im looking to do something like a street corner out of plaster of paris, but i have never used it before. i worked in construction with my father for a couple of years and i know how to make frames, but im unfamilliar with the older world war 2 half timber house framing. ive never even really had plaster of paris before, but im about to go and buy some. also, what height should i make my doors and windows to get the standard door size? would it be easier to take a standing fig and go about another head taller? many questions here. i have seen some thing is FSM magazine on this but nothing really detailed, and it was a couple years ago so i dont remember, nor can i find that issue. if anyone has links to features on this that show in detail how to do this can someone post or pm me a link? all help is appreciated

**something i thought of just a little off topic is dealing with celluclay. i put some on foam and waited for it to dry, then the next day i came back and it was warped very badly. does anyone know how to avoid this? i will be building a 3ft long turpitz pretty soon and i would like to make a base for it but i fear it will be just like my last experience:( thank you all!

Ola Corey

I have tried some techniques for making houseruins or just complete houses and I think plaster of paris works quite good although I think it is a bit messy and airbubbles can occur very quickly besides that it is very heavy. I usually make my buildings of Styrofoam which is really great stuff. It is light, Easy to cut, you can scribe in detail with a pen, and due to it`s lack of weight it is no problem to glue it with Elmers glue or white glue. I have an article about making a ruined street corner which can be found in the following link
Distraction: Greta's Revenge
I described the whole way I made the building and the rubble.
For inspiration about building styles in that period you should check out old postcards of the region you are building often that will give you a good idea of the building style and architecture features.
Check out this link which goes to the walkaround section of this site a lot of building pictures can be found here and will give you a good idea of old buildings in different regions.
Building pictures
There were a couple of more sites that were posted by BlockHaus who is also a very talented building maker here on Armorama.
next page for instance will give you some detail shots of German rural area buildings.
Fotos: Architektur Landhausstil
I suggest you browse through his topics he started as you cannot only learn some very good techniques of making buildings it is also a great resource for links about the subject
you can find it here
Blockhaus topics

About the doors and windows. There are 2 ways of doing that. Taking a figure and measure the door a bit bigger. Or..... Since doors really haven`t changed much during the last 100 years you can easily take a door in your own home take dimensions and divide with 35. This way you get the dimensions in 1:35. Then you make it in Evergreen or Balsawood.

I don`t know about the celluclay but I have some experience with foam warp/melt when I smeared some brands of wallspackle on it. Later I found out that some of the wallspackles contained some stuff that makes the foam soft. when you have this wallspackle on Acrylic basis you should not encounter problems with warping.... ( at least I didn`t encounter any problems) I personally would go for a wooden underground as it is sturdier. You only have to lacquer it first so it will not warp really fast as the moisture can`t get in the wood.

Quite some information here which would answer at least a lot of your questions you have. If something is not clear to you from my explanation just shout and I will try to explain.

Hi Corey. I submitted an article a while back that might help you with the plaster and making molds for it.

Building a base for a 1/16 scale figure

An image of the article;


Hope this gives you some ideas. Just ask,if you have any questions.

Corey;
Since you were in construction, you have access to great scatchbuilding material-drywall. Just put "Drywall" into the search option and there are a few articles/threads on the subject, or PM me and I can give you my version of how to use it.

Art

i dont think that styrophome would be good for me because i use only enamel paints(oils for faces on figs). when i used enamels on my styrophoam base one time i could hear it eating the stuff after i sprayed it. no marring occoured really, but i just dont think it would do as well as plaster. i was thinking that foam might make a good mold tho, and plasticbattle sent an excellent feature on how to use styrene to make a mould. thanks for the help. now i just need to learn how to use celluclay without having it warp. i think i just use too much water, but the thing is its about like oatmeal when i do it. might start a seperate forum for that in the dio area. thanks guys!