Dioramas

[AVRoe]

I´m just starting my second 1/35 diorama the first one was OK, i want to better this time. North Africa 1942 desert rats. Can anyone tell me how to make the sand realistic,normal sand is out of scale. Any other advise ? Thanks. PS how do you get skin to look realistic.

 

[Njaco]

Its been along time but the last time I did a desert scene I used plaster-of-paris or simething similar, and took a sponge or brush and just tapped around until I got the right texture. Then did the tire tracks, footprints, etc. This was before it dried.

Its been along time and can't remember exactly what I used but I'm pretty sure it was the plaster.

 

[Heinz]

Njaco that sounds about right. Add some sand to the mix aswell.

 

[Catch22]

This looks like it'll be cool. On mine (Ostfront, 1943ish), I put some troops, but I found that 1/35th scale guys are too small to get their faces really good, so I just painted them flesh.

 

[Njaco]

At that scale you shouldn't have too much problem painting faces. Its not so much exact color but a pattern of color on the face. Pink for the whole face with a darker pink or tan on the cheeks. I'll try to find a schematic I had that made it easy. Once I knew which colors went where it wasn't too bad.

Try these links.

Missing Links Painting 1/35 Scale Heads Using Oils "The Bannerman Way" Article

Missing Links Mark Bannerman Painting 1/35 scale heads in 8 steps Article

 

[Bustedwing]

Baking soda makes nice sand, spray it with a water based sand colour. It soaks right in and looks very convincing. Not that I do any dioramas but I was into HO railroads at one time and built a couple of layouts.

 

[AVRoe]

Thanks Guys, my first is also the Eastern front,bought a Flak 88,it looked lonely so i added a halftrack a panzer. Then decided to do a diorama. Njaco im doing the base as you said, you can alter it simply. Good idea The wed site is TOP.Not all British soliders were white. I`ll try baking soda but normaly i use one pack Acrilic.