Making walls or houses Desert Storm conflict

[Guest]

Hi all,

Calling all diorama and scratch builder in this forum. What is the best material to make a wall/house for desert storm (iraq/afghanistan) style? And with what do you guys paint them? Any idea or inputs are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Leo

[Guest]

Leo, our resident building expert is Ron (spanner570) & his thread on making stuff might help

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/threads/making-1-35-german-farm-buidings-from-a-pizza.13408/

I did see something else about roofing tiles for the Middle East somewhere ... if the grey matter fires up, I'll pop it on here.

Cheers

Patrick

[eddiesolo]

I use, lollipop sticks-coffee stirrers all great for wood structures-floorboards, roofing etc. Polystyrene is another use-you can then coat with a mixture of PVA and brick dust-mix together and slap on-once dry you can sand down any lumps. Balsa wood is also useful, Alan45 uses this to create some very convincing walls. For tiles I use balsa, or foam squares (purchased from a craft shop), soft enough to cut down and shape.

I paint with primer, then whatever colour you wish it to be-acrylics, enamels, oils etc all can be used to create the colours and weathering.

Si

[Guest]

Thanks Patrick and Si..

[Alan 45]

May I just add that cheap pollyfiller from poundland is a good cover as well this is a house I built from balsa wood last Christmas for a winter scene to give you an idea [ATTACH]81219.IPB[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

So i don't get it wrong, because from where i'm from it's kinda hard to get those products.

Polystyrene is stuff used for to go coffee cups or to go box???

Balsa wood is a sheet of wood like a plywood???

Becausei tried to use regular styrofoam and it looks artificial.

[Alan 45]

So i don't get it wrong, because from where i'm from it's kinda hard to get those products.Polystyrene is stuff used for to go coffee cups or to go box???

Balsa wood is a sheet of wood like a plywood???

Becausei tried to use regular styrofoam and it looks artificial.

Leo does the balsa wood look like this [ATTACH]81220.IPB[/ATTACH]

If so it's the same stuff and is easy to cut with a sharp knife .
Plywood in Britain is like this [ATTACH]81221.IPB[/ATTACH]

This is a harder wood that you need to cut with a saw

[eddiesolo]

This my Little Soldiers dio-the jetty is made from polystyrene (from a electrical appliance-this is the packaging) it has had a coat of PVA and brick dust-then airbrushed.

http://www.scale-models.co.uk/attachments/dscf2381-jpg.76035/

Use PVA to stick pieces together and paint with acrylics, do not use spray paint as the solvents attack it. You can build up the paint layers.

Balsa wood is used in model aircraft/gliders etc and is very light and is easy to cut, shape and sand. The do not come in large sheets AFAIK, they vary but are around 12inches long by 4 inches by 4mm-of course there are different thickness and lengths but nothing like the large sheets...of course I maybe wrong.

Si

[Guest]

Got it. Thanks Si and Alan

[Guest]

This is an interesting one & has the bit about making roof tiles I mentioned before. Although the guy is building a Miniart house, some of the scratch build bits might give some ideas & inspiration.

http://armorama.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&r eq=viewtopic&topic_id=91485

[Guest]

Hi guys,

So i finally can find balsa wood and polystyrene, i tried making walls and it worked. But what is the best paint for painting the polystyrene?? I tried the black tamiya rattle can (lacquer my guess) and it's working fine, but when i tried the enamel with my AB it won't stick to the polystyrene. I just couldn't buy more tamiya rattle can because it's expensive. Any inputs or ideas guys. Thanks

[spanner570]

Sorry to be a bit late on your request Leo.

Here is my Afghan house I did for a recent G.B. on here. It's an old polystyrene plant tray cut in two and the bottom became the roof.

The walls are just primed with a good coat of diluted PVA, then dirt from my green house floor thrown at it. Then when dry, painted with Cheap children's acrylics...the ones in tubes. Simple, but just what I wanted.

[ATTACH]81361.IPB[/ATTACH]


I hope this is of some use to you and good luck with the diorama.

Let's have plenty of progress pictures please.

Ron

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply Ron, it helps me a lot, i will try to use those acrylics paints tomorrow, still got tons of questions though, i'll ask along when the troubles come .

The afghan house you built is awesome by the way. Kinda gives me inspiration

Cheers

Leo

[Guest]

Told you Ron was the man Leo!

That Afghan house is so good itcould be an actual picture of one .

[monica]

hi Leo, if you used an undercoat you should be able to use just about any type off pain,

as Ron said thats how i do it, and for base painting I always use the cheap acrylics,

from the pond shop, at $2.oo a tube, and even there undercoat as well for about $4.oo a can

must say that ,the hut Ron made looks real good