I’m fairly new to the dio scene, having built only 3 of them, one of which is worth actually looking at 
Along the way, I’ve found a great (read: cheap) way of making groundwork and fake grass.
For groundwork, I collect earth from my backyard, allow it to dry throughly, grind it up, then sift through it, so I’m only left with a very fine dust. If you wish, you could add small pebbles, sand, etc for texture. In any case, I’ll make a 50/50 (you can experiment with other ratios) mix of water and white glue, then mix this with the dust to effectively create mud. You can spread this and paint when dry, or just leave as is. Once dry, the glue keeps the earth bound together and hard.
Also, for fake grass, I’ll just go to a Home Depot and get a garbage bag full of sawdust (they’ll give it to you for free). Then you can mix this with paint and water to dye it. It takes forever to dry out, but the resulting ‘grass’ works great.
Just thought I’d share my ideas on this.
Thanks for sharing the tip zokissima. Good luck on future dio builds.
mark956
That’s a neat trick. Thanks for sharing.
Neat tricks. Thanks for sharing the good ideas.
Thanks for the tips… I never thought of sawdust!
Regards, Dan
God ideas, a couple of more things, depending on how much u need u can dye sawdust with food coloring it dries much faster…also try looking for dioarama supplies in the model railroad setion of your hobby store, most of the stuff is perfect as is for 1/72 or 1/76 and much of it can be easily modified for 1/35 scale… Static grass is another great product for grass in larger scales and its really not expensive considering how much u get ,it will last a loooong time!
Thanks
Hey great idea for all that sawdust I make doing my other hobby, woodworking! Whoo hoo! Thanks!
hey would taht mud thing work for snow???
I have no idea. I would not think so. The results I got replicated ACTUAL earth, as it looks in real life. I’ve never even attempted snow. But it’s a really good question. I’d love it if someone out there could post a few tips on replicating snow covered earth.
What I suggest tho is using the mud as actual earth and then using whatever for snow over it. I think it would give a really realistic result.
I will try and post some pics of snow covered terrain soon. I am building a retreat from Chosin dio now and have several Korea era figs with snow bases. I have tried many things , plaster, sugar, flour and paint…My best results have been with the woodland scenics snow (fairly new), it looks right from 1/72 thru 1/32 and is easy to apply, I do the groundwork 1st and then apply my ‘snow’, melted areas can be simulated with envirotex or epoxy or as FSM noted Future… For ground covered complete with snow I use uncolored white plaster then sprinkle on the snow for depth and relief…
Good luck
Sounds good. I’d love to see some pics when you have a chance to post them
What do yall use for your dio bases? I use a piece of wood for the hard base and then i use dry floral foam blocks. I piece the foam blocks together with white glue and once its dry i begin to carve out my initial landscape. I like using the green floral foam blocks because they are very easy to cut and manipulate, its strong, and its only $1.98 for 6 big blocks of the stuff.
The construction of my dio base is going to be a mahogany frame with the inside being the two inch foam insuatiion used in building houses[:)]
I have found that when using it as a base if you are using figures you can remove the base of the figure and glue a pin to one or both of the feet and just stick it in the foam. Any other small items can be mounted the same way. It looks more realistic.[^]
Another thing is multiple layers of the foam can be glued to gether and sculpted.
The only drawback to the foam is you have to be careful on the type of paint and glue you use as some of it will melt the foam.[xx(]
Have fun,[:D]
Richard
I use any kind of wooden board that I can find as a baseboard, then construct the landscape using one inch thick insulation foam, as I find the smaller size easy to manage. I’ve actually wanted to try floral foam blocks, as they do indeed look really easy to carve, so I’ll have to try to get some. I assume places like Michaels, etc, sell them?
See i’ve never thought of using insulation foam. Thats cool , now i’ve got to try that too. Yes, any Michaels should have the floral blocks.
Thanks.[:D]
Regardiing the floral blocks.
I have tried the green floral blocks and found that initially the seemed good but they don’t have much longivity[banghead] They are soft and tend to crumble quite easily[censored]
If you use the white foam found there for crafts it works quite well[:D]
Richard
Gotta Dio at the moment couple of bits of ply (1mtr x 500mm in total) Bout 2 ft x 1/2 for you guys. Using shaped peices of masonite( any thin ply etc will do) layered in contours cover with plastering tape, plastered, then a layer of coloured tile grout ( yep bathrooms and the like ) finished by dabing a large ( by modelling standard anyway)paint brush when touch dry add scenic etc…different grouts-different scenes…or for snow possibly baking soda in some glue mix. Try the grout on a test peice…best of luckl!!