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| Dios on a budget | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 8 2011, 06:42 AM (750 Views) | |
| harry | May 8 2011, 06:42 AM Post #1 |
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Minivan
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As long as i can remember i've always been fascinated by minature cars, buildings and people. I'm sure most of you have been to a toy or model railroad show where you get to see the cool dios with the scenic backdrops, mountain ranges and little villages all populated by shops, cars and people all looking so life like. I've always wanted to do something like that except that i don't have the space nor budget to create those kind of dios. I've visited most of the S scale diorama websites and have been awed by what they've got there, but then when i looked at the prices for some of the buildings, i thought there had be something i could do on the cheap. I'm not all anal about precision or utmost accuracy, but i do want something that looks good as a backdrop to my 1:64 diecast cars. With that in mind, you won't find me in the hobby shops, but more likely in the aisles of the ever present dollar store. For me it's all about using one's imagination and trying to look at everything with an eye to seeing if i can use it in a display. There's some stuff i just can't find at the dollar store like grass and trees, so i have to resort to ebay for that. I think building little dios goes hand in hand with collecting and displaying toy cars, unless you're primary objective is to collect the cars only to try to make money on them. If you're in the latter crowd, i'm sure you'll have no interest in this thread. In this day and age, where kids spend all their time in front of the game console or nintendo DS, it's sad to see them lose the ability to create things with their minds and hands. It's certainly not like when i was a kid where my only toys were what i made out of cardboard boxes and junk laying around the house. funny how after all these years, i've come full circle. Anyways i hope this dio tutorial will show you that for only a few bucks you can spend some quality time for you, your kids or grandkids to have some fun, and let your creative juices run free. Now, please know i'm not an expert at these things and i have no artistic background whatsoever, so whatever i do just feels right to me. hopefully it's the same for you. I know there's plenty of talented people here on the boards that could probably give excellent advice and i would love to hear from them also as i'm always learning. So today we'll begin our dio discussion from the ground up, so to speak. there's been a couple of questions in the past about what i use for pavement. and the secret is ...the good ol linoleum tile. Here's a scrap piece that I've cut up. You might already have some laying around the house and you can also buy them from the dollar store for 3 tiles for a buck. My suggestion is to go get some new stuff cuz it's more pliable and less likely to crack then older sheets that might be sitting for awhile in your basement or garage. For pavement, I keep the 12x12 tile uncut and with paper still attached. Take a rattle can of flat gray paint and lightly spray it enough to give it a nice coat and get rid of the tile sheen. What's really cool is that there is some texture on the tile which now shows up after the paint has been applied. Once you have your layout setup, the pavement looks pretty realistic. I've got about 6 tiles laying around all painted so i can setup multiple layouts if i want. when not in use, lay them flat so they don't get bent or cracked, as they will over time. But wait, there's more ... the linoleum tile has other uses too, especially as a backing for other surfaces. You might have seen my most recent display with the gravel road. Here's how you can make the gravel road or surface area. First cut the tile to the size you need. If it's a road you want, then make sure it's wide enough to place 2 cars on it side by side. Take a marker and using a ruler, make a straight line where you want to cut. Then score the tile lightly and flex the tile back and forth and it will snap off cleanly. Now get a box or tray that is large enough to hold your cut sheet or the entire tile if that's what you want. make sure the box or tray has no holes in it. take the linoleum tile, turn it over and peel off the backing, you get a really sticky surface. put it in the box/tray sticky side up. To simulate gravel, i can get sand in a plastic bottle at the dollar store. there's different colors of sand so choose the one you like. With the linoleum tile in the box, sprinkle the sand until the tile is fully covered. you might have to do it a few times to get good coverage. shake off the excess sand back into the box/tray and save it for reuse next time. Here's a piece that i've used in the past. in pictures, the sand looks a lot like gravel. If you think we're done, we're not! Another surface i like to feature in my dios is grass. Unfortunately we can't get grass sheets from the dollar store, so i have to get mine off ebay. most of the cheapo ones come from china and they have small sheets/rolls. i forget the exact size cuz mines all cutup and i don't have any left (time to get more). prices vary, so shop around. there's some sellers that offer free shipping too. and it comes in 4 or 5 different colors i think. the sheet/roll you buy should be large enough to do 2 or more dios. anyways, assuming you have some of the grass sheet available, you can stick it to another linoleum tile that has the backing removed. then trim the edges of the grass sheet. make sure you smooth the grass sheet and press it down firmly to the tile or you will get bubbles/ripples like mine. Ok Let's review the costs since this is about budget dios. 3 linoleum tiles from the dollar store - 1 buck 1 botle of colored sand from the dollar store - 1 buck 1 can of gray spray paint from dollar store or walmart - 1 buck 1 sheet of grass from ebay - various prices (maybe 5 bucks? with free shipping) total cost: under 10 bucks which will give you enough surfaces for multiple dios. so in summary we looked at how linoleum tile can be used as a base for pavement, gravel and grass. it is light and easily transportable, so if you want to take it outside for picture taking it's not a pain. it can be used to create a 12x12 inch dio or cut up for smaller displays. you can put multiple tiles together to make a larger display. you will notice that i don't glue my setups down, which means i can reuse the dios in different ways including the pavement. but if you want to create a permanent display, by all means glue down your buildings, people, trees and what not. in part 2 we look at making a litle building. ... |
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| Swifty | May 8 2011, 12:53 PM Post #2 |
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
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Thanks for posting these here! A lot of great tips can be found in all three of these tutorials.
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| diomakr | May 8 2011, 06:54 PM Post #3 |
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Station Wagon
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never thought of using peel & stick tile before- looks great when it's painted. very realistic |
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| Jim | May 19 2011, 02:16 PM Post #4 |
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Fullsize
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Lots of good ideas Harry thats what it is all about imagination and getting started on a project is the only hard part .Kids today cant fix a flat tire on a bike. A patch what is that does it go on the outside of the tire? If you can get a kid interested in a diorama they will learn they can do anything if they try.Our grandkids play with dioramas when they visit and each one has made one they have at home.The 4 year old dumps the dollar store paint on a diorama spreads it around makes a mess the 8 year old sprinkles sand and grass on the paint. The grass mats are fine for display but kids can tear them up pretty quick .The sprinkle on grass falls off and is not suitable for rough play . For kids gravel roads or your idea with the tile is the way to go.Or a just plain painted road. A city type scene no grass is best for the little guys. |
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1:47 AM Jul 13