Carton and little cardboard

Carton and little cardboard are the most used materials. Carton often is often one of the most suitable materials for the construction of scenographic elements. It is easy to cut and is its principal quality. It is particularly suitable for: acting as the main support of buildings, as a basis for them, by sections of elements and finally glued one layer on top of the other to create hills or large buildings such as towers or walls of fortresses.

Little cardboard as well as being easily cut, glued and painted, is on the one hand it is resistant to be able to act as a basic material in the construction of small buildings and on the other hand it is manageable enough to be able to offer the possibility of making any type of finished object such as: tables, doors, tiles, hatches and so on.

Cardboard tubes are very useful to build: towers, houses, small primitive huts and much more. Given their robustness they can also be used as a hidden support on which to rest the roof of a building or the top of a hill or the edge of a precipice.

Expanded Polystyrene

It is a light materials, easy to cut (with cutter or hot wire) and and it sculpts and textuterizes very simply. It is used for large-volume creations and it is possible to buy it in sheets of various thicknesses in DIY stores. We must remember that for glued and painted it we must use only water-based and non-solvent based products.

Wood and model making

Balsa wood is traditionally one of the most used materials in model making, because it is very light, it is easy to cut or saw, it glues easily with any type of glue and it can also be modeled or colored. It is particularly useful in the construction of bridges, fences and buildings, especially those that must give the impression of being made of wood.

For the structures and the bases, even more resistant materials such as multilayer and mdf can be used, even if they then require, to be processed, power tools or special tools and the use of specific glues.

Plastic profiles

They are plastic rods ideal for use in any type of modeling detail. It is available in a large variety of sizes; they can be a square or rectangular circular section. They are frequently used as edges of architectural elements or to build fences.

Toothpicks

Toothpicks are commonly used in model making for the construction of various elements starting with fences, poles, logs and many other details. The great advantage of toothpicks is in their pointed tip which allows them to be easily inserted into cardboard, cork and expanded polystyrene. They are bought at the supermarket in packs of fifty and more.

Common materials: the sand

It serves primarily to give a more natural look to the bases of the miniatures and to all the smooth surfaces of the scenographic elements. The most used technique in this area is certainly this: as a first step, apply some vinyl glue or white glue on the surface to be covered, then sprinkle it on the sand in the quantities necessary to give the desired roughness; when everything has dried well, the most suitable colors can be applied with a dry brush to obtain effects of grass, desert, snow or concrete.

An alternative technique provides that a mixture of vinyl glue and sand is prepared directly, which will then be spread with a spatula over the cardboard, cork or polystyrene buildings; this same mixture can be used instead of stucco to give shape to the banks of streams or the edges of craters, with the addition of tiny pebbles or pieces of wood to finish the crumbling edges of the walls of buildings in ruins. Sand is bought in pet shops and there are different types and grains.

Clay

It can take the shape you want, modeling it with your fingers or with any tool that is considered suitable for the desired effect. It can be used in the construction of cliffs, ruined walls, monoliths engraved with runes, tree trunks and stumps, stone wall, banks of waterways, rock formations of all kinds, thatched roofs, furrows on the roads and an endless list of details. To harden, the clay needs to remain exposed to the air at room temperature, making sure that drying is not too fast we otherwise it risks breaking it. Once dry it can be cut, filed and smoothed with sandpaper. You can buy it in toy, modeling or fine arts stores.

Glues

The vinyl glue can be apply directly on the surfaces to glue, or diluted with water, by brush. Often, it is called “wood glue” because its main use is precisely that of firmly joining pieces of this material together. It takes many hours to dry it completely and when it is finally dry it becomes transparent. You can buy it in DIY and hardware stores. It very widespread because glue every material and it is resistant. This glue is without doubts the one most used in the construction of scenographic elements.

There are other different types of glue such as cyanoacrylate, which can be used both for the assembly of miniatures and for the construction of scenographic elements. In this second use, however, it is much more convenient if used in the assembly of small details rather than in those of large surfaces. Compared to vinyl glue it is more advantageous.

Putty

the ready-made putty can be bought in hardware stores and is easily applied with a spatula. It apply easily on any rough cardboard, cork or polystyrene surface; left in a humidity-free environment, it dries perfectly in a few hours. Once dry it can be colored and covered with turfs or with glue and sand.

Plastic laminates

Plastic laminates are also called “plasticard” and come in a wide range of thicknesses and colors. Their uses are innumerable and make it an indispensable material for any self-respecting plastic model maker.

Poliplat

It is made up of two cardboard sheets between which a polystyrene sheet has been glued. It is light and strong and is commercially available in a wide variety of thicknesses and is the ideal material for building walls. It is sold in fine art stores and those specializing in paper products.

Photo-etched foliage for dioramas and model making

Several manufacturers market photo-etched copper foils with tiny leaf designs that can be cut out and used as detailing. Although they are far from easy to use, they allow you to add even very intricate details to the scenography.

Sprigs

They are found almost everywhere and the best are the short and wrinkled ones because they more faithfully simulate tree trunks; while the others are suitable for creating and enriching a scenography with tree trunks stripped of frost, rough bridges, piles of logs, fallen or dead trees, fences and even beams of primitive huts.

Plastic supports

By plastic supports we mean the rods and structures that are left over after you have detached the various constituent elements of a miniature or other element to be built. Don’t throw them away, but you can if instead check that some of them can be useful in the creation of a scenographic element: for example, the smaller supports can be used to simulate wooden or iron beams and metal pipes while the larger pieces are perfect for adding details of all kinds to buildings and ruins.

Turf for railway models

Also known as artificial grass, it is actually a very fine and colored sawdust; it is used to simulate the grass or the ground in modeling creations in order to give everything a more natural aspect. It is found in various colors although green, brown and yellow shades predominate, the first of which are predictably the most used. It can be found on sale in model shops.

To cover any surface, whatever it is, you must first paint it the same color as the turf. Once the coat of color is dry, the entire surface will be covered with vinyl glue on which the artificial grass will be spread. Once the glue is dry, shake the piece on newspaper sheets to recover the excess material; of course the overall finish will be better if more than one layer of turf has been applied.

The last touch consists in passing a very light coat of vinyl glue over the entire surface, in order to prevent the applied grass from detaching over time or with use. Artificial grass is indispensable for the bases of the miniatures and for the hills but also to give realism to the hedges and leaves of the trees.

Little stones and pebbles

Easy to obtain, they are sold in bags in pet stores (they serve as the bottom of cat litter boxes or in fish tanks). The best are the rough and irregularly shaped ones because they look like real rocks; they work well scattered randomly on the battlefield and make a good contribution to the creation of natural reliefs. An important touch of realism is given to this kind of stones by an adequate dry brush highlighting.

Esparto rope

Esparto rope is commonly bought in hardware stores and the threads that make it up are thicker than the hairs of a brush and have a creamy-white color. For scenographic purposes, the most suitable rope is 1 cm, which, when cut into small pieces about 2.5 cm long and suitably frayed, can reproduce bundles of grass or straw well.

To obtain this result, apply a little bit of glue to the base of the pieces obtained to make them adhere (use a very viscous glue and do not leave the rope until it is firmly united to the base) once this phase is completed color with green paint so that it all looks like a big bundle of grass. The resulting scenographic element is particularly suitable to be placed in the middle of groups of rocks and at the base of trees and fences.

The box of leftovers

To finish the list of tips and tricks on common materials for dioramas and model making, the advice of the most experienced modelers is to always have a box of advanced materials, thus keeping them ready to recycle them for another job.