Landscaping

My first Diorama


As i wanted to have a nice scene to place my model-trains for taking fotos, i decided to start model-landscaping. As storage place is an issue, it has to be as small as possible.

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The almost finished diorama

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As it should also be light-weight i used polystyrene rigid foam plates to make the base and rock struktures. All what you need is a sharp knive, a wire-brush, glue and colors.

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For raw shaping i use just the knive - than i scratch the foam with the brush - change in direction will cause great stone - like textures.
When i am satisfied with the rocks, i give them a first layer of dark acrilic paint - after drying, lighter colors are used.

making the reeds and trees


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The basic material is the dried "blossom" of real reed.

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On some places i will add also dried grass to the reed.

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The next step is to colour the natural materials. For this I put single twigs on a piece of foam and spray them with acrylic varnish.

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After painting and drying, I break the individual branches into pieces of different lengths and "plant" them in my landscape. Therefore i make small slits in the base material and fill the opening with glue. The braches are inserted and thus small groups are formed.

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Natural materials are also the basis for trees. I use various dried plants like goutweed and others. First I spray the branches with spray glue and increase the volume with brown 6mm Fibres. Then I apply another layer of spray glue and various flakes as leaf material.