I just purchased a "Ruined Gathaus" from Verlinden for my Panzer IV diorama. The problem is that I have never worked with ceramics before. How much diiferent is it than styrene? How do I bond it and paint it? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Matthew

First of all. Welcome to Armorama.

I have never worked with styrene sheets nor do I have any experience, with Verlinden ceramics buildings, but I asume, the buildings are of the same material as their figure bases. Since the ceramics material is much like plaster and styrene sheets is plastic, there are a big diferrence between the two. To bond the ceramics I have used white glue(Sometimes dilluted) or superglue. Just glue it before you paint it.
When painting your buildings, I would recommend, you basecoat it first, since the ceramics work like a sponge and "eat" a lot of paint. Any kind of paint should do.
I hope this will help you.

You can also use two-part epoxy to bond the ceramic parts together.

Thanks for the help and the welcome...I love this place!!

Hey Matthew,

Since I'm very new at dio-making am I not sure if I'm completely correct on this matter.
This is what I've done:

1. Sanding the ceramic surfaces that needs to be glued, so they have a perfect fit.

2. Give the walls a liberal coat of car primer, so they won't suck up all your paint.

3. When dry, glue them together using white glue. After a night drying your building is rock-solid.

Than you can paint it in your disired way. I used Tamiya acrylics and the normal oil washes.

Greetz, John.

Instead of white glue that is ok for sure, u can use the 2 parts epoxy of 20 minutes that also dries rock hard and saves u time .

I'm with Costas here.

2 part epoxy is THE stuff to use for this. Be carefull though... when glued with 2 part epoxy you must watch the position of the two bonded parts during the first few minutes until the glue starts to do it's work. The parts tend to slide away during the first few minutes. It's best to secure both parts with a rubber band, a clamp or some pins and holes in both parts.

After it has cured the bonding is ROCK HARD and it will remain that way. Another benefit is that the rather thick glue also fills small gaps because between bad fitting parts.

One more thing i do to avoid slipping of the joining parts when using 2 part epoxy is to use blue tack over the two parts like a "bridge" keeping them sticked close and tight
Blue tack has been pretty much handy to me for several occassions , give it a try

To avoid the slipage all together, I will hold the two pieces together (with help if needed from the Mrs.) then drill the two pieces and add wooden dowels to act as pins. Then fill the drill holes with drywall mud. The pins will add strength to the joint.

Welcome to A, by the way!