This is my latest project (in progress). I have scratch-built the entire street section. Some of the holes you see are sewer openings (others created by mortar rounds) and will be covered with resin manhole covers. There is also going to be a sewer drain there (rectangle hole). I also plan on building sections of ruined buildings and have the whole area covered in debris. What do you think?

good work but it would be a shame to cover it up too much with debris.

Marty,
It looks pretty good to me. The only thing I think is missing is a gutter where the road meets the kerbs. This could be two thick row of cobbles in a different alignment to the main road section. This is not a critisisim, just a pointer for your next build.
How have you done it anyways? is it carved in, and how long has it taken you to get to this stage????
I would look forward to seeing the completed Diorama!

Sam

Looks terrible...good thing your covering it up with debris...use lots of it.

hehe
kidding ya. that's a great looking street. You might want to cast a mould of it first before you continue on....worth duplicating...might sell a few even.

kglack

Excuse me could u be more specific on the construction procedure? material, carving, painting? this is a fine work and i really want to know more and i learn also some things .
thanks

Marty - that is great. The variation in color and tone are wonderful and really make it easy to look at.

One thing I might do is make the mortar holes a little less round. I would take an entire cobble out at the edge. Just really nit picky, not much an issue because when you add debris who'll see.

This is really nice stuff.

a good diorama base and a really great use of colors .I especially like the coloring of sidewalks.I think you must be careful not to cover the nice coloring when making the debris.

Thanks for your comments. Here is a quick overview of my technique:

I start with a flat surface where I roll out a 1/4 inch thick layer (pancake) of plastalina (non-hardening modeling clay). I then cut it to desired shape/design. Next come the cobble stones and in this case I stamped them into the clay. Once I was happy with how things looked I surrounded/framed the whole work area (rectangle) with four pieces of thick plastic card. This step is necessary to define the size of the final casting as well as to prevent plaster from running all over the place once it is poured. Next comes (yes you guessed it) the plaster. I use ordinary plaster of Paris. I make my mix very watery so that it flows into all the details. Because of the water content in the mixture it will take longer to dry but the detail will be sharper. This last casting I actually put on top my furnace in the basement and it was dry in about a day or so. Once it dried, I scribed the sidewalk and curb detail and voilà, casting done. Thing to remember about this technique is that any detail that appears raised in plastalina will be indented once casted in plaster and any detail indented will end up raised.

Scott,

I see your point about roundness of the mortar craters. I did that on purpose so that when the time comes to apply rubble I can then decide what the actual shape is going to be by covering more or less of it with dirt.

Sam,

Point taken about the gutters. It is too late to make changes now but I might incorporate them into my next project.

Howdy Marty,

Superb work on the street scene! And many thx for taking the time to describe the process. Anything to do with diorama's and I'm there! :-)

Tread.

Did you use anything as a reference?

Marty,

looking good. One little thingie... Mortar rounds hardly ever fall that close to eachother. A mortar is an effective but also an inaccurate weapon..... two rounds will be meters and meters apart.

The second thing I want to mention, knowing this is a matter of personal taste, is the colour of the sidewalk. IMHO the brownish/orange colors that are used, give it a bit of an unnatural look.... but this is my personal taste....too much of a friendly Disney look, I wouldn't pay too much attention to it if I where you.

The stones that form the street section are IMHO perfect....this is how like a road or a streetsection....

keep up this very good work !! and please keep us posted too.

Nice work i love it!!