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Dioramas: Making Bases
Discuss all aspects of making bases.
Hosted by Darren Baker
Sunken farm road base
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
Joined: July 01, 2011
KitMaker: 47 posts
Armorama: 28 posts
Posted: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 01:53 PM UTC
Hello everyone, just wanted to show you all the base I am currently working on for a client of mine. A lot more work to do but almost there as far as building goes.

Carving the stone archway:





Base mock -up:



Carving the final base contours:



Laying down the ground work:





Culvert #1:



Culvert #2 (on back of base):



Base layout ( well on the right hand side, more on this later):



Small dock along stream:









Small tree stump ( roots will be added once trunk is dry):




Comments welcome!
slodder
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: February 22, 2002
KitMaker: 11,718 posts
Armorama: 7,138 posts
Posted: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 11:00 PM UTC
Nice job, love the arch. the stone work is great, what is that base ? Insulation?

The base looks lumpy to me right now, but I can see great promise in it. Don't forget to get to stones in the creek bed really down into the base. To me with the creeks I've seen the proportion of ground/earth to rock would lend to a lot of errosion and blending. Either more odd shaped rocks of settle into the base a bit so they don't look like they were 'set/placed' on the ground.

Looks good I like the composition and am looking forward to updates.
LancashireFusilier
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United Kingdom
Joined: August 24, 2011
KitMaker: 14 posts
Armorama: 13 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 02:03 AM UTC
Hey,
I'm fairly new to all this,can you tel me what materials you are using here
VLADPANZER
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Lebanon
Joined: December 20, 2010
KitMaker: 568 posts
Armorama: 549 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 10:09 AM UTC
Great looking work, I love the archway (is that balsa foam?), looking forward to the finished product!!

Regards,
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2009
KitMaker: 11,610 posts
Armorama: 7,843 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 10:32 AM UTC
Some very nice work there. Pm inbound.
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
Joined: July 01, 2011
KitMaker: 47 posts
Armorama: 28 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 10:38 AM UTC
thanks for the comments

Scott, thanks for the tips, the texture is just the base coat, will add fine sifted soil ontop of what is here. I will do some more work on the stones as well.

Stephen, I am using insulation foam for the base a paper mache material for the ground work and balsa foam for the walls.

vladimir, yes the walls are made from balsa foam carved with a sewing needle

Thanks matt
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
Joined: July 01, 2011
KitMaker: 47 posts
Armorama: 28 posts
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 - 10:53 AM UTC
Matt, PM answered


OK, so now for the well project.....


I started off using a plastic tube the size I wanted the well to be, I then glued aquarium stones to the inside and outside of this, taking care to leave room for the support timbers of the roof. Once done Spackle is applied to the stones. The photos will explain this better than words:









Once this was done it was time to take out the bass wood and start some scale woodworking.







Now the pieces are ready for the casting process:

LancashireFusilier
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United Kingdom
Joined: August 24, 2011
KitMaker: 14 posts
Armorama: 13 posts
Posted: Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 12:59 AM UTC
Thanks for letting me know what materials to use.Is balsa foam the same as styro foam?I don't suppose anyone knows where to get this stuff from in the UK.Thanks again , some great work
squad55
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Dublin, Ireland
Joined: September 19, 2005
KitMaker: 44 posts
Armorama: 37 posts
Posted: Thursday, August 25, 2011 - 09:16 AM UTC
fine work, love the diorama idea with the lower part of the stream and dock, the stonework is excellent - well done! I'll keep an eye on this.

alan.
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