Topic: Materials for Dioramas: Finding crates, parts and miscellaneous stuff...

[JDeck]

When in doubt look on Amazon . I can't get the link because my new phone sucks and I hate it. So look it up it's there. It's a pretty cool thing, one costs $6, but it's a cool fodder piece. Ready2Robot- Singles Series 1-1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07794YMN5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cnK-Db3B17ERM

There it is. I still hate this phone.

[JDeck]

DM I'm going to hijack your thread once, I got something kind of cool. I bought a hole punch for making scale leaves for forest or swamp dioramas. For this demonstration I'm using a brown paper bag. Ideally you want to use a brown paper then paint it whatever color you want, let it dry, then punch it out. Orrrr you can use actual leaves, but I prefer paper.
It's kind of cool. I can punch out leaves while watching TV or whatever, because it is a little time consuming to make enough for a diorama.

[Tamer]

Cool on finding the crates and the leaves. Off to the front pages.

[Darth More]

JDeck: Please, go ahead and hijack the heck out of this thread! My threads are free to all! So you're welcome to share whatever you want on here!

Now, that stencil is brilliant! I've never seen a pattern like this before and I did buy stencils with star patterns for Christmas years ago. Well, luckily today is my shopping day so I'll watch out and see what I can find. I can see you painting paper bags even with water color to achieve different color gradients. I'm very happy with this possibility! Thank you for sharing this!

Talking about plants I went to two building supplies stores on Wednesday and I finally got an idea how I'm going to make palm tress for my first Scarif diorama! I also needed more styrofoam (which I didn't find) and sandpaper.


Thank you also for sharing the link to Amazon! I have to admit I didn't have the time to look for them online in the U.S.
I hope they're also sold cheaper in dollar stores. I'm done for the year. Now, I need to get presents because I haven't got a single one, yet. And I hope to have some spare time to share my latest progress on here with you. You'll see some acrylic action!

Thanks again, JD!

- Philipp

[JDeck]

Watercolors would be fantastic, you'd get a lot of subtle color variations.  I was thinking of painting one side and leaving the other plain brown, like natural leaves. Watercolors would bleed through, but it would still be a lighter color on the back. I'll have to giver a go.

Yeah I've been trying to figure out palm myself. The thing I'd like to try is using feathers, and painting them green. Then for the trunk, wire and paper mache or something. I haven't done any Christmas shopping either. I'm cancelling Christmas lol.  Well I did pick up some stuff for the Toys for Tots for the Moose event  last week.

[Darth More]

I'm looking forward to see more of your stencil and the leaf action!
Talking about foliage: you can find great stuff in the woods of which some is perfectly suitable for your dioramas. After Christmas I visited my buddy Andreas. And he built a small diorama out of the stuff he found while being in the forest with his dog.
He knows that I was a big fan of dinosaurs when I was a Boy. I mean who wasn't?
So he gave this diorama to me. And this is just one of three!
You can find figurines like this for cheap in dollar and craft stores. And online of course. Andreas got this hatching T-Rex and two more on AliExpress.
He took a piece of styrofoam and the foliage he found and here you go:








I think this a great project you can craft with your kids, too!


Related topics:

Great dinosaur finds by TheSpectre:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10491.0

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10374.0

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10522.0


hemble's hyper realistic dioramas:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=9778.msg215558#msg215558

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=1865.msg215926#msg215926


JDeck's Dagobah diorama:


http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=9462.msg215320#msg215320



- Philipp

[Tamer]

Now this is awesome. Great gift. Off to share.

[Darth More]

Thanks for sharing this Tamer!


Yesterday, I went to a city where I haven't been in six years - just 20 minutes away. So I jumped on a train and found a town full of Dollar Stores. And this is what I got:




Those two placemats are going to be a living room or bedroom for Anakin and Padmé. Maybe I can use this pattern for the "Is he the father? I'm so sorry..." scene with Obi-Wan.





And I made a backdrop for Zorii Bliss:


Make sure to also check out the ride which larifari gave her:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=9803.msg216053#msg216053






My sister gave me a little present for Christmas and it was wrapped in this wrapping paper. Well, I the colors were quite familiar right away and I really like the pattern, too!
My sister was joking that I was happier about the paper than for the gift itself. (I can't deny.)
She found it in a drug store similar to Walgreens.

So I thought I'd give Zorii Bliss a display in which she's pefectly camouflaged.
I was cutting some styrofoam for my current diorama Projects and had some leftovers. I decided to glue the wrapping paper on it. Bad idea. If you glue paper on cardboard, styrofoam or Wood, I'd recommend to use a thicker rather than a liquid glue.
Here's the recipe for this 15 minute (excluding time to dry):
- wrapping paper of any design
- chipboard or cardboard (I used Wood from a wine box and painted the side edges black with acrylic paint. The paint was mixed with 1/3 of water for the Wood to soak it in better.)
- a placemat (fixed with tacky glue)
- glue (suitable for paper i.e. tacky glue, napkin glue or crafting glue)
- scalpel and/or scissors, ruler, pencil, paint if you wish
- it's all up to your Imagination 








Check out my other Diorama projects here:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10155.msg196627#msg196627



Of course this gift wrap was part of the Christmas assortment and I couldn't find it in 5 stores in 3 different cities. So now I'm going to contact the customer service if any stock went back to be destroyed or sold to discount stores. That's what an employee suggested me in the last store I went to today. If I can manage to get another roll of this paper I'll redo the first backdrop and glue it on chipboard with a different glue to avoid those annoying wrinkles...
It's the hunt for gift wrap guys!





By the way!
...you ever notice this little detail? I didn't. Until now! Some reference to Jurassic Park and Steven Spielberg here?


- Philipp

[Tamer]

Very nice. Man, just goes to show you what a little ingenuity will show you. Off to the front pages.

[Darth More]

Thank you Tamer! I just needed to make this backdrop when I saw the wrapping paper! And I'm glad I got Zorii Bliss loose recently. She's a great part of my The Old Republic display, now!
And there's more...

[Darth More]

I got a few Airborne Troopers to customize in some fodder bags last year. And this LEGO Battle Pack Always inspired me to customize one of those Geonosis Troopers. I know some customizers out there paint their figures with markers. That's why I decided to take this set of 12 markers for 3,99€.

Follow the link to my custom figures' thread:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10186.msg198186#msg198186




It might work, but nothing compared to acrylic paint…lets's find out.




Another Battle Pack that inspired me, is the Utapau Troopers Battle Pack from 2013-2014.



And here's a little teaser of some work in progress: The 10th Level

Now uploaded! Full Details after the jump to hyperspace: http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10155.msg216232#msg216232

[Tamer]

Nice, off to the front pages.

[hemble]

Looking awesome already mate and the stone work looks perfect.

Ron

[RC-1136]

Excellent job on that diorama! The earth tones look spot on!

[Darth More]

Thank you for letting me know your thoughts, gentlemen!


Tamer: That's early, but always appreciated! It's almost done. Ron helped me big time on this one!
Can't wait to finish it - just need to add some pigments and a couple washes.

Oh, and I'm going to customize some of Hasbro's TAC Airborne Troopers with those markers! I try to make them look like these Geonosis Tropers from LEGO. I'll paint one with markers and one with acrylic paints - both in Camouflage

hemble: Again, thank you so much for your advice! I wait for an auction on eBay that ends tomorrow. Can't find my pigments anymore since I moved. So I hope to win that auction on 12 different Pigments from vallejo! Can't wait to show you the finished project(s)!!


RC-1136: Thank you, RC! Ron helped me on this one a lot! It was basically a try-and-error thing for me - lots of different layers of textures and paint. Even texture paint! Didn't even know I got that one. So I tried everything I found on this one. But at the end dry-brushing was the key to success. I sticked with the darkest to lightest color. Ron told me to just paint all surfaces in sand Color, give it a brown wash, another black wash and highlight the edges with sand olor once more at the end. I'll definitely try that, too! More details soon. I was pretty happy with that styrofoam rock I made for my Endor Ewok Catapult diorama. So all I need now are pigments and washes - they're gone since I also gave all I had to FialaFernbrugg when I visited him in 2017.

Once they're added, the CIS & the 212th Attack Battalion are ready to rumble on those rocks! The one that's looking best is a real rock by the way - I can't beat nature, but I'm trying to get close.