Can anyone give me help on building dioramas for models?

Question

I got a great answer from an formal sailor on ocean water. Can anyone tell me how to create a river flowing through a diorama for tanks and such. What do I use for the water? How do I do it. With that out of the way, how do I construct the basic shape of the land, make mud and water (like a wet and rainy Vietnam day), busted up buildings, tress, grasses, dirt, roads, and everything else that it takes to make an accurate and flat out cool looking diorama? Then how do I keep it looking that way?

Answer 1

Creating Realistic Water Effects:
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/001-100/TNT067_making-water_Geraths/tnt067.htm

Making Ground Work:
http://ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2002/06/stuff_eng_tech_diorama_bases.htm

Check out Model Railroading sites as they use some of the same techniques:
http://www.pwmrc.org/Index.htm

Book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0890241953/idfmodelling

Diorama/Modeling Sites/Groups:
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/
http://ipmsstockholm.org/
http://www.network54.com/Forum/78970/

Answer 2

for a Diorama... start with a LARGE sheet of paper and layout the scene... use cardboard for buildings... just PLAN the diorama !! Photos again... move things around until they look right, and tell a story !!

I build mine on 1/2 inch plywood... I use foam to build up the land and then carve in any streams, foxholes, etc. Then I cover it with Cellu-clay.

You can buy scenery materials at any hobby-shop... I recommend Woodland Scenics material for model railroads (trees, grass, turf). The ALSO make a GREAT "water": you just build up your stream or creek and pour it in !! Be careful though because MOST waterways aren't clear !!

Buildings can be built from scratch... but there are also plaster-cast buildings from Verlindin for Europe and Asian stone buildings. I once built a 1/35 scale log-cabin out of chopsticks !!

Your BEST reference is "How to Build Great Diorama's" by SHEP PAINE !! His was the book I bought when I started years ago.