Well... new guy... about me and a few questions!

[thesnake87]

First, here is what I put in my About Me page

Hey guys,

I'm 16 and an amateur modeler, as well as a computer guy (running off my first custom build, LOVE IT) I've used Photoshop for around 2 1/2 years and have become very skilled in that (self taught of course) and am getting into Premiere Pro and Soundbooth. I'm also a big collector of hockey cards and Hot Wheels. I played hockey for 7 years until finally "hanging them up." I still love to play at stick n pucks on Friday nights with my Ovi skates (2008 CCM Vector 8.0's with yellow laces for you all who know hockey equipment) my Bauer Vapor XXXX, and black ReeBok 6k helmet with a straight, tinted mirrored half shield.

Anyway, that's the other side of me. I started modeling a while ago and every once in a while really get into it. Lately because my computer has been finished I've been on that and getting into Hot Wheels again, but the idea of making a diorama of a custom garage with some cars is cool. (I still need to finish my WWII tank diorama too, that's all plastered though)

I've been around forums for 3 years, starting out at Halotracks.org where I worked up to a head of staff position and was there for 2 years. After leaving there, I've been at Sportscardforum.com, Blackwaterops.net, Thebreakaway.net, Hallsguide.com, and starting a Fallout New Vegas mod team. I know how to conduct myself around forums, so you won't have to worry about me

Anyway, that's me in short. I look forward to contributing to the community!

Second, here are my questions.

- What train scale is close to 1/64? I keep forgetting but I thought it was HO

- What do you use for bases? For my tank diorama I used plywood but the plater goes around the edge so you don't see the layers. I'm thinking about asking my woodshop teacher if I could buy some stock and make some bases if it's solid stock like cherry, maple, walnut, etc...

- I've also never really figured what you use for walls in a diorama. I know the kits are plastic, but for a built from scratch garage diorama, what should I use?

I thank you for those who can answer my questions and I'm looking forward to being a part of here

[DRG]

Jake I wish I could answer your questions but I just build models and never messed around with diorama's.

I just wanted to extend to you a hearty welcome to this Forum.

[thesnake87]

Thanks Donald! Thanks for the fast response and no problem, good luck with your future projects.

[SSNJim]

- What train scale is close to 1/64? I keep forgetting but I thought it was HO

HO/OO is close (1/72-1/87), but 1/64 is S Scale.

Edited May 15, 2011 by SSNJim

[Foxer]

Welcome to the forum and I'll try to answer your 2nd two.

I think many things are used as based and it depends what you're doing or what you have laying around. Plywood is common, but rarely when you'll see it in the finished dio. Then you'd use some solid wood maybe. Foam board is another choice as it's much lighter and has almost the stiffness of wood. Typically it's foam between 2 layers of paper and is available in most train hobby shops. It is used for Dio walls quite a lot also.

[thesnake87]

Thanks for your replies everyone! I think I have some foam board laying around so I'll be able to get a start I guess. I just need to get some more paints (like grey spray paint for example) but I have the tools and most of the supplies then (besides the props like jacks, tool cabinets, etc...) so hopefully sooner than later I can get fully started.

[Jim Gibbons]

Jake, Welcome to the forum! You've gotten some answers, and I don't have a lot to add, other than foam core board as mentioned above will make good walls. Wander around the diorama topic; there are folks here that do incredible work. You might check out some model railroad sites; I'm sure you can find plastic sheets with brick, cinder block, flooring, etc. patterns. About 25 years ago, I belonged to an O Scale (1/48) model railroad club with a large layout. I worked on the scenery which included buildings, vehicles, etc. I recall painting some brick pattered plastic sheet to replicate a local building we were scratchbuilding. I used various acrylic paints and ground up pastels for effect.

If you use foam core, you can emboss it yourself. It's tedious, but possible. A T Square, architect's scale, and a dental pick type instrument to scribe brick/cinder block joins would be helpful. A decent set of artists acrylic paints will be useful. Again, I recommend visiting the Diorama area. The good folks here will be glad to help.

[Harry P.]

I've also never really figured what you use for walls in a diorama. I know the kits are plastic, but for a built from scratch garage diorama, what should I use?

It depends on how realistic you want your walls to be. To duplicate a wood-framed building, you can recreate the full-scale elements exactly (studs, sheathing) with basswood or balsawood strips and sheets scaled to size, and built up just like a full-scale building (floor plates, vertical studs, top plates and outer sheathing. The inside can be left bare, like you would have in a typical residential garage, or covered with cardboard or sheet styrene "drywall." (of course, if you're going to cover the walls on the inside there's no point in building the detailed stud walls, as they won't be seen).

If the look you want is brick, there are scale brick-patterned styrene sheets available from Plastruct and/or Evergreen. Check out their websites for more info. "Brick" walls can also be made by scribing your "mortar" joints into thin foam sheets, then painting the wall to look like brick. Tedious and labor intensive, but pretty realistic if you do it right.

If you're near a Hobby Lobby, check out the display of hobby woods they have... it comes in a ton of different sizes, and you'll almost surely find what you need.

[Dr. Cranky]

Welcome to the MCM forum and we hope you will stick around and enjoy the exchange of eye candy. Happy styrene journeys!

[sjordan2]

Just to add to Harry's post, these kind of Evergreen and Plastruct building materials for dioramas are most easily found in hobby shops that also cater to model railroad enthusiasts, such as HobbyTown USA.

[crazyjim]

Welcome to a very interesting forum.

I used foamboard for the floor of a diorama and painted it with that texture spray paint to try and get a concrete look. Forget it! The paint warped the paper so bad it went in the garbage.

I don't know the name of the stuff, but it's used to make signs. It appears to be plastic with cooregated plastic in between. Very light and very strong.

[thesnake87]

Thanks a ton for the info guys! This is really helping

I really like that balsa wood idea too, I never thought of that! And for brick I actually have a Tamiya brick wall set that would work for this too. I'd just have to cut the sections in half to get the appropriate height.

I guess this leads me to windows and doors then. I assume there are pre-made ones for this scale? And what about a garage door lol

I hope to take a trip to Riders soon (been a while) because I want to see if they have garage components like jacks, lifts, tool boxes, benches, etc. The Greenlight stuff is really expensive.

Edited May 15, 2011 by thesnake87

[Harry P.]

Thanks a ton for the info guys! This is really helping

I really like that balsa wood idea too, I never thought of that! And for brick I actually have a Tamiya brick wall set that would work for this too. I'd just have to cut the sections in half to get the appropriate height.

I guess this leads me to windows and doors then. I assume there are pre-made ones for this scale? And what about a garage door lol

If you can scratchbuild scale walls, you can scratchbuild scale windows and doors... they're nothing but smaller versions of the real thing. Look at a real wooden door, a real window, recreate them with scale wood pieces... then paint them (and weather them if you want). Use clear acetate sheet for the window "glass" (comes in pads in the art-supply aisle of Hobby Lobby)... or cut pieces from clear product packaging. You can even make your windows really open up, and you can hinge doors with tiny brass hinges (in the dollhouse section of craft stores). A garage door can be made with either pieces of sheet styrene or sheets of thin basswood, the track can be made from Plastruct or Evergreen channel and painted silver. Not only is building stuff like that from scratch a lot of fun, but it's pretty cheap. A lot cheaper than buying pre-made doors and windows (that is, if you can find them at all in the scale you need!).

[thesnake87]

Yeah that's the thing, since I'm going for such a small scale it's going to be a challenge making them, but I'm a perfectionist so I don't stop until it's right and I'm good with that stuff. Thanks a lot for the insight!

[Harry P.]

Welcome to a very interesting forum.

I used foamboard for the floor of a diorama and painted it with that texture spray paint to try and get a concrete look. Forget it! The paint warped the paper so bad it went in the garbage.

For dioramas the best paint to use is acrylic craft paint. It comes in hundreds of colors or you can mix your own custom color. They come in 2 oz. plastic squeeze bottles, thin with water to airbrush or paint with a brush right from the bottle. There are several brands, they all cost less than $2 a bottle, some as little as 99¢ each. Waaaay cheaper than "model paints" sold at hobby shops. They're at Michaels and Hobby Lobby, or you can get them online from a ton of places like this one...

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat1772&PRODID=prd5147

[thesnake87]

Hmm... alright I'll make sure to find those too. I have a ton of paints but I think they are mainly for plastics... so I'll have to pick some up.

[Agent G]

If you want to replicate a brick building, use cork. I use sheets of cork from a craft store and cut rectangles of the right size. I glue these on the foam core board one by one in a staggered brick like pattern. Simple Elmers works just fine for this. After drying for a night I take drywall spackle, thin it out a bit with water, and brush it over the wall. I concentrate on letting it pool up in the cracks between the bricks. When dry, it looks like mortar and covers the cork just enough to make it look even more like brick.

G

Edited May 15, 2011 by AgentG

[thesnake87]

Woah that's another sweet idea!

Well... in relation to that then I have like 2 gallons of plaster, would mixing that in water and doing the process above work as well?

[charlie8575]

First, here is what I put in my About Me page

Second, here are my questions.

- What train scale is close to 1/64? I keep forgetting but I thought it was HO

- What do you use for bases? For my tank diorama I used plywood but the plater goes around the edge so you don't see the layers. I'm thinking about asking my woodshop teacher if I could buy some stock and make some bases if it's solid stock like cherry, maple, walnut, etc...

- I've also never really figured what you use for walls in a diorama. I know the kits are plastic, but for a built from scratch garage diorama, what should I use?

I thank you for those who can answer my questions and I'm looking forward to being a part of here

S scale (American Flyer) is 1/64 scale (17/64"=1'0".)

For a diorama base, plywood is a good choice, 1/4" luan or 3/8" BC sanded or CDX with some 1x1" bracing underneath (glued and/or screwed) will make a good, stable base. A narrow piece of Masonite or other hardboard could be used as a border for scenery items. Glue that the the plywood. The more plaster, etc., you use, the heavier the plywood should be.

For walls (I'm assuming you're referring to a building,) foamcore is a common choice as it's easy to cut make look like what you want. Other people use the big Styrofoam sheets that you'd use as building insulation. If you get adventurous, you could try building a wall just like a real building. Sit down and draw out some sketches of framing and then frame the wall. The exterior can be thin foamcore or Evergreen styrene sheets molded to look like claps, board-and-batten, etc.

Go to the diorama section. There are plenty of really good tutorials.

Remember- there are no bad or childish questions. A genuine deficit should not be ridiculed, and we will help you as best we can.

Charlie Larkin

[thesnake87]

Thanks Charlie. After reading some of the other replies as well I think I'm gonna build the walls using balsa as the studs and either very thin foam core or posterboard as the "drywall/sheetrock" per say. I may use brick for the exterior, I don't know yet. I'm thinking about some home made siding too since this would be more of a private garage. I'm gonna draw some sketches up now, I have some plywood in my basement I cut up a while ago just for dioramas so I'll see what I have before I get to planning.

[imatt88]

Jake,

Welcome aboard! Where in Michigan are you from?

You seem to have plenty of info to get you started, so I won't beat a dead horse

Lots of good people here with a ton of info to share

Good luck with your diorama, and POST PICS!!!!

Cheers, Ian

[Agent G]

Jake, plaster will work as well, but is much heavier down the road than spackle. I always seem to get more cracks in plaster too. I'm probably using way to much water.

One thing I wll do sometimes is add a bit of Elmers glue into the mix. It binds everything just that much better.

Dude, Ya got tips, so experiment!

G

Edited May 15, 2011 by AgentG

[thesnake87]

You guys rock! Thanks so much again everyone

I have plans for 2 dioramas now. Both at 1/64 S scale. One is a 3 stall customs shop with a gated/covered storage area, 2 lifts, paint booth, front office, and big parking lot. The other is a 2 stall detached garage with a lift. I'll make a work in progress thread tomorrow once I figure out the cars I'll be using (and if I have to get more) as well as what materials I have/need to get, etc...

Again, thanks a lot! Out of all the sites I've been on this has been the best reception I've ever gotten, this is a great community I can tell.

Edited May 16, 2011 by thesnake87

[Foxer]

I wouldn't use balsa for any wood. It has a large grain and just doesn't work that well. A model railroader can give you more reasons than I. Basswood is the favored real wood for diorama use. It has a much finer grain and is available for hobby use in many sizes.

For windows and doors, look in the model railroad aisle (web sites) for O scale units. A number of companies make ready to paint and install units, usually in plastic.

Sorry I'm not helpful with company names, but model railroad sites will get you all the info you need.

[thesnake87]

I wouldn't use balsa for any wood. It has a large grain and just doesn't work that well. A model railroader can give you more reasons than I. Basswood is the favored real wood for diorama use. It has a much finer grain and is available for hobby use in many sizes.

For windows and doors, look in the model railroad aisle (web sites) for O scale units. A number of companies make ready to paint and install units, usually in plastic.

Sorry I'm not helpful with company names, but model railroad sites will get you all the info you need.

No worries. And thanks for the point on the balsa, but I think in this case, I'll be covering both sides of the wall with "sheetrock" (I'm gonna do it piece by piece like in a normal house) and since it will be covered, at least this time, I'll use balsa. But for later dioramas with exposed studs, for sure I'll use basswood.