Next, I gave the creek a couple simulated deeper channels by hitting the creek bed with darker areas using the airbrush. In the meantime we starting testing combinations of various ground cover. I primarily wanted...

It turns out the idea of mixing in the color with the Celluclay was a bad idea. The clay sucked the saturation right out of the color so that it faded dramatically. Normally this would mean we simply need to repaint the affected sections. Our problem was the embedded rocks which had to be...

Starting to color the ground. We wanted to add embedded rocks, so we mixed Celluclay with the paint we use for the dirt. We used a variety of different size gravel and sand to simulate boulders and stones. The creek bed is going to be quite rocky so we started to place some of the...

Next, we started to add some contouring. We wanted some sand/gravel bars in a few spots in the creek. The creek is supposed to be very shallow. Adding some larger boulders. Next, we started contouring the creek banks. Note the undercut in places. We created a test...

Hi all, This winter's project is an Autumn creek crossing scene. This is our first foray into a scene featuring water so we're looking forward to learning new things. To start we used a 40" x 48" piece of 3/4" plywood. While this base is thick and heavy it provides sufficient stiffness to...

Replenishing supplies

Replenishing supplies

As noted, I try to hide them under or behind material if possible. Failing that, I simply paint them out in photoshop and add a little shadow. My technique has evolved over time.

I had my eye on the winter variant but never pulled the trigger. It would be fun to stage that scene.