Topic: Clonehead's dioramas

[Clonehead]

looking good!

  Thanks, Shawn!

[Rodger]

I am curious.. How do you display your collective works ?

Keep up the Good Work Clint 

[Clonehead]

I am curious.. How do you display your collective works ?

Keep up the Good Work Clint 

Well, Rodger, since I haven't kept that much of my own stuff, It still fits on one shelf in a display case that I have two of in my living room. I shall take a pic of the two cases and after I finish the snow dio that I am working on, I will snap a shot or two of that shelf .
  Thanks for the compliment, buddy.

[Clonehead]

I found some shots of a little desert dio that I sold on ebay with an unbuilt military model one time.
  This was decorated to be a rocky, grassy environment and featured more long grasses than I had ever incorporated into a diorama, before.
  The rock is aquarium rock and smaller train diorama talus. There is some woodland scenics fine turf in there, along with some woodland scenics fine grass which is made out of horsehair, I think.  I used a hobby Lobby $1.50 wooden plaque, for the base which I finished with Thomsons nutmeg brown water seal.

[Clonehead]

I still haven't gotten rodger his pics, yet.

I have decided to make a little one figure desert dio to go with the desert camo mando that I've got going in my customs thread.
  To start out, I have chosen a little $0.50 wooden plaque that I bought at a Hobby Lobby, some time ago. To keep the watery scenic cement that I am going to use to fixate the groundwork from soaking into and warping the wooden plaque, I am sealing the top of the plaque with clear packing tape to drape over the sides. After the groundwork dries, I will cut the tape around the upper edge of the dio leaving the tape under the groundwork and exposing the bare wood around the parameter to be stained with thomson's water seal  later. I used scotch tape to make walls to contain the groundwork when it's wet and will peel them away later. I also drilled a hole into the middle of the top of the plaque and glued in a piece of 16 ga coated tie wire that will be trimmed shorter and serve as a footpeg for our figure, later. I primarily stuck the wire in the hole using superglue and then sealed the hole with Elmer's white glue. "I don't want water getting into the wood that way, either"

[Clonehead]

I went ahead and glued some pieces of aquariem rock to the base using white glue to possibly poke out of the groundwork depending on how deep I pour it.
  Not having any fine sand, I am using woodland scenics train diorama snow which I will paint to look like sand, after it sets up. I poured in a nice amount of the snow, leaving some of the rocks partially exposed and then soaked it down with woodland scenics Scenic Cement which is like white glue and water mixed. After the snow was nice and soaked, I sprinkled on some more aquariem rock, some finer and even finer train ballast and then gently pushed the bigger chunks into the snow, a bit. I sprinkled some more scenic cement over the rock to help them stick and then put the little dio aside. It will take three days for the snow to fully cure.

[Tamer]

I really like the wood bases on these.

[Clonehead]

I really like the wood bases on these.

They look pretty sharp after you throw some stain on that exposed edge.
I may have to pick up some more of those plaques. I forgot how easy it is to make a little dio using them.
  A little snow dio like this would be perfect for you to try Shawn.

[Tamer]

I really like the wood bases on these.

  A little snow dio like this would be perfect for you to try Shawn.

So I hear Clint, so I hear!

[Clonehead]

I really like the wood bases on these.

  A little snow dio like this would be perfect for you to try Shawn.

So I hear Clint, so I hear!

I mean, what better way to do a test run for that big snow dio that I know that you want to make?

[Tamer]

I really like the wood bases on these.

  A little snow dio like this would be perfect for you to try Shawn.

So I hear Clint, so I hear!

I mean, what better way to do a test run for that big snow dio that I know that you want to make?

When I do go for it, its gonna be big time dio. Sink or swim!

[Clonehead]

I really like the wood bases on these.

  A little snow dio like this would be perfect for you to try Shawn.

So I hear Clint, so I hear!

I mean, what better way to do a test run for that big snow dio that I know that you want to make?

When I do go for it, its gonna be big time dio. Sink or swim!

Now that's what I like to hear! Big Honking Snow dio at Tamer's house! You could sell tickets!

[Clonehead]

While I was considering putting my groundwork materials away, I thought "That one started so easily that I might as well make another for an ebay sacrifice." so I did.
  If I keep this up, I am going to have a whole kitchen full of diorama brownies.

[Tamer]

They do look kinda yummy.

[Clonehead]

Didn't get too much time for custom stuff, tonight. I did unwrap the contest mando's diorama brownie and got some paint on it, though. I started with a super thinned down desert yellow over all of the groundwork of a shade darker than the mando's armor. Then I used the same base color of his undercoverings and brushed it on all of  the larger chunks of  aquarium gravel and talus. Then, I drybrushed that same yellow color over the rocks again allowing the brown to show through. I'm thinking that If I add a few random clumps of desert grass, it would make this little dio pop.  They will look like the clumps of long grass that I applied to the last dio that I posted pics of but the clumps would be more sparsely placed. Perhaps 4-5 clumps of 6-8 blades apiece. Once I get that done and touch up paint the grass areas, all I have to do is trim shorter the tiewire footpeg and paint it, cut and remove the tape from the bare wood border and stain it, and then I'm done.