Casting parts/Celluclay/field grass

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

Anyone casts their own parts? What are the materials and how do you do it?

 

Anyone familiar with celluclay? I heard that it's used to model terrain. Anyone used it?

 

Applying grass - how do you make a field of grass to simulate, say, a European plain? The base'll be made of celluclay.

 

Thanks to all!

[John Eary]

Hi Gennady,

 

I do not usually do dioramas or even scenic displays but have used Celluclay once for a good sized diorama (high school fair project...Hedgerow fighting scene. Placed well ). It is very workable and makes a convincing reproduction of earth. One caveat: My piece was about 18X24" and when the Celluclay dried, it pulled up from the Masonite base around the edges. Was a bugger to fasten down. If I did it again, I would imbed screws, wires or something in the base for the Celluclay to grip and stay in place. Might not have been a problem on a smaller piece or with thinner applications.

 

Good luck!

[PCallahan]

Originally posted by John Eary:

Hi Gennady,

 

I do not usually do dioramas or even scenic displays but have used Celluclay once for a good sized diorama (high school fair project...Hedgerow fighting scene.  Placed well    ).  It is very workable and makes a convincing reproduction of earth.  One caveat:  My piece was about 18X24" and when the Celluclay dried, it pulled up from the Masonite base around the edges. Was a bugger to fasten down. If I did it again, I would imbed screws, wires or something in the base for the Celluclay to grip and stay in place.  Might not have been a problem on a smaller piece or with thinner applications.

 

Good luck!

 

 

I had the same problem both times I used it. I just filled the gap between the picture frame (which I use as a base, sans glass) with plaster (or maybe spackle, the backbone of my home). Otherwise, it makes great terrain. I used it for a generic roadway and a Belgium 5/40 scene with the 4eme DLC IIRC (H-39, S-35, crew, lost officer, appropriate roadsign etc)

 

Pat Callahan

[Guest Red_Two_Golf]

To keep celluclay from peeling mix in a touch of liquid dish soap and a bit of white glue. The dish soap is a wetting agent for the paper. The glue helps with the shrinking of the plaster and paper. Drilling holes in your base also helps quite a bit. They don't need to be deep but many are better than few.

For grass I use a rail road product, I forget the name, but it is made of fine fibers and comes in different colors/shades of grass. Sprinkle it over your dying base and blow on it to get it to stand up.

You should check out a book by Shep Paine titled 'How to make dioramas.' It's really well written and over 20 years old. It contains a lot of do-it-yourself tips from when there weren't people supporting the hobby like today.

Casting parts- that's a good one. I've 'squash cast' a couple of things. Squash casting is taking two-part epoxy and pressing the part you want duplicated into the mix while its soft. By two-part epoxy I mean the stuff that comes in bricks not bottles. When the epoxy hardens you can heat scrap plastic over a candle or stove and, while its still soft, press the plastic into your mold.

For whole casting you need two different sets of chemicals. To make a mold you need some stuff called RTV silicone (Room Temperature Vulcanizing). This stuff comes in a variety of stiffnesses, but the rule is the more detail and undercuts the softer the mold material. Then, when you have your mold you need two=part casting resin. The resin is usually easier to find than the RTV, but often, like smoke and fire, when there's one there's the other.

All said, I know the technical details but not the actual practice.

Hope this helps.

[Gennady I. Beregovoy]

Thanks for yer replies! Additional question: when do you color the celluclay? Is it during the mixing process or after it has been dried up and landscaped? Do I use paint (oil, enamel, lacquer or acrylic?) or some colored 'powder' like what Woodland Scenics sells in those bottles (I think they're known as turf)?

With regard to grass, Red_Two_Golf I think that was static grass. I have static grass but it is too small for what I want. I have another grass type product, made by woodland scenics I think, that is said to be real hair and comes in different colors and am planning to simulate a grassy field (say 1-ft tall grass or knee-tall for 1/35 figures) and I think I will have problems making such a field.

[Jacques]

Originally posted by Gennady I. Beregovoy:

I have another grass type product, made by woodland scenics I think, that is said to be real hair and comes in different colors and am planning to simulate a grassy field (say 1-ft tall grass or knee-tall for 1/35 figures) and I think I will have problems making such a field.

 

Gennady, you have hit upon the problem we all have...How to simulate tall grass, wheat fields, corn fields, etc...without having to spend TONS of time making it look right. WEll, there is no solution other than the one you have...namely taking the Woodland scenics colored horsehair and applying it to a diorama by either drilling holes and than putting clumps of grass in it, or by gluing the grass into the still wet celluclay so that the dried celluclay acts as the "holder". If anyone could ever come up with a good long grass/ easy to use material, they would make a mint!