discussion Would like advice

[Davros]

So to begin I'm building my first ever diorama (1:72 scale) and I'm no pro but I'm enjoying the process. this morning I had a wild idea to make my grass more realistic. My diorama is based on a ww2 country side air field. The idea is mole hills and I was wondering if anyone has had experience making mole hills for there dioramas. What size would I need to make them and what would be the best material to use.

 

[colin m]

I'm not a dioramaist (I made a word up there) so can't offer any advice, except to say, a 1:72 mole hill will be tiny. Is it worth it ?
Maybe have a look at the train scene. 00 gauge is = 1:76 Someone into trains might have built mole hills and have the answer already.

 

[Jim R]

If a mole hill is 150mm high (6 inches) then at 1/72 scale it would be 2mm high. I would make a 2mm high pile of very fine pigment powder and then use something like VMS Ballast Freeze to 'set' it.
It might not work, I've never done it

 

[spanner570]

Use blobs of bathroom silicone. Then when still workable, sprinkle on a bit of dust, whatever colour you wish.

Ron

 

[pjgtech]

As above just divide the size you think the molehills will be and divide by 72.
So, if you think the molehill would be say, 300mm wide and 150mm high, then at 1:72 scale it would be approx 4mm wide and 2mm high, so very small! Lol...

As for material, I would use very very fine sand or maybe a blob of filler or some form of powdered pigment maybe?

 

[scottie3158]

The above suggestions all sound good to me. Failing that some real earth dried out and mixed with some PVA to make a thick paste then blobbed on to the scene.