01.24.08 » Source, Concepts & Initial Scratchbuilding

I've been wanting to make a lighthouse for quite a while now. One of my original ideas for my Griffon dio was to place it flying near one. After receiving the UC Hardgraph Cyclops Set, the idea came back to me. This diorama will feature a young boy standing off against a team of Zeon soldiers sent to secure the family lighthouse as a strategic lookout.

This diorama, like my Fireball one, will take advantage of the vertical space in my display cases. The base will be small, but the setting will reach near the vertical limits of my display. I'm estimating this to be roughly 13-14 inches tall when done. The base is made from some scrap lumber and will have the lighthouse, rocks, foliage, derelict rowboat, nautical junk, and other materials added on top of it.

01.24.08 » The Lighthouse and Scenery

The lighthouse is being scratchbuilt using an old drinking cup and spraypaint lid as a base. These were epoxied together and coated with a layer of stucco texture get to give the surface tooth for the next step being the large stone facade. The stones are slowly being added in sections with Amaco Marblex air-drying clay. Thin slabs are being applied to the outside then the brick pattern sculpted in. The bricks don't need to be too detailed as I'll later apply the mortar and a layer of in-scale-stucco to the outside.

The arched door and boat are made from thin basswood. I used some techniques I learned from Chuck Doan's website to paint and detail it to this point. I still need to make some black iron hinges and handle to the door and oar supports to the boat. The boat is based on plans for a single-sheet plywood rowboat here. I scaled them down for this dio.

After cutting the wood and gluing it into shape, I applied a few washes of black india ink thinned with water. This gives the wood objects an old weathered look.

When that is dry you ready the color of acrylic paint you want to apply to the objects. I used liquitex and apple barrel acrylics here. Apply a wash of thinner (I used mineral spirits) to the wood surface. Just apply to a section at a time. When that begins to dry, brush on a thin coat or two of your acrylic paint.

When that dries in a minute or two, apply sticky tape to the painted surface and pull it off. This lifts the paint from the wood giving you a great chipped paint on wood look. Afterwards you can weather it further such as the water damage added to the bottom of the door.

01.24.08 » PVN.3/2 Zeon Technical

The Cyclops set jeep is small, but has a lot of detail. The wheels are a vinyl material which have no flash, but will need the sprue marks sanded down. The front wheels are "steerable" which is a nice touch and the underside is nicely detailed. A hatch in the back conceals the tarp roof and the front hood hatch contains a spare tire. The engine is located in the rear of this vehicle. The driver and other figures, like the jeep, are molded in color and are nicely detailed. The faces are a little soft in the detail area, but if you wanted you could replace the heads with aftermarket ones.

The jeep is a quick and easy build however. What you see above took all of 3 hours to cut, sand, and put together.

01.24.08 » New Stones

I was messing around with a large piece of plaster I poured the other day... carving some stones into it. The stones look so good that I'm pitching what I have so far on the lighthouse and starting over with an all-plaster version. To do this I've poured plaster into the same shape cup I was using on the first. Then later I'll carve the stones into it with dental tools, then tap with a wire brush. It's easy to carve, looks MUCH better/more real and has inspired me to do a natural stone lighthouse instead.

To paint the stones I thin some india ink and various Apple Barrel acrylics. First I brush on a thin layer of the paint, then a thin layer of the ink. Less-thinned ink makes darker stones. More thinned paint and ink makes for lighter ones. For the mortar between I just rescribe into the bare plaster to reveal the natural white, then paint the bare plaster with a thin india ink/paint mix to tint it. Follow it all up with a coat of prepared matt medium and viola!

01.29.08 » Blistering Heights

After 4 days of carving then roughing up with a wire and nylon brush, the lighthouse tower is complete. And I havea few blisters from all that carving to prove it! Here's pics. Next up is the upper deck and light components.

01.30.08 » Top of the Tower

Today I finished painting the stones and started work on the top part of the lighthouse. After looking at several lighthouse photos I decided to go with a decagonal (10-sided) shaped top. The thin I-beams will hold clear plastic for the window panes. The T-beams around the outer perimeter are the supports for the balcony floor which will be wooden planks like a deck. You can also see that I have one of the 2 windows installed on the tower.

02.02.08 » Land Ho!

Happy Groundhog Day! How appropriate then that this update deals with the groundwork for this diorama. As seen above, the base is pieces of scrap lumber glued and stacked to make a sturdy platform. Added to this was rocks made from plaster. These were made using the Woodland Scenics rock molds purchased at my LHS. They look great and paint up beautifully. Once the rocks and such were glued in place, I covered the base in celluclay to blend in the ground to the rocks and make several sloped areas such as the slope for the stone steps. These too were made from plaster.

Over the celluclay I sifted a mixture of dirt, sand, plaster and small rocks. There were pressed into the celluclay and brushed off of the rocks. Larger pebbles were added afterwards and pressed in. I then steamed the plaster coating using my iron to add moisture via a very fine mist rather than spraying it with a spray bottle which usually makes drippy messes, pits, and craters for me. Once this dries, I'll paint it up and apply some washes and folliage.

02.07.08 » And now some green...

Once all of the plaster/dirt/celluclay had dried it was time to add the dirt coloring and some greenery. First I gave all of the plaster/dirt a coat of Prepared Matte Medium to lock and seal it. Then once dry, I painted the base in a mixture of real dirt I sifted and water. Basically, paint with mud. Once again I gave that a coat of Matte Medium thinned with water aka Prepared Matte Medium. When dry I dusted it all with various pigment powders such as Russian Earth, Dry Mud and Beach Sand.

I spent a day or two experimenting with creating moss. The moss and lichen tutorial can be seen here. My moss mixture was applied thinly in spots that are shady and would recieve some water. I also applied some lichen to the rocks for added texture/color.

Wooden dows were cut, weathered, mossed and inserted as supports for a rope railing. The rope is beige crochet string which was perfect for this. The plants are a mixture of acrylic-colored and teased out hemp rope, real sheet moss, real lichen, woodland scenics fine-leaf foliage and silflor spring grass and flowering meadows. And that's just for what's seen there so far. I plan on raiding the spice cabinet for some other folliage and litter.

Lastly, here's the top of the lighthouse so far. The light cylinder is clear PVC, large styrene tubing and brass sheet. It sits on the small servo which will spin the whole thing to reflect the light 360 degrees.

02.07.08 » BRING ME A SHRUBERY!

Nnnnnee! Nee. I needed some small bushes to fill out some of the dio and bring it to life. Again I turned to research and found that applying spices (parsley especially works nice) or dried crushed up green tree leaves to brown lichen brushed with white glue works especially well. Using different mixtures of spices or crushed leaves to produce different colors on different bushes makes for a more random/more organic look. Unter the bushes I shoved crushed brown leaves and brown bits of dried moss for the dead stuff from prior seasons.

The ground leaves also work well for recreating small creeping plants. My rear driveway ends up with small-leafy plants that spread out over the asphault, in sidewalk cracks, and everywhere else that's bare. Just apply some thinned white glue where you want these planst then sprinkle the leaves on it and blow away excess. Kinda like adding glitter to a kids project.

I also added the veneer to the outside of the base to finish that off. I used a 1/32" birch plywwood from Michaels. I stained it with thinned black ink then applyed some white drybrushing. When barely dry I then sanded it down to get a nice old greyed wood look. I think I'll add rusty nails to the corners for the final touch. This makes it match the rest of the nautical/rustic scene nicely.

02.13.08 » Rust Chipped Paint

Since I want this lighthouse to look somewhat dilapidated I decided to have the paint for the top peeling and chipping due to rust and harsh weather conditions. To achieve this look I first primed then painted the parts with a Tamiya Acrylic drark gray then random coats of Nato Brown and a rust mixture through my airbrush. Then I gave it a coat of FFA and let it sit for a day to cure. The next day I sprayed it with several coats of Hairspray and painted the white. A few hours later I used water and wet brushes to loosen the water-soluable hairspray under the paint and create the chipped effect.

02.14.08 » Jeep Painting Part 1

I'll be doing this as a step-by-step tutorial in my blog later, but here's what I've got on the jeep so far:

1: Primed jeep via airbrush with Mr Surfacer 1000 thinned with lacquer thinner and a few drops of Mr. Retarder Mild.

2: Sprayed jeep with gray then random swaths of Nato brown and a rust mixture. All Tamiya Acrylics. Later this will show through as random rust and primer coats under paint chips.

3: Clear-coated and sealed jeep with Future Floor Acrylic (FFA) thinned 50% with Tamiya Thinner.

4: 24 hours later 3 thin coats of hairspray (hair lacquer) were applied.

5: Jeep was sprayed with Olive green then parts were highlighted with JGSDF Olive Green which is a little lighter.

6: A few hours later, using clean water, various brushes were used to wet the model and loosen the water-soluable hairspray undercoat. This makes the topcoat of greens unstable temporarily so that they can realistically be chipped away with the wet brushes. Other implements (toothpicks, styrene card shards) can be used on the unstable surfaces to create line-scratches. Larger areas of paint can be removed as well as I did on the fenders. Remove as littler or as much as you want.

02.16.08 » Jeep Painting Part 2

8: Now that the chipping is done, it's time for decals. Normally I would coat the whole kit in gloss Future Floor Acrylic. This time however I just brushed a few thin coats where the decals would end up. Note the gloss on the front fenders.

9: Decals were applied and tools, dashboard, seat cushions, and other hand-paint-necessary bits have been painted. Mirrors and lights were painted with silver. Later clear Tamiya was applied where necessary based on the light color.

10: Now a satin coat of FFA was applied. This seals the topcoat from firther chipping attempts, accidental or not and seals the surface for the solvent-based weathering apps.

11: Next up, three applications of filters have been applied to all the jeep parts. Filters are kind of like a wash, but not really... they're hard to explain, but add a lot to the depth of a model. For this filter I mixed up a pale blue-green oil-paint mix with some turpenoid. This alters the color slightly and blends colors together between the various colored parts. It also "seasons" or tooths the surface slightly for the next step, discoloration. Note also as I go, more and more of the jeep gets put together. This is based on what needed painted when and with minimal masking.

02.19.08 » Jeep Painting Part 3

12: Once the filters have dried/cured for 24 hours, it's time for the discoloration. This technique involves applying small dabs of various oil colors then blending them in with a thinner dampened brush. This gives the surface more variation in color and a more realistic and deep appearance.

13: After the discoloration has dried, about 24 hours, a wash is applied. This wash is a mix of oil paint to a dirt-color then thinned with turpenoid. This thin wash is applied to the whole vehicle and all external parts such as wheels, seats, etc... While it's drying you might notice pools or water (thinner)-lines. These can be blended out with a stuff soft brush before the wash fully cures. Another 24 hours.

14: Next up is pre-dusting with the airbrush. For this I've mixed Tamiya Flat Earth with Flattened FFA to make a semi-transparent dirt-mix. This is sprayed in very light mistings where larger amounts of dust would collect. Side skirts, underside, and the rear pannel. More specific dusting effects will be added next with pgment powders.

02.19.08 » Jeep Painting Part 4

I didn't expect to finish this today, but here it is!

15: The windshield was masked off where the window wipers would hit. Then the windshield was lightly sprayed with my Tamiya Flat Earth + Flat FFA mix.

16: The tires were painted in flat black then had a satin finish applied. Pigments were dusted onto the wheels and then rubbed off with rubber gloves. This removes all the pigment except for what's around raised edges and in the treads. A little bit of pigments were then brushed around the road-hitting edge of the tire since it's been running on a dirt road and would pick that dirt up.

17: The machine gun was painted in flat black and given a flattened FFA coat. Powdered graphite was rubbed over the weapon to give it its gunmetal sheen. After it was attached to the jeep it had just a little disty pigment applied since the weapon would generally be removed and kept very clean and maintained.

18: Pigment powders were applied dry with various brushes. Thinner was applied to these dry pigments to affix them to the surface better. The end result is still fragile and should not be handled much, especially not with bare hands as that could leave fingerprints in the finish. The underside and rear panel recieved a lot of pigment, while the rest just got dust added in specific places. A little powdered graphite was rubbed onto the floor grates and sides where the crews feet would rub/polish the surface.

02.21.08 » Lighthouse Details and Figures

While doing everything else, I've been painting the figures. These take a while since I'm using oils so it ends up being a process of paint one color or paint some highlights, then set under a heater vent till tomorrow. All I have left now is shoes/boots, a little more eye detail, straps/equipment, and uniform details. There's decals for some of it that I can apply then add oils on top of to blend. The red neck detail and the insignia are decals. There's also some yellow parts on the soldiers uniforms that need painted as well.

Lighthouse-wise I added the painted/weathered door details (minus the bolts for the foor hinge parts), some chain (since BK liked that in a ref pic) fishing net, and my buoys. The buoys were made from styrene rods and spheres. I still need to lay the rest of the grass and flowers.

The fishnet is made from some nylon mesh material used for wrapping party/shower-favors... can't recall the name. (edit: called tulle!) I wasn't going to use it, but everything else was way too thick. I wanted something I could drape, but this wasn't it. Instead I had to make it into a roll with some painted beads used as floaters.

The top of the lighthouse is complete except for the wiring. Waiting on an LED order to finish that part.

02.23.08 » Grass and Bird Poop

At this point the figures are about finished... just a little drying left before their flat coat and discolorations. While waiting on them I've planted all of my Silflor grass. This diorama uses 3 different types of Silflor and bunches of my own home-made tall grass. The Silflor used is "SF72221 Dandelions & White Clovers", "SF71021 Spring Short 2mm Lawn", and "SF72021 Spring High Pasture 8mm Lawn" from the Flowering Meadows and Spring Assortment sampler packs. These were mixed-and-matched to get a natural random clumping between the heights and flower density.

In randoms spots I added some of my tall grass. This was made from short 2" pieces of hemp-rope which were dipped/soaked in various water-thinned green acrylics. After these bits were dry I took a wire brush to them to thin them out and seperate the clumps. Then they were snipped with scissors at various angles to randomize the lengths of grass in the clumps. After that the bottom-side was cut flat across, dipped into glue and placed on the scene. When the glue is dry you can ruffle up the grass clumps to get them looking bushy and blended into the scenery. Using these different colored clumps within the Silflor makes it more random and natural.

There's still a few pieces of grass that are drying, but while the glue dries, sprinkle the grass with real sifted dirt. Lightly brush this in so that it settles on top of and hides the white glue used to hold the grass down. Later you can press the dirt in more. I found that sprinkling the grass with crushed leaves/spices makes for some nice random litter/small plants thrown in.

In this pic you can see some heavy rope resting in the grass. Glue the rope down first, then plant grass around it. This gives the rops the look of weight on the grass. Also in this pic, the grass hasn't been dirted or teased out yet so between the flowers and plain grass there's a definite line. When the glue dries, this will be teased/blended. The small hole in the wood is to insert a nail or something to press the on/off switch for the lights/motor.

And what seagull-ridden natural scene would be complete without bird poop? I made a small nest using the same hemp rope cut into small bits. Small plastic Britta balls were painted and used as eggs and white oil paint with dabs of gray/black were used for bird poop. You know you're into the small details when scale poop is added. You'll notice it throughout the scene... that "crap" is a pet-peeve of mine as I always have to clean that "shit" off of my kids toys/swingset all summer. Grr.

02.24.08 » Last but not least...

So this will be the final update for this in-prog thread. At the moment the entire piece is completed except for the wiring of the motor and LED. Unfortunately I didn't oder any LEDs until this past week so I have a few days until they arrive before I can finish it. In the meantime, here's some final images of the figures which are done. Gun-straps were made from lead foil and boots have since been dusted lightly with pigments..

I used some Lifecolor Tensochrom "oil", "fuel" and "kerosene" to add some fuel stains to the engine caps.

And here's a final teaser before wiring and final pics.