What else do I need?

Modeling Subjects Dioramas
1

Went to a couple of art shops in the city today and got some pastels for weathering and paint for dio’ terrain colour. I was going to get celluclay but the two art shops plus a crafts store didn’t know what I was talking about. WTF? Anyway, they showed me some other stuff similar to it (as far as they knew what I was on about), and some of it was plaster of paris, Mix It (a powdery plaster kind of mache), and this other stuff, I forget what it was called but in the bag it looked like darkish grey wool and it was also a mache type material that you water down and then you cover it with newspaper.

I have never seen celluclay naked in the flesh before. Has anyone got pictures of it packaged?

I also went looking for a picture frame but didn’t make a decision, white glue, grass and foliage which I can get tomorrow at the LHS, some type of rubble, maybe a tree out of some household materials and I think that’s all I need to get, but I know there’s gonna be more. Ohh, and something to seal the picture frame. Can anyone tell me what else I need?

If I can’t get celluclay what is the best sub or resort?

What will a single block of sculptey stuff make me size wise?

Cheers in advance.

2

You must have Michael’s around. That’s where I bought my last brick. It also comes in gray.

3

According to the location under his name, it says he’s from down under. For some reason I remember reading that it’s hard to get a lot of things in Australia due to tight customs and crazy shipping costs. Is Michael’s an international chain, or is it just here in the states?

Edit: did some snooping on their website, and Michael’s craft stores can only be found in Canada and the lower 48. Guess you’re out of luck there. Maybe ebay, or you could get someone from here to help you out. Good luck.

4

I’d bet that the stuff you got, if papaer mace based, is probably very similar to what we’re getting here. The key is to experiment. Who knows?.. you might have something that makes us Yanks jealous.

Check out this guy: really cool guy, and ships worldwide.

History On Display

Steve

5

Whether or not things in the US are available in Oz, Australians do build dioramas, so I suggest getting in touch with the local modelling groups and seeing what local products they use.

If you know what effect you are trying to achieve but can’t find a brand name product…improvise!

6

I’m sure you could find a recipe for paper mache somewheres online mate. My mom used to make it for us when we were kids. Good luck man!

7

Thanks for your input fellas. We don’t have Michael’s or dixie art or anything as big or good as you guys. It is very hard to find stuff over here and I don’t have a credit card or internet banking so for now I really need to buy from physical shops.[:(!]

I found out a couple of days ago that there’s a model club, wait for it… 500 metres down the road from me in a big social hall. Every first tuesday of the month, 7.30 to 9.30. Just a small problem, I live 45 minutes away during the week and I’m at work on tuesdays.

I would try out some of the stuff that I saw at the art stores but if you don’t know what I’m talking about then you won’t be able to guide me on how to apply it to a model diorama. I think Plaster of Paris is my best resort at the moment.

Is celluclay a powdery substance that you drench and sculpt? Is there much more to it than that? How and when do you apply the paint? And how do you bond it to styrofoam? Do you just sculpt it while it’s on the styrofoam and let it dry?

Does anyone have a clue on what I’m talking about when I say darkish grey wool?

Cheers

8

It sounds like you have some sort of paper-mache’ product. Regardless of what type of modeling product you have, if it can be mixed with water, formed into a mass of your desired shape and it dries hard, you can build a diorama out of it. Before you start mixing up bucket load of this stuff, you need to build up a substructure first. This allows you to pre-shape the desired contours of your groundwork to roughly approximate the finished shape and saves you from having to expend more of your modeling compound than you need to use. The cheapest, easiest and most widely available material to use for your substructure is styrofoam. Blocks, sheets, packing material out of electronics boxes, busted-up ice chests…it’s all good. It can be cut with knives, saws, power tools, hot-wire cutters, any number of ways, and glued together to form the rough shape of your diorama. Once you have this step completed, then cover this with your modeling compound, sculpt and texture it as desired and let dry. Then you can begin painting it, adding sand, dirt, rocks, vegetation, etc.

Here is a diorama I am working on now;

The yellow foam blobs, (in this case they are urethane foam) will be covered with rubble. This saves me from having to make tons of rubble to form the size of piles I want. The sidewalks are made from styrofoam sheet, cut to size, covered with spackle paste, textured then painted.

Here it is, about half way through the rubble process;

I still have a long way to go. Beams, boards, pipes, wiring, broken glass, litter, household objects, etc, still need to be added to the rubble. Figures, finishing the sidewalk, and a whole lot more all come later. Nothing is glued down yet but the rubble. I can still remove the building, roof and vehicle.

9

Yep. Got plenty of the styrofoam for now. Although, I need to find some of that sheet stuff. Thanks for the detailed post, Kykeon.

Is it possible to drop artists acrylic paint into plaster of paris with or without the bandages and get it all coloured before it dries, or can you only brush it when it’s dry?

Another thing, no one in Adelaide seems to know what celluclay is. I ask them for it and they just look at me and say what-u-clay. A chick at one of the art shops said that celluclay is probably the American name for it and that over here (provided it exists over here retail) it’s probably called something completely different. Anyone know?

What can I use to seal wooden picture frames?

One more question for now. How do you bond everything (i.e. buildings; trees; figures etc) into your sculptured base? I’m assuming that you glue or tape it all down onto the styrofoam or whatever you’re using and then drown it in the mache.

Cheers

10

This is the Mix-It stuff I was taliking about before. This one is called sculpt it but The bow art is, other than the name, 100% identical.

11

That was my first attempt at posting a picture and it obviously didn’t work.

Any help?

Cheers

12

G’Day mate

I’m in Adelaide too and have had the same problem in finding stuff, but i was rummaging around Zollo Art in Salisbury a couple of weeks ago and GASP!!! found actual Celluclay on the shelf. Needless to say i bought the one packet they had and have used about a third of it already. Its great stuff and cost me A$18 or so.

I asked the guy on the counter and he said they get it in regularly so you might want to give them a call.

Cheers

13

Excellent. Thank you Heinz. What else do you use for bases.

Where abouts are you in Adelaide? Doyou live in Salisbury or somewhere else? I’m in glandore. There’s another guy, Lighthorseman, who lives in the northern 'burbs and just joined the other day.

14

I also use plaster bandage for terrain bases (available from most places but SA Hobbies on Pulteney St definitely has it). For brickwork i use air drying clay (available at Bunnings).

All the Woodlands Scenics stuff is available if you look around enough. There’s a model railway shop on Main North Road at Enfield (Junction Models) that has a reasonable range but they are expensive. Hobby Habit is across the road, their range is smaller but they are cheaper.

I use 3mm hardboard for the actual base of a large diorama (600x600mm or so) and a lot of balsa wood.

I live out towards the Northern suburbs but not as far as Salisbury. The model club is too far for me to drive to regularly and i get the impression they are mainly aircraft and auto buffs judging by the model expo entries each year. I’m exclusively interested in Armour. If you visit them let me know what you think.

Cheers

15

There is another Hobby Habit on Daws road, Melrose park. Three times the size of the one at enfield. Huge range and plenty of armour too choose from. And it’s only about two or three years old. It’s immaculate inside and out.

I found out just last week that there is a monthly model club just half a k away from my house. But it’s on every first tuesday of the month from 7.30 to 9.30. (TOMORROW NIGHT) But I work on tuesdays and Live up in the hills during the week. I’ve seen a lot of photos on the internet of model clubs and a lot of it is armour because there’s plenty of room for detail and it’s the biggest category for diorama’s. I think you should take the drive to get there if it’s the same one you’re thinking of.

One last thing, SA hobby’s is good but the service is poorer, the range is not as good and there a bit expensive.

Catchup later.

16

I went to the art shop today and got some Das airdrying clay and a kilo of modroc bandage. Now I need a picture frame with something to seal it, a final plan on a dio’ scene white glue and vegetation.

17

I don’t know if they carry Woodland Scenics products where you are, but I stopped using Celluclay years ago and swapped it for WS ‘Mold-a-Scene’ Plaster.

Not really plaster, when mixed it has the consistency of oatmeal. It dries much faster than Celluclay, doesn’t shrink like Celluclay can, and can be carved and painted once it has dried.

I used it to make the ‘waves’ of sand on this piece:

I’d still cover it with your preferred earth/sand type material, but that’s not always necessary.

Hoping to have helped - JC