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Dioramas
Do you love dioramas & vignettes? We sure do.
All about dat base
berwickj
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Fyn, Denmark
Joined: April 16, 2007
KitMaker: 352 posts
Armorama: 342 posts
Posted: Monday, November 24, 2014 - 11:44 PM UTC
Hi Guys,

I'm trying out a number of new (for me) techniques on this base. The base is built from the kind of foam blocks you put into the bottom of a vase. They are easy to mould and quite inexpensive. Any comments are welcome.

John

























bbailey_33
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Florida, United States
Joined: May 10, 2005
KitMaker: 108 posts
Armorama: 56 posts
Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 12:42 AM UTC
Very nice, what type of paints were used?
wondering how much "soak" that foam has... how many coats of paint?
I like the small drain pipe too.
griffontech
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Canada
Joined: November 21, 2007
KitMaker: 237 posts
Armorama: 231 posts
Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 12:55 AM UTC
Holy crow! All that from green foam? I have used the foam as a simple base and used other materials to build up the walls and such. I never thought of actually embossing the foam. Excellent work.
berwickj
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Fyn, Denmark
Joined: April 16, 2007
KitMaker: 352 posts
Armorama: 342 posts
Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 01:22 AM UTC
Thanks guys.
I gave the whole base a base coat of black from a spray can. That sealed the whole thing. I used some cheap raw umber mixed with plaster of paris for the groundwork. Everything else is Vallejo acrylic paint and MIG pigments.
I painted the wall and paving stones German Grey to start with. I then painted some of them in different colours; red, tan yellow, green etc. (it looked horrible), but then a thin wash of German Grey again and pigments took the garishness out of the colours, and blended them together. I still need to paint the "crater". The spout was made from the plastic insulation from thin electrical wiring. The water from the spout is stretched clear sprue, and the water in the gutter is Vallejo "still water". The gutter itself is just a straw cut in half.
I got the idea of embossing the foam from Alexander Surzhenko at Master Box.
I'm not putting the M8 on the base. I need something smaller, any ideas? A jeep maybe? It doesn't have to be WWII.

John
jrutman
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Pennsylvania, United States
Joined: April 10, 2011
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 01:52 AM UTC
There you go guys!!! Doesn't have to be expensive to look good!
J
Namabiiru
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
MODEL SHIPWRIGHTS
#399
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Rhode Island, United States
Joined: March 05, 2014
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 05:20 AM UTC
That is really impressive work! One comment: It seems to me there should probably be a heavy stripe of algae running down the wall beneath the drain pipe, as well as on the end and underside of the drine pipe.

justsendit
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Colorado, United States
Joined: February 24, 2014
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 05:48 AM UTC
Really nice! ... Bookmarked it for future reference.

—mike
1stjaeger
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Wien, Austria
Joined: May 20, 2011
KitMaker: 1,744 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 04:18 PM UTC

Hi John,

great show on that little base!! Well done indeed!!

I like your palette very much!!

Regarding the "right" vehicle, you actually have a wide choice here..! Have you ever thought of putting figures on it???

IMHO the wall is almost too nice to be hidden completely by a vehicle!!

Cheers

Romain



callmehobbes
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England - North West, United Kingdom
Joined: April 17, 2005
KitMaker: 751 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 07:18 PM UTC
Hi,
What was the turquoise foam you used for the engraved sections? Was this also florists foam block? I think I might need to give this a try. Thakns for sharing.
Giovanni1508
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Napoli, Italy
Joined: April 17, 2014
KitMaker: 652 posts
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 07:22 PM UTC

Hi John,

I like this. Very simple but good result. I'll keep for reference. Thanks !

Giovanni
berwickj
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Fyn, Denmark
Joined: April 16, 2007
KitMaker: 352 posts
Armorama: 342 posts
Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 10:49 PM UTC
Thanks for the compliments guys!!

Mark, you're quite right, some algae around the spout is now on my list of things to do!

Romain, I was afraid someone would say "figures". I'm not so good at them, but I guess I could give it a shot

Paul, the foam is some kind of styrofoam used under flooring.



It cost around £6
The text reads:
Thickness: 3mm
Size: 1000mm * 500mm
Contents: 10 sheets
Area: 5 square meters (about 55 sq feet)

I bought the pack a few years back, and I'm still on the first sheet

John
1stjaeger
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Wien, Austria
Joined: May 20, 2011
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Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 11:53 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi,
What was the turquoise foam you used for the engraved sections? Was this also florists foam block? I think I might need to give this a try. Thakns for sharing.




It's more or less the same material we are using for our works. Over here it's called "Selitron", but that's a brand name!
As John said, it's used as sound insulation under wood flooring f.ex.

Cheers

Romain

jrutman
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Pennsylvania, United States
Joined: April 10, 2011
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Posted: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - 12:58 AM UTC
I would also recommend figures. If you haven't done many you won't get better at them unless you keep building them!!!
Build,make mistakes,repeat,etc etc.
J
berwickj
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Fyn, Denmark
Joined: April 16, 2007
KitMaker: 352 posts
Armorama: 342 posts
Posted: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - 01:18 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I would also recommend figures. If you haven't done many you won't get better at them unless you keep building them!!!
Build,make mistakes,repeat,etc etc.
J



I know, it's my bad conscience. I keep putting it off, like I used to be afraid of doing bases. But that worked out ok, so maybe this is the push I needed to get back to figures.
Cheers!

John
Tiger_213
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California, United States
Joined: August 10, 2012
KitMaker: 1,510 posts
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Posted: Wednesday, November 26, 2014 - 01:21 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I would also recommend figures. If you haven't done many you won't get better at them unless you keep building them!!!
Build,make mistakes,repeat,etc etc.
J



Not everyone can build awesome figures, Jerry.

The base looks awesome; it's almost a shame that the M8 obscures most of it.

Looking forward to seeing any final changes you make.
 _GOTOTOP