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1st photo
Illustration board 0.5mm cut free hand to form the slope. Under I built a grid (just two or three plates standing vertically, to withstand the terrain.
2nd photo
The Das Pronto clay. I should have used the one colored clay (ocher red), but I had this 1kg pack opened and this stuff has a very short shelf life.
I have a little tray I built with 2mm plastic. In the middle is just one thickness, on the edges it is two thicknesses. I lay a piece of aluminum foil, and with a flask (coated with talcum powder) I press the lump I shaped by hand into a roll. The end result is a “matt” 2mm thick. Oh! In this case, I used talcum powder under, so I could release the clay from the aluminum foil. This is a technique I learned back in the 80s from a French magazine Loco Revue.
The tree stump was sculpted with the same clay, but the small retaining wall is a casting I made using gypsum (the kind used to finish drywalls).
3rd photo
This is the odd part of modeling. I prepare my ground cover wuth real dirt, but this time I was looking for the rich soil of forest. Since I make at least two pots a day of coffee, I started drying the used coffee and then mixing it with dirt. I’m pleased with the color and texture and for at least a couple of days the diorama had a discreet scent to coffee.. Nice change form the usual paraphernalia of chemicals…
4th photo
The grass is from Noch. It is a well known German manufacturer. They commercialize Woodland Scenics, I wouldn’t be surprised id the opposite happens in the States. This is N scale (1/160). It comes on a gelly matt that can be broken in irregular pieces and applied with PVA glue. Noch also has a new range of laser cut paper models of specific plants…
I used three references to avoid a monotonous look.
The planks used for the retaining walls are from the kit of the outhouse (free offer form Clever Models). Toothpicks were used for the poles. I hammered them to spread the top as it really happens whe you stick them to the ground.
5th photo
Flowers in a military diorama…
It was not intended to look nice
I got a dab of color and brought the notion of contrasts between the beauty of a simple life and the horrors of war
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