This evening I got some more rocks stuck on. I scored the baseboard and then used the hot glue gun to get some uneven surfaces to allow the basing stuff to hang onto. I got the Compound mixed up and splatted on. Once it was going off I tried smoothing it down with water. I met a bit of a problem in that as I have had it a good old while then the plaster went off a bit quicker than I expected. Anyway this is what it looks like after the messy bit…
The next problem I am expecting is warping of the MDF. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Another conundrum I have come up with is how to cover the raw foam on the side and back. I may cover it in black card to begin with as it is easy to cut and will stick nicely with PVA. It won’t be very strong but this thing will spend its life living in a box so there won’t be much handling involved.
Talking of problems, I decided to scoff a couple of sweeties and shoved one onto my table while the other was in my gob. Bet you can’t guess what happened here with the plaster rock?
Tomorrow I hope to get some paint down onto the ground and then start work on the rocks… after that get some grass and things down… so here is a question for the diorama builders who have inspired me to have a go… do you put the miniatures on last or do you build them into the vegetation?
Bogenwald 
Warping of the MDF is a real pain in the rear! As for when to add the figures, I always place mine after ground cover. I haven’t done any really tall overgrown grasses, so I can’t help with that quandary.
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Cheers Eric, it is still flat just now…. in hindsight I should have placed a layer of blue foam across the whole base!
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Hopew it doesn’t warp on you. Always a problem when it does. If so try neat PVA brushed across the bottom of it and left to dry…..
Cheers,
Pete.
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Cheers Pete
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Personally I leave the figures until as late as possible but that cannot always be done. Much depends on the diorama itself as sometime you can box yourself in. What you have planned is quite open and accessible so that shouldn’t be a problem.
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Cheers Dave
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Had me thinking there Steve! having done quite a few I feel it now automatic! I make the base and paint any main features like roads first and then do my static grass or anything of the substitute grass effects which I used before I obtained the static grass equipment (get your stud ends in the science class to make you one), after that its major trees then the figures followed by the smaller shrubs and bushes and finally I go over the whole site and add any mosses with a puffer bottle. I hope that helps mate, if not feel free to ask for a more detailed explanation!
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Cheers Pat, I really appreciate your support. I have a cheap static grass applicator, I will have to practice with it, I have got the grass down now, so will see what tufts etc I can add. How do you seal your flock etc?
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Nice !
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