So I’m puttin together some dioramas…typical ww2 stuff. I’m looking for rubble ideas. I bought a rubble pack from one company, and It wasn’t near the quality I was looking for. The bricks were just chunks of wood painted bright red, and pebbles, and twisted wire, which apparently was supposed to be barbed wire…I dunno, go figure.
I was kinda trying to avoid cutting each brick by scratch, or mold them all…and figuiring out how to make barbed wire realilistically. I’ve got down all the “rocks” and “boards” and stuff like that…but what I’m looking more towards is bricks, wire…etc, and how to mass produce that stuff.
So, what are some cool things you put in your dioramas? Any “wouldn’t think that would work” stuff? Original ideas…they help me get thinking. I love finding things around the house, and at the hardware store or somewhere that can be put into a diorama!..makes it a great challenge!!
I would tell you but then I would have to kill you. [:D][:-,]
Oh…you ment for a diorama. I have no suggestions unless you want various sized rocks. Cast some Plaster of Paris in a box and whack it with a hammer after it cures (or just get some limestone and whack it).
Don’t forget the saftey glasses.
Cat litter (clean!) does marvel at replicating rubble…
For barbed wire, get some thin metal wire, put some superglue on it and run it through metal shavings (I use my mini-drill bits against left-over bits from metal kits to get fine shavings for my 1/72 dioramas)
As far as barbed wire goes I have an idea I used in one of my dio´s a long time ago.
In 1:35.
Take three copper wires, preferably pretty thin. Twist them together and tie knots along the long thread you now have. Then, cut a few of the wires within the knot and fold them outwards. Be sure not to cut it so much as it breaks though.
You should now have something very similar to barbed wire.
I used a lighter to slightly burn the copper wire as well. I found that paint sticks to it better that way.
Kitty litter…ugh, we’ve got enough of that around. Never thought of it that way though (I hope that means I’m normal)…but that sounds like it would work perfect!
I usually use bits of old bricks and cement as rubble. Maybe some rusty old pieces of metal, small pieces of wood etc. All in suitable sizes of course.
For rubble simulating bricks: Get an old clay pot or something and hammer it to death!
For rubble simultatinf concrete: You can get a piece of conrete block (used in construction) and hammer it to pieces.
For timber: Chopsticks are great. Light and easy to cut.
For glass: Cut pieces from a sheet of acetate.
I did a dio a couple of months back using basically these materials. If you are interested try to go to my website by clicking the web icon at the bottom of this post and go to the diorama section.
For your first diorama, what did you use to do grass. I do model railroads and all kinds of stuff with scenic grass…but yours looks kinda beefy…maybe thats just the slight fuzz of the picture. Let me know!
-jonathan
The grass is artificial foliage I bought from a model shop. There are different types from fine to coarse. The one I used is a bit coarse maybe that is why it looks “beefy”.