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Creating Diorama Walls From Foam

Creating Diorama Walls From Foam

TEXTURING & CARVING:

Once I got the basic walls traced out roughly how I wanted them with the penned-in guide lines, I took to actually carving things out a bit more. (I plan on later doing “ruin” or “battle damaged” walls using the woodburning tool for deeper cuts and smoother carving, but for now, basic tools worked well enough.)

I started on the brick walls first, and below are some photos showing the basic steps I took. I used a cheap plastic needlepoint “needle” (shown below) to retrace the horizontal mortar lines between the brick rows (I also found some other great uses for needle point plastic grids, to be shown later used as mesh grills, fences and even manhole covers!). I used a metal straight-edge to guide the lines, and dug in deep enough to give a good recess that will take paint later on and still retain good depth.

After doing all the horizontal lines and tracing around the doors/windows/grills, I decided to do the vertical lines. As a word of caution, this apparently goes perpendicular to the “grain” of the foam that I was using, and tends to tear somewhat if you’re not careful. This will not be a problem if you are doing damaged or worn buildings (like mine) but just a word of caution, as I wasn’t exactly expecting the foam to have a “grain”.

To get around this, I actually used a small flathead screwdiver to “punch” in the vertical mortar lines in the brick to prevent the tearing from dragging the plastic needle the wrong way agains the grain. I freehanded these lines, but if you want to be more precise you can measure it. I also used the screwdriver to create scratches and small pitted areas, and to gouge out some areas for worn-away damage.

I repeated this on a larger scale for the “cinder block” façade and for the “worn away” concrete wall that shows the brick underlying layer. For the cracks, I just freehanded them in.

Once all the mortar lines were carved, I went in and cut apart the individual buildings and then cut out the door and window and vent openings. You can see a Cobra Shock Trooper for scale reference below to get a sense of scale for the doorways and bricks, etc.

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About Chris Navarro

Chris is from Australia, where everything is trying to kill you. Maybe even this post.