Hello everybody,
A couple of days ago, I posted a thread down in the techniques forum entitled “New Diorama Construction Material” where I explained that I was using sheetrock to construct my first diorama. As promised, here’s the first part of my project where I show how I’ve incorporated sheetrock as a construction material.
When I decided to build a full-blown diorama, I probably could have selected a simple, flat scene with a vehicle, a couple simple figures, and perhaps a few bushes and rocks. No, not me! I had to decide to build something just a bit more complex - at least for a diorama rookie like me. Here’s what I had to start with:
A simple, inverted picture frame will serve as the base for my creation. I’ll have more on how I am going to finish this in a future post.
Now that I know the size of my dio, I spent a couple of days coming up with a layout on paper. This was not as simple as it seems because I am attempting to represent an actual location: The Temple of Hera and Exedra of Irodou Atikou at Olympia, Greece.
I know what your saying…“What!?!”
Trust me, it’s not the name as much as the location that appeals to me. My intent is to have a couple German vehicles parked at the temple with the soldiers taking a break from the war to enjoy the historic setting.
So, back to the project. After finalizing my layout, I started cutting sheetrock (see the other thread) and making sure the scale of everything would work out.
I cut a full size piece of sheetrock and glued it to an 1/8" thick piece of backer board to provide stability. I then put the two pieces of sheetrock representing the corner of the Temple of Hera in the left foreground. I glued florists foam to the rear section of the base and carved it out using a razer saw and x-acto knife to build up the topography of the location.
Next came the process of cutting, carving, and gluing all the sheetrock that would represent the massive amount of stonework at this location. Simple white glue works extremely well because the sheetrock is porous and will actually absorb some of the glue before it dries.
Once all the sheetrock was in place - a four day project itself - I mixed up Sculptamold and filled in all the ground areas. I prefer Scultamold over Celluclay for groundwork because it does not shrink and dries much quicker. All of the columns are resin products from Armand P. Bayardi, who does some of the best resin work in the business (IMHO).
That’s where I am at the moment. It’s now time to start the painting and detailing process. I’m a little apprehensive at this point because I’m not too sure of my ability to make this dio look as good as I want it to be.
I may take a break from the base and start working on the two vehicles and the figures I’ll be using. However it turns out, I’ll post some update pictures down the road.
As usual comments, suggestions, and questions are more than welcome.
Enjoy your modeling…