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Dioramas: Buildings & Ruins
Ruined buildings and city scenes.
Hosted by Darren Baker
Italian home
roudeleiw
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Luxembourg
Joined: January 19, 2004
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Posted: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 09:11 PM UTC
Well done! Missed it until now, sorry, but really worth looking.


I have just one remark about the ceiling plaster.
I suppose that glueing for example a sheet of cardboard under the lathe to imitate the roof would yield the same result and is easier to do. Just need to paint or treat the cardboard.

Greets
Claude



Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 10:34 PM UTC
Thank you again for the nice comments!

Claude, yes a piece of card would be a faster / easier way to simulate the ceiling, however, I wanted to imitate the plaster pushing through the lathe as the attic area will be exposed. On the lower level I will use card for the ceiling as the floor above it will make seeing the top of the lathe impossible.
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2009
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Posted: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 11:19 PM UTC
Looks better than anything designed by the major companies. Sitting down and taking your time, I assume is key. Measure twice and cut once? I'll be following this one.
bill1
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West-Vlaaderen, Belgium
Joined: August 14, 2005
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Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 03:46 AM UTC
Yo Chris,

Spot on work with the stucco!!

What a sharp work on the roof, nice building technics you showing us.

Very nice topic to follow.

Greetz Nico

Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 01:14 PM UTC
Matt, not so much measure twice cut once, but a whole lot of patience. The brick work alone will drive you nuts if you don't have some good music to listen to and get into the "zone".

Thanks Nico, glad you like!
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 10:00 PM UTC
Made some small progress over the last few days. Life has been getting in the way a bit, so the progress slowed.

I was able to get the first levels floor done. I built it out of bass wood with the help of a couple jigs to hols everything secure while I built it.













Once the assembly was complete, I decided to add some plumbing to get more visual interest. I cut more scrap sprue and drilled it out again. I attached this to the underside of the floor joist with CA glue.







For the finish on the floor I wanted a really worn and aged look, so with several washes and some dry brushing with different tones of brown I was able to achieve the look that I am happy with.....for now.





edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
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Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 10:55 PM UTC
Hi Chris!
Wonderful job here!
I am tacklig a similar subjet, and I was wondering what did you used for the washes and the dry brushing... oils? Which colors?

Thank you
Edo
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 02:07 AM UTC
Thanks Edo,

I finished the floor with cheap acrylic paint found at the craft store. The first step was to thin down a light grey color and flood the entire surface. Once dry I followed this with a very thin wash of thinned acrylic black. I then used two different browns, one dark and one light, to drybrush the surface. After I gave it another wash of the light gray and then with a very fine brush outlined every edge of each board with thinned black to help it stand out. I also did the same for the nail holes.

The final step was to take very fine steel wool and sand the entire floor removing layers of paint in random areas until I got the desired look of worn wood flooring.

I hope this makes scence and helps you out a bit
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
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Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 06:00 AM UTC
Hi Chris!
Thank you for the useful info!
You did really a wonderful job, I'll try to follow your steps.

This is my floor...

to tell the truth I painted it with rusted vinegar and now it is dark brown... so my start is uphill...

The project I am working on is here, in case you are intereste in dropping by, you are moree then welcome....
www.aeroscale.co.uk/forums/184874&page=1

ciao
Edo
Scale_Mason
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Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 07:09 AM UTC
Very nice work edo! I like the damaged floor, it will look great once weathered. The only thing I can say, and this is not to sound rude but advise that I was given not to long ago, is that your bricks are a little out of scale and they need to be in more of a straight line. Time and patience is the key to making the cork work. The bricks should be about 2mm by 6mm with 0.3 mm spacing between them.

I hope this helps you and it isn't taken like I don't like your dio, I do like it a lot and will follow along with it.
samkidd
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Alaska, United States
Joined: January 06, 2006
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Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 08:09 AM UTC


Your work is really amazing. Both the design and execution are spot on. Great work.


Jim
Large Scale Armory
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
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Posted: Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 06:29 PM UTC
Hi Chris!
Your comments and suggestions are much more then welcome!
I'll keep in mind your brick proportions for my next build.
To tell the truth this my very first attempt with cork, and I have to say that it is a great medium to work with and an enjoyable buid so far, so it won't be my last for sure and I'll build more experience as I go.
A bit tedious to cut all those bricks, though... Very hard to keep focused and I'm sure the more I cut the less even they were....
Keep up with the great work of yours, if you have any question about Italian houses, just ask, I'll be glad to try to answer you.
Ciao
Edo
pdelsoglio
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Mendoza, Argentina
Joined: November 13, 2005
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Posted: Friday, January 20, 2012 - 12:23 AM UTC
Chris,

Once again...
That house is getting better and better!

Cheers.

Pablo
AlanL
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England - East Anglia, United Kingdom
Joined: August 12, 2005
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Posted: Friday, January 20, 2012 - 12:29 AM UTC
Hi Chris,

Really interesting build with lots of good hints and tips.
Excellent progress.

Al
retiredyank
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Arkansas, United States
Joined: June 29, 2009
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Posted: Friday, January 20, 2012 - 05:41 AM UTC
The nail holes speak well of your attention to detail. So, are you interested in build a 1:1 house for me?
fantastic12
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Joined: January 26, 2012
KitMaker: 19 posts
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Posted: Thursday, January 26, 2012 - 12:14 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hello all, it has been some time since I could build anything for me. I have been crazy busy over the last few months and needed something to get my mind off of everything and enjoy building something that will go on my shelf.

So I am working on the building for this dio now, have no idea what vehicles or figures will be in it as of yet. The design of the building came from Carlos (Blockhaus) so the credit goes to him for the design and I hope that my building skills are worthy of bearing his name on the design :-

I will be building this out of 3 kinds of cork some of which came all the way from Spain to be placed on this building. Im using three kinds because they all very in thickness to give better visual interest.

Here is the original art work drawn by Carlos:



So I started cutting the foam core to the right shape and size as well as chopping endless amounts of cork for the stones and bricks. This was my first attempt at working with cork for many years and was satisfied with how this was coming out, that was until I showed Carlos and got schooled on my errors



After the discussion with Carlos I decided I needed to rip off the brick section and start over, as you can see in the next photo the bricks are spaced to far apart and the joints are all uneven. This makes for an unrealistic look as no building would be constructed in this messy manner.



SO after spending many hours reworking the bricks I managed to come out with a much better end result thanks to the guidance of Carlos. You will see the bricks are better spaced and all are even with one another.








[email protected]
fantastic12
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Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Joined: January 26, 2012
KitMaker: 19 posts
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Posted: Thursday, January 26, 2012 - 12:23 PM UTC
Dear friend,
your photo,diorama w the Italian ruins you was make very beautifully with full detail realistic.It s my sense
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
Joined: July 01, 2011
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Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2014 - 07:54 AM UTC
Hello once again everyone! I have been absent for quite some time but have been lurking around a bit.

Just writing to let you all know I have come back to this project and have now finished it!





1stjaeger
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Wien, Austria
Joined: May 20, 2011
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Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2014 - 08:45 AM UTC

Hi Chris,

looks great!! One thing maybe....the roof tiles are definitely too homogeneous IMHO.

Just my 2c worth!

Cheers

Romain
ahandykindaguy
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Alberta, Canada
Joined: August 20, 2008
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Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2014 - 09:10 AM UTC
Glad to see you finish the building Chris. Will you be posting pics of the interior? And how about the in progress commentary? I for one know how easily real life can keep us from modelling, but I'm glad you found time to complete this great building!

I'm sure Carlos will be proud of the result of your interpretation of his drawing. Very well done.
justsendit
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Colorado, United States
Joined: February 24, 2014
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Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2014 - 09:22 AM UTC

Quoted Text

... While the plaster is drying I have decided to start work on the down spout ... To simulate this I am going to be using a section of sprue from a model kit and a salvaged piece from the Mini Art street lamp set.



Hi Chris,
You really had fun creating that downspout, didn't you? I did something similar once with an exterior door light, since MiniArt is so generous with spare parts in their kits.

Dude! ... I could have used one of those choppers when I was cutting Styrene bricks last month!

Your build log has been both fun and very informative. You've got skills! Thank you for sharing.

--mike
Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2014 - 03:26 PM UTC
Thanks for the comments again guys!

Romain, I agree that there needs to be more color in the roof. This is both due to a dead line for boxart and the lighting on the final pictures.

Here is a better shot of the colors in the roof, again next time I need to add more variations.



Dave, I do have some progress pics and will do some commentary when I get some spare time

Mike, yes the chopper does come in very handy!! And yes, I did have fun coming up with the Miniart conversion Thanks for the compliments!
1stjaeger
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Wien, Austria
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Posted: Sunday, June 15, 2014 - 08:40 PM UTC

Hi Chris,

this is the photo we took for a reference for our roof:


and this is what we made out of the ref:




Seeing the 2 images together like that...I find our rendering less convincing!


BTW what did you use for the tiles? I think they would be perfect for my HUE!

Cheers

Romain

Scale_Mason
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Washington, United States
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Posted: Monday, June 16, 2014 - 03:32 PM UTC
Romain, I used the molds from diorama debris. Only thing I did different is cast them in resin. Unless you have casting equipment (pressure tanks) I would not recommend doing it this way and use the hard plaster like dental stone. I have an advantage to work at a casting shop and have access to industrial casting equipment.

You can find the molds here, I highly recommend them!!!
1stjaeger
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Wien, Austria
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Posted: Monday, June 16, 2014 - 07:01 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Romain, I used the molds from diorama debris.

I highly recommend them!!!




Hi Chris,

thanks for the info! I agree that the moulds are to be recommended! I have some for bricks and they work just fine!

I just found that the "motion" of the tiles is too regular if you see what I mean. They look like interference ripples in water produced by regulated stirs.

Forget it! The house looks great!!!

Cheers

Romain


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