Module Notes & Building Dioramas

[RailroadKits]

I received this email and thought I'd pass it along. Jimmy

Hello and Happy New Year to everyone.

I had a chance to put some notes together for the module idea. They are rough and would benefit from others having people comment on them. When polished up they could be the notes for people want to try building one.

There's also an additional idea to get people building, the suggestion for them to scratch build an O scale shed and bring it along.

Regards,

Marc Seybold

Why 30x19 inches?  It is based on the golden ratio well known to architects and is found in many natural structures.  The ancient Greeks used the ratio to build many of their monuments. Things that use the ratio are particularly pleasing to the eye. The next size that would be interesting to MR is 36x22, we picked 30x19 so that it would be light, easy to fit in a car and is a small enough artistic canvas to not require overwhelming effort to create something. Think about using gator foam as the base, it is probably the lightest rigid waterproof material available.

To convince yourself that 30x19 is the way to go, head down to the home improvement store, pick out the lightest available piece of 2x4ft sheet material and have one piece cut to 30x19 and a second cut to 36x22. Practice walking around with them, getting them into cars, through doors. Now imagine them with scenery, track, structures.

Why two layers of rigid pink foam on top of the base? It increases options. It lets people model an estuary with a low trestle running across water. It lets the track run along the bottom of a mountain, with a stream or river at the base. It allows the front of the diorama to slope low toward the rear. It makes complex topographies that flow along diaganals possible. It allows for underground structures, everything from subways to parking garages. Remember that while only one track will be "active" it doesn't mean there can't be more as part of the scenic whole.

Think a convex mountain curving around the straight track with a river in between. How about a concave mountain curve with the river disappearing in both directions into s canyons hiding the ends of the river from view. What about converging rivers on a diagonal , think a Y with the long arm of the Y at a diagonal to the track.  Lay an S on top of the straight track and curve the scenery around the track. A waterfall with a railroad bridge spanning the river.  Taking artistic license,  famous railway bridges even if the bridge deck to water height is not prototypical, New York's Hellgate bridge anyone?

Other ideas could be industrial, a power plant, oil refinery, factories, train maintenance facilities, marina, cargo terminal,  city scape, towns, rural settings, mines, logging mills, subway stations, suburban commuter stations, super detailed electrified rail section, let your imagination go. Flat plains through wheat fields. Don't forget seasons as variety and of course time. Any era can be modeled. If you have children or grand children think about building a second module for them that is more whimsical. Something from fairy tales or fantasy or even science fiction. These will be grouped together under "Once upon a time" and give the children something to look forward to.

Before we get into tips & tricks, some words of encouragement.  Many more people attend shows and expos then bring a module or enter a competition.  We'd like to see everyone bring something so that we all learn from each others efforts.  Talk to many attendees and the most common explanation is doubt and lack of time. People are afraid they will spend a lot of time and effort,  to say nothing of money and have something that while not cringe inducing, is less than show worthy.

We're going to overcome all of those. Practice and experimentation are the key to good results and we're not going to start that on $100+ craftsmen kits. Pick out two or three $10 to $15 wood structure kits from different manufactures.  No one is going to get upset when that $10 kit doesn't turn out perfect. The second kit will be a lot better, we all make different mistakes the second time around! The third kit we're going to admit isn't half bad and the one we build after that will be darn good.

To practice structure painting and weathering take the low cost approach even lower. Buy some sheet stock, both plastic and wood of the same type as your model's.  Start practicing brush and color techniques on cardboard. When the cardboard starts looking good practice on the sheet stock. When that starts looking good we have one last confidence building trick.

Pick up enough scale lumber to build a board on board freelance O scale shed, 10 x 20 scale feet with at least one door and window. Build everything, walls, windows, doors, roof from scratch. Bring it to the show and we will have a special spot just for this collection where people can trade lessons learned. Why O scale? Assembly tolerences are more forgiving than at smaller scales, texture shows very well, the various finishing techniques are easier to learn at large scales, and when she said size doesn't matter she was lying.

Now, start building the low cost kits. After the Eureka moment as those kits come out way better than expected, don't stop. Go ahead and pull out one of your craftsmen kits and build it.

The key to progressing, is to fail forward and fail quickly. Plenty of low risk tries in a reasonable amount of time without so many steps we forget what worked and what didn't and why. We've gone over the general outline for getting the ball rolling.

If there are only enough funds to buy one dvd to get things going,  than Troels is the one. If there is room for two, the panpastels tutorial would be the second. Between the two, everyone will find something that works for them. Take the gentle approach of practicing on low cost materials to build confidence.  The results will be magical.

What follows are tips and tricks gleaned from the last two expos.  These include not just ideas from the session presenters but audience experiences as well.  Please note that materials preferences change frequently.  If something that works for you isn't here come to the Expo and tell the rest of us!

Always read product safety notes and follow safety guidelines including eye protection and breathing masks. Better to be safe than sorry.

Marc Seybold

[RailroadKits]

Materials

Except for rock castings using the techniques below to lighten them, go easy on using plaster when building these dioramas. It will add weight quickly, it will be subject to cracking as the module is moved and flexes and of course it's one of the messiest materials to use!

Panpastels these are a trade name for powdered pastels. They are being used to color entire wood structures. They are very handy for simulating rust. They can be used to lay down foundation color for water and beaches. They offer another way of dry brushing.  They can be used to paint backdrops. Check out YouTube for examples of how to create cloud scapes with nothing more than a sponge!

"Mister super flat clear" use as fixative for panpastels. Find it on amazon. That way it is possible to mix techniques by layering oil and acrylic on top of the pastel,  say dry brushing and oil stains.

Matt medium used instead of diluted white glue in situations where scenery will be layered. When dry it is clear and impervious to water and alcohol so won't soften up when successive coats of liquid are put down to glue the next round of scenery.

Acrylic retarder added to acrylic paint to keep it from drying so fast. Makes it possible to smoothly blend colors into each other for oil paint like effects. Using acrylic extender on paints also gets rid of brush marks.

Beacon 123 glue. A current favorite of diorama builders.

Pump hairspray , used as a glue for scenic material.

Look at gorilla glue for ACC, it adds a rubber like component that makes it hold up better over years as the model ages.

Use Elmers School glue as base for static grass,  the school version won't form a skin so works better than regular Elmers.

Plastic pipettes available on amazon for $5 per 100 3ml size. Great for laying down glue over ballast and soaking small areas of scenery for adding additional details. Handy for working with paints as well.

Use post it notes on the workbench. ACC glue won't bleed through it.

Fill a zip lock bag full of sand, works as a weight to hold things down while they dry.

Modpodge a big favorite right now for creating water. Details below.

Brace all wood kits. Cut gussets to square the inside of walls, triangles with right angles. Put the vertical bracing in position to provide extra surface area in corners for gluing wall s together.

Use double sided sticky tape to hold details and figures down while painting them.

Cool two tone effect use white paint first time you try this, can try with Red paint on second attempt. Make the base color dark grey or brown.  To create the undercoat use a dry brush to work powdered pastels into the wood. Then wet with rubbing alcahol and allow to dry. Next Flood the boards with mineral spirits,  don't let it dry. Now brush on ordinary craft acrylic white paint. Wait a minute and apply scotch tape, press on it and pull off. Easy cool effect of peeling  paint.

Use artists oils for Weathering. Use a toothpick to dab paint on. Then dab some thinner. Finally use a brush with thinner dragging down. This gives really nice effects for rust or grime under Windows and doors. Combine this with dry brushing using paint.  Then dry brushing using chalks or panpastels.

Using photographs as backdrops. Make two prints. Use the second copy to cut out elements like street signs, store front interiors, signs on the side or tops of buildings.  Use Scotch double sided reusable tabs to attach the signs over their counterparts in the first picture. The store fronts can be put in existing full size models to provide interiors.  Full 3D awnings can be glued to the pictures, fire escapes added, downspouts, electrical meters etc. Don't go overboard, the idea is to provide just enough hints to the brain so that it is tricked into completing the picture. These would normally be used behind and in between low relief structures which in turn will be behind full 3D buildings.

Use card stock to create floors in buildings. A dead giveaway that we are looking at a model is if we have an unobstructed view of a hollow interior. Glue L shaped plastic or wood stock at each floor level and then glue the floor to the bracing. Put whatever level of detail you want on before adding the floors to the structure. To keep everything level  lay all 4 walls flat butted against each other. Push them against a straight edge on the bottom to keep them even. Now use another straight edge  and mark the level across all sides for each floor. Presto, everything will be straight and level.

For comercial factory buildings floors were usually open, obstructed only by supporting columns. Create these by rolling paper into a tube and gluing together to form a cylinder and glue to the floor. Many buildings had columns that were capped by conical features to spread the weight of the load above. Google calculating cones or conic shapes for details on how to make different sizes. 

For residential buildings, put the odd cat or dog in the window, flower boxes also work.  Build simple L brackets by heating a piece of straight plastic and bending into an L. Glue a figure to this and glue the bracket inside the window to simulate a person standing there.  Use simple cut pieces of paper to simulate window shades. Don't make them all white or the same height.

Make maximum use of preprinted card stock and computer generated images to complete floor interiors. By cutting card stock into stips and then making cuts half way through opposite ends eg top cut for one, bottom cut for other and then sliding them into each other, a simple maze can be created with trivial effort and it will divide a floor up into rooms. Glue it to the card stock and done. Cut some doors so people can see interior halls or adjoining rooms, populate with some people, paint simple wood shapes to give the illusion of furniture and create a wow factor.

Scratch building arch bridges. This trick is very old, maybe as old as humans have been building arches. It is updated for modern tools. Get a piece of oak tag and small link chain. Measure off the horizontal distance you want to span. Pin the chain between the two points letting it hang naturally.  Pin the oak tag to a horizontal surface and simply follow the chain.  People familiar with Antoni Gaudi will recognize this technique. It is of course possible to do the same using computer CAD software and large scale plotters and laser cutters but where is the fun in that?

Inexpensive source of domes and tanks for oil refineries and industrial plants. Use PVC end caps available from home improvement stores. These cost a few dollars and work fine especially as background features. Use a cotton swab dipped in nail polish remover to erase printed part codes and kill the sheen. Spray with white paint and add decals, instant tank farm. Looking for spherical tanks and towers. Check out home stores. They sell decorative large glass spheres and what look like giant test tubes.  Again add details, spray white and done.  Use trimmed plastic sprures from plastic kits glued to the glass to simulate piping. Once painted it looks great.

Mint green gives you copper patina.

Sharpy makes metallic colors which are handy.

For corregated surfaces,  use a brush to dab on paint. Then use rust chalk and do mineral spirits trick.

Easy grass tufts.  Get a block of paraffin wax. Use cheap soldering iron to poke hooks into it. Put tiny amount of black chalk dust in hole,  fill with CA glue, then stick tuft of your favorite material in hole let dry and trim to random heights. Think thistle rope and wigs.

Making it look real

Texture, the world is neither flat nor smooth, our models shouldn't be either.

Color, think in terms of palettes, see Troels DVD. Remember that the further away things are, the more muted their color until by the time we get to the horizon colors are almost indistinguishable from the sky color. At those distances we are really seeing contrast rather than distinct colors of things on the ground. That can be used to help force perspective.

Shadows, think dark browns and deep indigos rather than automatically reaching for black.

Highlights, white and cream are standard. Try dark colors to suggest shadows under window sills,  awnings, pipe work etc

Creativity, Don't forget composition, don't think of different parts in isolation. Weave that into a story, think of it as a historical record of what happened naturally and from human activity. Keep in mind the attraction of novelty and surprise. Use animals and people to create mini scenes. Pay attention to golden ratio and fractals in scenes.

Adafruit.com, Flora, trinkets, neopixels, 24 led driver board($14.95), 16 led/servo driver board!( $14.95). These. Boards need an arduino or in some cases a raspberry Pi to operate as well as some soldering and programing skills.  For those with the skills or know someone who can do it for you these have enormous potential. Imagine a diorama with 16 micro servos animating things. Or using the same board to dim, turn on and off, blink 16 LEDs individually. The neopixels allow full color washes to be created. Imagine using them as spot lights or interior lights changing the color to any color possible. Hide them in forests or as back lights behind buildings or in caves, tunnels, under bridges.  They also have very low priced boards to drive capacitive switches so that these things can be controlled by hiding pieces of say copper embedded in scenery and turning things on and off by holding your hand near it without having to touch it.

Casting rocks from molds. Use Sheetrock brand powder patching compound rather than plaster or hydrocal. Mix in some sterilite (plain no added fertilizer, available at garden centers)  this lightens the castings even more.  Add plaster to water, let sit for one minute, mix until smooth and creamy, add sterilite and pour into molds.

Twine
Really inexpensive source of scenery material.  Boil in water for two or three minutes to soften. Drain and spread out on newspaper to dry. Cut to reasonable working size and pull apart into Individual strands. Color by staining or spraying with airbrush or rattle can. Highlight with dry brushing technique.

Cut into correct size pieces for your use. Have a scale figure handy for measuring. Few things as proportionately thin as the twine will be higher than a scale person. Pile them up on a sheet of paper and roll them into a log. Pull the log apart into two pieces. Now apply glue to the area to be sceniced and dab the open end of the cigar into the glue. Instant standing material, no electrostatic applicator needed. This works best if you mix static grass with the twine when you roll the cigar and get a nice variation in scenery for little effort. Color variation is a must here don't have a mono color cigar!

We can also borrow a tree making technique to make rows of tall stalk type plants. This works well for marshes, wetlands and cultivated fields.

Ground Foam
Pick out bush sized pieces by placing next to a scale figure. Dry brush to highlight. Green shades are obvious, but yellow or red could suggest flowers or berries, umber and sienna colors can suggest branches or browning leaves. After it dries, soak with matt medium or dilute white glue. Gently blow or sprinkle very small amounts static grass of different color onto the bushes, it adds nice detail and additional realism.

When laying down foam remember that in general, greenest foliage tends to grow near reliable water sources with colors changing as the water supply changes. Stat by laying down the smallest foam first in random blob type shapes and remember that local environments will alter the shape, a bush won't grow on rocks, soil conditions might be to poor for good growth. Next put down a second layer using different colors and varying sizes, don't be uniform, put the second layer in some places, leave just one layer in others.

Think about how clumps of foliage expanding out will run into each other. Finally some parts will be dying, from old age, insect or plant damage etc, not all should look healthy. To finish things off apply very sparingly, some highlights, use very light shades of green turf, a tiny amount of colors to give the illusion of flowering plants, very fine turf and static grass. Don't use all of these in any one plant grouping.  Nature is about great color variation in most places even if only shades of a color. Think in terms of the primary color of something, its highlights and finally shadows. Always think in terms of 3D and passing time.

Water

Easy, fast, deep water.  Use dark blues and greens, play with grays as highlights in the blues near shore, use these to paint the bottom of the surface. Retarder or diluting the paint with water will definitely be needed to blend the colors for this to look real. Let dry completely. Coat with thick layer of modpodge, about an eight of an inch, use a stipple technique, don't brush it on,  let dry completely. Mix modgepodge and and liquitex iridescent together, try 5 to 1 modgepodge and use your finger to dab this on the painted surface. Be random, the idea is to create raised surfaces. Finish by dry brushing random wave tips with white to simulate wave caps.

Extra detail. Around rocks or pilings where waves would be crashing, paint a narrow stripe of white or light beige along the perimeter . Allow to dry.  Paint a narrower stripe of teal or light blue on top of the white. Mix a little speck of green into white  and put some dabs randomly across the teal, white and partially on the darker paint. We are simulating the color changes  as water quickly pushes up high and more light is able to shine through. Glop modgepodge on top. Paint white in a pattern like you see waves form. For extra effect use some extra heavy gloss gel  dabbed on top of the dried modpodge, pull it up into wave shapes against the rocks or pilings. Experiment with adding very small amounts of paint to tint not color the gel.

If a lot of waves are needed, it's hard to beat using clear silicone calking. It is relatively inexpensive, easy to apply and looks very real. Take a look at your coastline and think about which direction the waves are coming in. Take a look at google satellite pictures of shore lines as a reference. Squeeze out using a calk gun along the chosen path. Now use your finger to smear the calking backwards out to sea. Lay down a second layer if what is left is too short. Allow to cure fully and dry brush white paint to taste. Unless modeling a storm scene, waves between 3 to 6 feet are reasonable ie full to half the height of a scale person.

An alternative technique to the modpodge approach is to pour ( not brush ) a water based gloss acrylic such as used in woodworking ( minwax ) over the still wet paint.  This will only be possible if the surface is level and can be sealed off on all sides.  This is similar to using resin for water but less expensive and lower oder. Pour it over the still wet paint as it will cause blending and bleeding that are key to the end result. 

Making the ocean bottom a coat of Sheetrock joint compound ( add enough water to make it pancake like concistancy) and dabbing a sponge into it to roughen the surface while wet ( but not too much we aren't looking for stalactites ) greatly enhances  this technique. After the first coat of clear gloss dries pour a second layer. Working quickly use a piece of styrofoam as a stipple brush, working the surface. This will create a nice random surface that will help bend light enhancing the depth effect.

Shallow streams and rivers. Here the water is mostly or all see through. Detail the heck out of the river bottom and then apply as many layers of modpodge as needed to cover everything that should be under water. The last layer can have a little transparent brown ( think burnt umber and raw sienna ) added to create a bit of murk. Less is more here, it is easy to add more layers if necessary, it can't be lightened if too dark.

Complex depth. Real water looks the way it does because light is being reflected from different layers. Duplicating that requires the same approach. Artists have a technique called glazing. It involves mixing a small amount of transparent paint into a glaze, in our case modpodge to build up color changes. For example, a base of yellow paint with blue glaze will produce greens. Red glazes on top of blue will produce deep violet indigo colors. Alternating layers of blue and green will produce progressively darker colors.

For water we want to alternate between clear layers of glaze with tinted ones. Why? To produce more boundary layers where light has greater paths to reflect and refract. Note that when painting on the clear layers of modgepodge , a wavy pattern will emerge that is perpendicular to the direction of the brush stroke. So if the the shore is say on the left hand side of your water, brush modpodge from top to bottom or the waves won't point toward shore.

The technique is simple and easily mastered , be patient and don't be afraid to practice.  It's good to have different approaches so that different bodies of water are done with different colors, In real life a glacier fed river will be ice blue. Deep water with a lot of suspended material will be green. Deep ocean water with few suspensions will be deep blue. As  water gets into shallows its color changes. The layering approach makes this easy as there can be mostly clear glaze in these areas blending into the colored areas.  It will usually take 7 to 8 layers of glaze to get a nice effect. That's 14 to 16 altogether when you count the clear layers in between.

Roads

Use scale size cars and trucks to size your roads and lanes as well as realistic curves.
Another really simple trick that is very effective. Using cardboard or oak tag, draw a template for the road. Use this to lay down the basic scenery structure for the road, plaster gauze, etc. now here comes the magic, after the base is dry, put the template over the now rough outline of the road. Use a pencil to transfer the road template to the rough plaster. Remove the template, put 1/8 inch weather stripping down along the pencil lines sticky side down. Now fill this dam with plaster and use a trowel to level. Add a tint to the plaster powder and you won't have to paint the road!  Remove weather stripping when plaster is dry. Use  ballast of the correct size to create gravel shoulders. Add additional details and cars.

Marc Seybold

[RailroadKits]

Basics

Always have a scale figure, car and piece of rolling stock to make sure what you're doing is credible size wise and in scale with each other.  Cut some bamboo skewers into various scale heights for commen things, building heights , various tree heights, telephone poles. This is less about being exact than in creating eye pleasing proportions.  Keep the golden ratio, roughly 1.6 in mind. It simply means if one dimension is 1 inch, than the other will be 1.6 inches no complicated math needed. Google golden ratio calipers and instructions on how to make or buy instruments to measure it off automatically.  If in need of inspiration, google  "L Systems" and click the images selection.  Lance Hosey's, "The Shape of Green" is another source of rethinking design.

Coloring rocks. Use a foam brush to apply one or two coats of a mix of alcohol and black plus brown water soluble India ink. Allow the rock to dry, use a dry brush to stipple the rocks with children's inexpensive powdered tempura paint, working it into the nooks and cranies. Spray with water. Why do both? The India ink will fade over time, creating a nice random effect, the tempora will be more colorfast.

Use cardboard cut into ribs that outline the scenery shape and hot glue to base. Use some cross pieces to stiffen the form.  Cut 1/4 inch slits in the top of the card board forms about an inch apart and string 30lb fishing line back and forth seating it in the slits. It shoul look like you're weaving. This will form a netting that outlines the topology. If building vertical cliff faces that are fluted, collect the cardboard tubes at the center of toilet and paper towels. Stand them vertically or horizontally, don't be afraid to cut them into pieces lengthwise.  Just use netting here, the webbing stage can be skipped.

Hot glue fiberglass screening available at home improvement stores as replacement for window screening to the cardboard and webbing.  Now tear strips of newspaper and cover the mesh being careful to overlap seams. Try not to have any pattern to it.

Use water proof yellow construction glue such as carpenters to paint the glue onto the paper. Dribbling it out on the paper and use a wide house painting type brush to spread the glue. Allow to dry, paint on second coat. Take advantage of all this glue to apply rocks and some ground cover.  Let dry completely. Add scultamold in areas where you want to stain and color the surface.  Feel free to tint the scultamold when mixing it up. It also works well to fill in gaps between rocks. 

Real land is rarely completely flat. An easy way to generate some interest is to drape Kleenex ( use the plain kind without any emollient )  onto the landscape in various sizes, just rip it into different sizes including whole tissues. Soak them with a mixture of diluted white glue via the pipettes and let dry. Layer them if things seem not uneven enough. Now your land won't be so flat.

Caves are an often overlooked feature in models but are common in the real world. They are a great opportunity for creating a vignette using people or animals.

Fill a pipette with some water color wash, any color that stands out will do. Pick a spot where you'd like to start a stream and dribble water onto the scene and let it flow down naturally until it bottoms out or leaves the diorama. Now make that path your stream bed. This is easy and ensures that the stream path will look realistic to the eye because it is real.

Using forced perspective to give the illusion of greater depth is another great scenic trick. Read up on what artists call vanishing points and how they deal with perspective. It's easy to do and extended to scenery it will  produce better results than not using it.  Add in the color trick where more distant parts of a scene are colored in blueish greys and the closest elements in brighter colors. Combined these will nudge the brain into seeing greater depth than is actually there.

There are many other ways to build scenery, these are meant to produce a very light finished diorama at modest cost in time and money. Collect rocks glue them into a tube cut in half, fill in gaps with plaster or scultamold , seal with spray clear coat. Use life casting to create a mold. This can now be used to cast many pieces and stacked horizontal or vertically as flutes in cliff faces. Feel free to use totally different approaches, it's all about individual creativity and imagination.

Marc Seybold

[NEMMRRC]

Wow. It's all right there.

It would be nice to have one of these modules to showcase rotating dioramas and such.

Jaime

[jrmueller]

I agree Jaime. This is a great tutorial. I'm going to print it to have for a permanent reference.  Jim

[tjseeley]

I'm with Jim!  I copied this to a Word doc so I can keep it handy to refer to.  There's so much information here - thanks for posting!!

[gnatshop]

Me, too!
I saved it to a notepad on my desktop!
Thank you, Jimmy, for posting this and a big double thanks to Marc Seybold for writing this!! 

[PHQRR]

Good Stuff!!   Saved it to the PC...

[rrkreitler]

Ok, this is awesome. All the great info in one easy to consume package. Thanks for consolidating and thanks for posting!

Many of these I have heard of (or versions of) but there are a few that are new to me. One question I have:

Glue: Beacon 123.  I had not heard of this one before. What is this used for and why is it a favorite?

Thanks,
Dave K in NB

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks to Mark for consolidating all this data.  And Jimmy for posting it.

Jeff

[PHQRR]

Ok, this is awesome. All the great info in one easy to consume package. Thanks for consolidating and thanks for posting!

Many of these I have heard of (or versions of) but there are a few that are new to me. One question I have:

Glue: Beacon 123.  I had not heard of this one before. What is this used for and why is it a favorite?

Thanks,
Dave K in NB

Here's Beacon website:

http://www.beaconadhesives.com/

[rrkreitler]

Thanks for the pointer. According to Amazon reviews it looks like you can get this at Michaels. I am heading into town tomorrow and think I will pop in and pick up a bottle and give it a try.

[S&S RR]

Another nice find as a lurk around the forum tonight.  Thanks for posting.

[ranny9]

Here is another thread we don't want to lose track of!

Bump

[ACL1504]

Yes, great information here. Thanks.

Tom