Tips For Scenery On Your Layout or Diorama

     Have you ever wondered how modellers of dioramas and railroad layouts get nice clean, carved lakes, water bodies and cool mountain scenery?  How its done without the heavy hassle of wood and plaster?
    
     The trick is to making your project lighter, easier and more fun to work with is the Insulating Styrofoam. You know the dense stuff that comes in Pink or Blue. Its easy to get from home improvement stores or somewhere that sells construction supplies. The foam usually comes in 4' x 8' sheets and doesn't flake away or create a huge mess like the pellet white Styrofoam can.

     Using a knife, hot wire foam cutter or other creative tools you can carve into it, cut it, and paint it (with acrylics). To create water bodies outline the area with a pencil line gently pressed into the foam (you can change or adjust it as needed). When you have the area lined out, carve it out with varying depths for realism. Make sure you seal the bottom with an acrylic sealer or a layer or two of white glue.

     The pink Styrofoam is very rigid and I have found it's also very easy to stack to make very realistic looking mountains, just stack, glue and carve. You can add small areas of hydrocal rock faces for extra effect and little added weight.

     So, the next time your stuck in a construction related traffic jam, don't get to frustrated you can spend the time looking around for bits of discarded foam and thinking of that new idea to add that extra fantastic look to your next project.

~ submitted by Jesse Millington

(This article is by one of our staff. He has had experience with model building, model railroading and collecting. This article is his opinion. There are many different ways to make and design water and if you have any tips you would like to share or an article you think our readers would enjoy, we invite you to share it in the comments on this blog, on our Facebook (www.facebook.com/ChinookAndHobbyWest) or on our website (www.chinookandhobbywest.com). Thank you for following our blog Chinook Hobby Talk.)

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Modelling Diorama tips

It seems that there are an increasing number of people wanting to get into modelling (model kit and diorama building) these days. Most of these are people that built kits years ago and some are first-timers. Their skills may be rusty or non-existent. We would like to assist you with helpful suggestions on building, painting and detailing.

  Many models, even cars, can be put into a simple diorama setting adding a new dimension to your modelling skills by adding a story. For example, you just finished a car model and you put it on your shelf. Nice. Now picture it sitting on a piece of thin wood painted in a tarmac or concrete colour, paint in 2 yellow lines and you have a parking lot. This sets the car off nicely, and it was simple to do.

You could just as easily make a roadway base. Add some Woodland Scenics dirt and grass and you have a country road.

This idea of putting your models into scenes is where modelling and trains (building model railway layouts) meet. Both use the same materials and skills. A model train layout is basically just a big diorama, just a little more work & imagination.

    As a hobby shop host for our guests, it is not only our responsibility to provide the materials the modeller needs but to provide the knowledge on how to create the effect they are looking for. There are the basic techniques and materials that are commercially available but we have found over the years that many modellers have found other ways to create using different ideas, many of which have nothing to do with traditional modelling.

   We invite any modeller that has different ideas and/or techniques to share this with other modellers by emailing your idea or YouTube video so we can post it with your name (if you wish). We also invite train modellers to share what the have discovered over the years. The more knowledge you have, the more enjoyable modelling is.

~~This post is by Al B. at our South store. He has been doing various model and diorama builds for over 30 years. This blog is his opinion on how he views modelling.

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