Do not disturb the water! H.P. Lovecraft inspired diorama for 1:24 Master Box Irene Leroi

[voozet]

It's time to get out of the bottom a little higher, to street level.

I want the surface to be paved with stones. Carving the edges of the stones is a painstaking, time-consuming job, which is why I chose large slabs. I also didn't want to do "classic" uniform cube pavers, besides it looks a bit boring IMO. So I chose the option with plates of different sizes.

When creating the form, I planned the shape and texture of individual parts of the street, with a clearly separated curb.

 

Plaster of paris perfectly copies the texture of the form. Of course its negative. Concave holes become bulges. I try to use it when choosing the material from which I make forms.
A narrow piece of white foam upwards forms the front part of the curb. Foam is very porous which will create a layer of algae and shells. I just need to remove some of the bulges. It has been partially removed as you can see in the picture.

 

A piece of cardboard placed inside the mold performed two tasks. First, it created a difference in thickness between the street and the curb. Secondly, it created the texture of stone slabs. As you can see, it did quite well. The crumbled curb is the undesirable result of my impatience 😉

 

The photo below shows how accurately the plaster reproduces the surface of the mold. I glued the foam with tamiya tape, the imprint of which can be seen on the lower stones.

 

When I finished carving, I painted the plaster with a clear priming emulsion, used to impregnate walls before painting.

 

This abstract painting is the thicket of seaweed inside of a sewer. It is supposed to imitate the depth, because sewer itself is very short in my diorama. I don't think it will be visible after pouring resin, especially since a large part of the hole will be covered by the monster. But I didn't want to risk

 

I glued it with two-component epoxy glue, thus sealing the sewer. I tried to do it carefully so as not to miss any gaps through which the resin could leak.

 

 

The next stage will be painting the paver, but first the plaster must dry completely.

Thanks for looking,

Wiesiek.

[81-er]

The paving is very impressive, Wiesiek! Thank you for sharing the methods you use, I'm squirreling them away for future reference

 

James

[Muchmirth]

Just got into this thread… I love your work it’s very creative and looks so accurately made.

  A guy called David Neat who does miniature film sets/photo shoots etc and lectures on model making often waxes lyrical about the benefits of hips. I’ll have to keep an eye out for this stuff in the future. He would make a drawing, pc or freehand, then use spray mount to glue it to the flat sheet of hips and make his cuts along the lines of the drawing. Check him out, he’s a bit good like 👍 

    I’m keen to follow your progress on this one, especially like the sea shells and sea weed you made from milliput and green stuff.

  How do you cut your circles so precisely, do you use a specific circle cutter or just with a blade around a hard object? I try to cut circles but end up with odd bumpy shapes.

All the best,

Pa

[voozet]

3 hours ago, Muchmirth said:

How do you cut your circles so precisely, do you use a specific circle cutter or just with a blade around a hard object?

 

I use this cutter.

It's a simplest Olfa's model, no frills, but it's enough for me. I cut with it even the thickest HIPS I use, i.e. 3.2 mm.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to cut circles with a diameter of less than 0.5 - 0.7 cm.

And what's interesting: when cutting plastic, it works best when you cut with the reverse side of the blade (rotating the cutter in the opposite direction). It's more carving than cutting, but it works. In my experience, otherwise the blade can miss the path and the circle is not perfect.

 

----------------

 

The plaster was dry so I could start painting.

 

 

The gray base color is a mix of one shot primer paints: white and black. Probably a bit too dark. Some stones painted with a heavily diluted mixture of brown acrylic wash and Vallejo olive drab in various proportions, which served as a color changing filter.

 

At the end of this phase: drybrush with Vallejo acrylics. First a light gray primer, then off white.

 

 

When it dries, I will seal it with a layer of varnish, and then: oil paints and pigments.

Thanks for looking.

W.

[voozet]

The pavement is finished. The last stage was the application of pigments and "algae" oil wash.

 

This is the set of products I used.

 

Then I went back to sculpting. The eyes are plastic airsoft gun pellets (BBs).

 

 

Tentacle production.

 

 

 

Finally, I gave the tentacles the desired shape before baking FIMO.

 

After baking, a quick fitting of the monster into the hole. It's ok I think.

 

 

Now I have to make the hands, which is a bit hard for me. Two attempts so far have been unsuccessful.

Thanks for looking.

Wiesiek.

[81-er]

Lovely work again, Wiesiek. That pavement weathering looks spot on, and I'm in awe at your sculpting skills on the moster

 

James

[stevehnz]

This is looking most impressive, your monster gives me the willies, you have great imagination & creative skills. 👍

Steve.

[Hook]

14 hours ago, voozet said:

It's ok I think.

I'd wager it's more "awesome!" than merely "ok". Great stuff!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Bandsaw Steve]

Those pavers look incredible! 👍👍👍awesome!

[Cadman]

This is an extremely interesting thread. The scratch-building of various elements to be included in the diorama is absolutely incredible.

Cheers

[Muchmirth]

Thanks for Olaf cutter tip, I’ll check that out! 
  Your monster looks incredible, like Steve it actually make me a little uneasy!

Thanks,

Paul

[Malc2]

On 6/1/2023 at 11:31 AM, Muchmirth said:

Thanks for Olaf the cutter

FIFY, Sounds like some kind of Viking!

 

The monster looks awsome. I'm sure the hands will work out. They probably have webs and all kinds of stange features - right?😉

 

M.

[voozet]

Thanks for the compliments, gentlemen! I am glad that you like my work. I'm a lazy person by nature, so any way to motivate to work is worth its weight in gold 😉

 

-----------------------

Time for another level/stage. I started to create the building that will be the background for the Irene figurine (the shop).

As I wrote, the ground floor will have wooden panelling, so its wall is really just a frame to which I will attach the HIPS element. The hole in the middle will provide depth for the window and door. The frame has narrow sides, so I reinforced the plaster with pieces of wire, making "reinforcement". Otherwise, with my impatience, there was a high probability that the structure would break when removing from the mold. 

I put the wire in plaster after partially filling the mold, then poured the rest.

 

I decided to make an imitation of a brick wall coated with roughcast. With bricks visible in some places.

First, I made a texture with a wire brush, then I scraped off some of the plaster to imitate the missing parts.

 

 

This step can be omitted by properly preparing the casting mould. Pieces of thin plastic of the right shape will do the trick. But I forgot about it this time 🤣.This is an example from one of my earlier works:

 

 

Finally, carving gaps between bricks.

 

And this is the wall after attaching the "wooden paneling" element.

 

Thanks for looking and  commenting.

Wiesiek.

[Muchmirth]

8 hours ago, Malc2 said:

FIFY, Sounds like some kind of Viking!

 

The monster looks awsome. I'm sure the hands will work out. They probably have webs and all kinds of stange features - right?😉

 

M.

Theirs nothing FIFFY about Olaf the Norse god of compass cutters and his longboat!!

Edited June 2, 2023 by Muchmirth

[81-er]

You might say you're lazy, Wiesiek, but the quality of your work says otherwise. Another post and another beautiful bit of work

 

James

[voozet]

I realized that a transparent window could be a problem because the building has no interior. It is flat, so there's not even room to make that. Such belated reflections happen to me often, because I work basically without a plan. It's usually a big improvisation, so I have a lot of room for error.

I guess I have two options now:
1. dirt the glass completely. So that it looks like glass but becomes opaque.
2. board up most of the window with plastic planks.

I'm leaning more towards the first option.

 

When creating wood grains in HIPS, I always start with a larger piece of plastic, because then the process is simpler. When cut into strips, the wood grain reaches the edge of the planks. Carving it on narrow strips is more difficult and time consuming.

 

Next step: removing burrs on the plastic with a abrasive sponge (it's the gray thing under the plastic).

 

Cutted boards here. The wood graines are deeply engraved, because it makes drybrushing easier. Their depth is not to scale, I think. In a real world it doesn't look that way, but it's a fantasy world. As long as it looks cool, who cares about reality 😉

 

I need to make a few more planks for the door, but it would look something like this. What do you think? Is it ok to board up the windows, or should I rather give it up and dirty the glass?

 

Thanks for looking!

Wiesiek.

[Muchmirth]

Personally, this might be a bit of an annoying suggestion but i’d do both. I’d dirty the windows and crack a few, then put up the patch  work boards. If it’s an abandoned shop the boards would put off vandals or squatters from further breaking the windows and taking root. Or that might be too much hassle to do both (in which case I’d choose the boards). Look cracking all in all (no pun intended). 
All the best,

Paul

 

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Muchmirth
Spelling

[Farmer matt]

Hello, I have been following this with admiration.

Regarding the windows there is a custom in England whereby properties that are empty or undergoing refurbishment have the glass obscured on the inside, with whitewash or even newspaper which might give you another option.

If you go with the boarding, the lack of interior will still be evident from some angles, so dirtied exterior would still be a must. Could you fit a flat painted suggestion of an interior set back just slightly from the glass, in a similar way as you have done the sewer pipe?

I am looking forward to how this turns out.

 

Matt

[81-er]

I think the boards look completely appropriate, but I'd agree with the other suggestions of either dirty windows and/or some kind of window covering or a flat painted interior to go with them. However the outside of the shop is shaping up superbly

 

James

[voozet]

Thanks for your valuable tips. I will try to compile your suggestions. I've already prepared a printout of newspapers to seal the windows.

 

 

 

In this situation, I think I will also reduce the number of planks to make the newspapers more visible. Well, I'll dirt the glass and try to make an imitation of cracks.

[I hope I can attach photos, because I think MS One Drive is not working.]

 

 

[Cadman]

11 hours ago, Farmer matt said:

Hello, I have been following this with admiration.

I am looking forward to how this turns out.

 

Matt

 

You and me both, and I suspect everyone else who's following this fascinating thread ... 😀

Cheers

Edited June 8, 2023 by Cadman

[Cadman]

12 hours ago, voozet said:

It's a fantasy world. As long as it looks cool, who cares about reality 😉

 

Hah -- and there was me thinking I'm the only one who thinks like that ... 😉 ... 😁

[voozet]

It's time to start painting the wall at ground level. So far, I've rather tried to build everything first (this is my favorite activity) and then paint the whole thing (I like this part much less). It has its pluses, but it also has one minus: there is a lot of painting and it's easy to get bored with it. That's why this time I'm trying to build and paint in stages.

 

Priming/preshading. Boredom

 

Apparently the heat outside affected my mental condition, because I decided to make some heads of nails for the boards. You can see them well below. I made it from a 0.25 mm diameter HIPS rod. Gluing them to boards was a challenge.

 

 

The base color of the wall is an airbrushed mix of white and a few sandy light browns.

 

I painted the bricks with a brush. The color is a mix of Vallejo carmine red paint and a rusty wash in various proportions.

 

 

The mortar between the bricks is a dry pigment. First, I apply a thick layer with a dry brush, trying to push the powder into the joints. Then I soak it with a pigment fixer.

 

Finally, with a smaller brush soaked in a fixer, I wash off the excess pigment from the face of the bricks.

 

The whole thing has already been secured with satin acrylic varnish. When it dries: the fun continues, i.e. oils, washes and all the rest.

Thanks for looking.

Wiesiek.

[81-er]

You might not enjoy the painting as much, but you're very good at it

 

James

[Muchmirth]

Your no your doing something right when even the mail heads look good! I like the brick work colour too and the pigment method.

Paul