The Ultimate Group Project - Diorama Construction/Design

[Ryan]

Eh, we'll see. Honestly most plants, like say tree branches, translate horribly into smaller scales. Lichen looks  pretty good as some sort of shrubbery or bushes, as long as it is the real thing and not the rubber immitation lichen they sell at some stores, the color on that stuff doesn't really look all that good. As for dirt or soil that may be a possiblity, but my same argument to sand applies here as well. It will be incredibly messy to transport. We also aren't going to want different types of soil for each seperate piece of the wilderness. It's not something I'm going to rule out yet, but at the same time it isn't high up on the list of possible ground coverings.

[Joerhyno]

cool beans, I got my notes down and I'm back into the swing of things and will be-a-building-making this week.

[Smartypants1635]

Hmm Ryan, you can count me in possibly, I'm gonna try my hand at it sometime this week or 2.

Adam

[Ryan]

I thought your parents won't let you give your stuff away to strangers? If that's not the case anymore we'd be glad to have you aboard, I'll be throwing up a tutorial or two here in the next few weeks before we get into the design stage, so even if you've never done something like this before you should be able to participate. If your parents aren't too keen on letting you send your stuff away have them read over the threads here so they can get an idea what we are all about and maybe they'd be willing to make an exception.

[Phrubruh]

How goes the model building?

[Smartypants1635]

I thought your parents won't let you give your stuff away to strangers? If that's not the case anymore we'd be glad to have you aboard, I'll be throwing up a tutorial or two here in the next few weeks before we get into the design stage, so even if you've never done something like this before you should be able to participate. If your parents aren't too keen on letting you send your stuff away have them read over the threads here so they can get an idea what we are all about and maybe they'd be willing to make an exception.

Well its still the case, but My sister offered to send them if I do something. So I dunno how to smuggle dios out, but figs are easy.
Maybe when the parents are gone I can send a few buildings.

Adam

[BrentS]

How goes the model building?

I'm not sure I'll get my sample finished by the 25th.  Hopefully by the end of that weekend (27th) I can have it.  We've got friends coming in town all weekend and I won't have any time at all.  Because of real life, I usually don't get to work on these during the week very much so I'm reliant on how much time I have in the evenings.

[BrentS]

Okay, I lied.  I just can't let a deadline slip....  I started this building in full force tonight. 

My assignment was to make an adobe hut building.  I liked the way Ryan's concept drawing turned out so I selected to make it.  I'm deviating from Ryan's tutorial in many ways (bad Brent, bad).  I'm using a material called "Mightycore".  Its thicker and stronger than foamcore (about 1/8th inch thicker I'd say).  I'm using it because I can get large scraps for free at work.  Sweet.  With the extra thickness, I decided that i didn't need to double wide the walls.  They'd also be almost too thick.  I'm also using a glue gun (because I'm too impatient to wait for woodglue to dry).  I'm also not using miter corners (bad Brent bad).  However, since my dwelling will be covered in adobe (i.e. spackle) I can cover up the foam corners. 

Anyway, here is the base structure as assembled:





Some of my cuts were a little too rough on the roof.  However, again I can clean those up with the spackle.  Also, this is a proof of concept building not necessarily a final dwelling.  (Although, I hope to use it at least in my PNs). 



Next up, I need to add the spackle and add the wooden polls.

I'll put together a tutorial as I add more to it.

[Daigo-Bah]

That looks great.  This is an exciting time for the UGP, when the initial buildings, figures and vehicles are made!

[Phrubruh]

Great to see this Brent. It looks like it will be a good design. I don't see a reason to miter the corners if its going to be plastered.  I just wonder if its too tall. It seems to me if it was reduced by about 3" it might work better. What are the dimensions of it?

[Joerhyno]

I some of mine cut up and laid out, I'll have to get some more of the foam board, I wanna make a section on my Imperial tower removable so you can see inside.
I gotta leave for work, so I'l get some WIP pics up late tonight.

PS, how'd the chat go? I didn't get on till late, then I couldn't log in.

[BrentS]

Great to see this Brent. It looks like it will be a good design. I don't see a reason to miter the corners if its going to be plastered.  I just wonder if its too tall. It seems to me if it was reduced by about 3" it might work better. What are the dimensions of it?

The base frame is roughly 6" high and 6" deep.  The overhanging ceiling is about 7.5" deep.  If the consensus is that its too tall, I can make some modifications to the bottom and make it shorter.  In looking at Ryan's concept picture, I decided that it needed to be taller than the standard 4" figure; however, maybe that's not what he intended.  I t would be difficult to reduce the size of the ceiling piece w/o starting over from scratch. 

[Joerhyno]

I didn't even notice how tall it was, I think if you loose a half inch to an inch from the bottom it'd look better, then at least, they could look out the window, lol..

[Joerhyno]

wasn't sure where this should go, but I got these today at a local Big lots.. I thought the watch towers could be used for the Imperials or something, might need to be converted a bit, to look more SW-ish.. but still, not bad for $8
These are for my Joes, but I thought I'd snap a pic for people, if you guys think they might work, i'll snag 2 more... I also got a cool bunk set and a parachute set, lol. the bunks might beable to be used in the barracks???

[BrentS]

I love those watch towers.  I wish we had a big lots around here!

unrelated....

I worked on my concept building last night a little.  I took about an inch off the bottom of the building to make the doors and window more to scale.  Incidently, I never noticed but 3.75" figures are actually a little taller than 4" (at least my ROTS Ki Adi Mundi was).

I didn't get a chance to take pictures last night but I'll try to update with pictures soon.  My plan is to try and get it spackled up and painted over the weekend.  I'll add the details like to door and wooden beams at the end.