Topic: Alderaan ARF Dio

[TheEpicARF]

Hello all! I'm starting a new dio, it's gonna be ARF troopers hiding in the bushes, scouting, while a bunch of droids pass by, on Alderaan.

I have a layout. It's gonna be fully dirt, grassed out except for a small dirt path that the droids will be on and a few rocks lining the right side of the path, which some ARF troopers will be hiding behind. There's gonna be trees and bushes lining the path, some of which have ARF troopers hiding in 'em.

I have one question for you experts out there:
To house the dirt, should I use a box or something? What should I use as a starting point. I was thinking a box 'cause I could fill it with dirt and have the top be the dio, but for the people who have more experience, let me know.

[Tamer]

If I were you, I would love through the dio section here and you will see a wide diversity to the question you have asked.

[hemble]

Hey Mate,

If you are wanting the dio to be re-used the lid idea is the way to go as you can add or remove whatever materials you like.

Ron

[JDeck]

I'm not real sure what your planning, but I just mix some dirt with white glue then spread it on the base of the dio. Before it dries you can shape it and It'll harden anyway you want. You can add rocks, plants things like that. For a base I use foam insulation board but you can even use a picture frame, or plywood, anything. If you want something temporary for photographing, a shallow box lid would work. Welcome aboard.

[TheEpicARF]

Alright, before you hate all over me, i'll describe what I did.

So first, I took a shoebox lid.

Then, I covered the inside in white tape.

This won't be temporary, it'll be permanent ( Hopefully ).

The tape shall make sure the box ain't getting rekt by the damp-dirt-glue mixture.

Pictures have come in!

New Edit: ( Am I an idiot? )

[JDeck]

  Good idea with the tape, sometimes the mixture can be runny depending on how much water you add. You don't need a lot of water just enough to make it a little sticky, because you want it to keep the basic shape you sculpt it. I found adding coffee grounds to your dirt makes a nice color and consistency, even a little cat litter to make small gravel. You can add tiny sticks things like that.

   Ive been building dioramas for a few years now I still watch hours of YouTube videos on "how to build dioramas" they really help out a lot because there are a multitude of ways to build them. Stormthecastle has great videos you can apply to any scale. Budgetjedi makes really cool star wars dios out of just ordinary cheap junk.  YouTube tutorials can give a lot of good fundamentals. Personally I need to actually watch someone do something right in front of me to fully understand it.   Your definitely on the right track, your thinking ahead. Keep up the good work.