scratch building for your dioramas (1 Viewer)

[Mitch]

Guys...

Have been playing with air dry clay this weekend building various bits for a diorama in the desert which, I am doing for a collector. Thought I would post the start to finish for those who have an interest in dio work. It also saves a fortune building this stuff yourself than having to buy all this pre made.

Thought I would post a few pics of some of the pieces. Sandbags, large stones from crypts temples or other large buildings and plenty of smaller stone work and, a desert well based on photo's and K&C's own release.

These are all moulded from air dry clay and textured and shaped with craft knives and a variety of tools including stiple brushes. Most now need weathering and this will be the next step which will be done in the next day or so. Have moulded four hundered bricks and sandbags which, all need weathering and painting with pigments.
Mitch

 

[marco55]

I always enjoy the learning from different people here.
Mark

 

[wadepat]

Hi Mitch,

Thanks for posting these photos and for allowing us to watch your progress as you weather and paint the items. I will follow this thread with the greatest of interest!

Warmest personal regards,

Pat

 

[Mitch]

Thanks for the kind words
Mitch

 

[Obee]

Mitch,

thanks for showing us your work..... what is the name of the product you use? I'm looking at doing some similar work, but don't know what to use.

thanks,

John

 

[Wraith]

Mitch, that's shaping up pretty nicely. Look forward to the progression.

 

[Mitch]

Obee...
I used a clay called Newclay (never used it before) from a local art shop its reinforced clay with fibre glass I believe, so, its very strong, and can be used for all sorts of things. Quite cheap also at £11.00 for 4.5 kilo's (www.newclay.co.uk) suppose you can get similar from any good source.

Hope it helps
Mitch

 

[Mitch]

scratch building a desert dio

Guys...

Some more pics of some of the ground work to go into the desert dio. The water well is now weathered as you can see and, just awaiting the insertion of metal poles for the bucket. I am going to do a cross section rather than a rounded pole. I will post that when its complet but, I am still doing the bucket.

The other pics show sections just been built and drying and some wall sections which have been weathered and, some waiting to be weathered after having the first coat of sand applied. More sandbags have been done as is the pillars of stone which, will be at the forefront of the dio.

I have used vallejo acylics and mig pigments for the colour.

Hope they are easy to see and will post some more in the near future
Mitch

 

[uksubs]

Re: scratch building a desert dio

Should look great when it finished ,

 

[aujj65]

Re: scratch building a desert dio

Mitch,

These look great! .....I cheated and got the K&C version.

Jeff

 

[thebritfarmer]

Looking good Mitch, I merged both of your posts together to keep everything cohesive.

Looking forward to following along. I may have a stab at making a well for my Indian Durbar.

 

[Mitch]

Thanks for that. You should as doing it in this medium means its going to cost pennies at most and, you get the enjoyment of making it so, IMO its a win win situation
Mitch

 

[thales41]

I cheated (got the K&C) also but this is shaping up quite nicely. Looking forward to seeing the final issue!

Cheers

 

[bromhead]

well done,,the art of scratch

 

[LiQuiDor515]

Hi Mitch, how is the project progressing? Thank you for sharing such a nice run through.

meow

 

[Mitch]

Thanks for asking to be honest I have finished the desert scene and its with the collector I have some pics but, I have not had time to get them sorted as I have been away for christmas and have five others on the go including the Malmedy one.

I will get some stuff put up soon for those interested
Mitch

 

[theBaron]

Hey, Mitch, that's some excellent work, well done! You've got some really nice looking blocks and stones, those are perfect for desert but also Ancient dios. Depending on how you paint them, they can pass for stone blocks in locations around the world and from ancient times up to the present.

We'll have you sculpting figures in no time

Prost!
Brad

 

[Mitch]

Baron..

Thanks I know my limits and don't think I could ever do figures which, is a shame but, I think that takes real skill. I was able to do the moulds and get some plaster figures for the malmedy scene but, that was really a cheat way to do them
Mitch

 

[PJDeluhery]

Great work, Mitch! I really like your "modular" approach to the stones. This will pay dividends in added realism when you're finished. Hope you'll share the finished product with us when time permits.

 

[theBaron]

Hey, Mitch, give it a whirl! You never know until you try, and even if you're not happy with the results, I think you learn more about skills that are part of modeling in a broader sense. You might find that you couldn't sculpt a face, but you might start using another type of putty or clay, for example.

John Paxton Sherriff wrote an excellent book on sculpting toy soldiers, "Modelling Toy Soldiers". I have a copy in my library, and I recommend it. And of course, he wrote from the perspective of someone producing a toy soldier such as we collect, and not necessarily an Andrea or Pegaso-style miniature.

Prost!
Brad