Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Land => Topic started by: Frank3k on May 27, 2026, 01:05:45 PM
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I guess this is a "Land" project! I've had the Minart "Country Road" diorama base for years:
(https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/1/8/1/147181-10571-pristine.jpg)
I repurposed the cart (a regular injection kit) for another project. The base and wall are both vacuforms, so the work required to get them ready has been an annoyance. After every step forward I've put the parts back into the box and moved on to other projects. Over the years, I've cut out the wall from the vacuform backing and removed/filled in most of the pips in the thin plastic. A year ago, I glued the wall together, puttied the many gaps and eventually painted everything in black before it went back into the box.
A few months ago, I decided that I want to get better at bases and dioramas, so once again, the country road came back out. This is what I have so far. It's still very much a WIP, but I'm getting closer to something that I'm satisfied with. The "tree trunks" are Ficus branches from the planters in front of our building:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55295968191_84bb18cda0_b.jpg)
I made the tank tracks a little less obvious with some putty. They could be tractor tracks? I've used static grass, some pre-made grass and bushes and some "clutter" - small brown bits of... something. I also used a leaf punch; I painted some glossy paper with various green and brown AK pens, then punched out hundreds of leaves:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55296385270_335b27865a_b.jpg)
The wall looks shiny in these outdoor shots, but once I finish weathering and coloring it, I'll spray a matte finish:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55296209869_68904a7552_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55295059307_081f0f6662_b.jpg)
I need to add more static grass (I made a static grass applicator and have yet to shock myself) and make a small tree or bush. I may move some of the larger clumps of grass, or add more clumps and clutter. Luckily, most of the grassy groundwork is easy to move around.
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Very impressive! I see what you mean about the outdoor pics of the shiny wall but the indoor shot makes the same wall look really good. Massive respect for your attention to detail. :smiley:
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:smiley:
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Very nice work.
I am a firm believer in bases, not only allows better, safer handling of models, but setting the scene for context as well.
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Thanks, guys. I don't really know what I'm doing, so I'll just continue until it looks "right".
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Thanks, guys. I don't really know what I'm doing
Welcome to the team...
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At a glance, the shiny shot made me think of some the ancient Pre-Colombian ruins in the Andes. It looks excellent, Frank-props on tackling a vacuform. I can only imagine what a chore cutting the wall free from it's backing must have been.
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... I can only imagine what a chore cutting the wall free from it's backing must have been.
Indeed. And then matching up the wall halves :o
I recall it being 'challenging' to remove those pips from thin stock as well. (Like Frank's build, my Rare Plane Spiteful parts went through cycles of 'de-pipping' followed by being jammed back into its Frog Attacker donor box.)
AFAIK, those pips only appear when a female negative mould is used (which necessitates air escape holes). That seems to have been a feature of vacuform components in MiniArt diorama kits. On thicker stock, removing pips wasn't a big deal. With thin stock, though, sometimes you'd need to patch from behind. Ugh!
Another way of wording this moaning down memory lane would be to say: Masterful work, Frank! Nicely done :smiley:
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Cutting the wall out of its backing was difficult, since there wasn't a sharp enough edge to cut around. The edges had huge gaps, which I filled in with sytrene and putty, then trimmed. The pip removal was annoying because they seemed random and they left gaping holes when removed. I left a few as "pebbles" on the road plate and "bumps" on the wall.