How to Make Realistic Diorama Terrain
By Will Kalif 
Whether you are making a diorama for wargaming, fantasy scenes, or model railroads having woods, forests, cliffs, and other terrain that really looks good is the most important part of the project. This article shows you the eight steps to take for making great looking terrain.
The most important part of making really good looking terrain is the materials and if you want your diorama to look very real and authentic I recommend you use store bought materials from a company called Woodland Scenics. They have a wide range of products that are inexpensive and very realistic. But, if this is impractical for you and you want to keep the cost of your diorama down you can be creative and make much of your own materials. This takes a little bit of imagination but if you think about it you can come up with some great materials. As an example you can use plain sand as a base in your diorama and you can dye it different colors with water-soluble paints to get different looks from grass to dirt. You can also dye the bristles of a small paintbrush green, then after it dries cut off the bristles and use them as stalks of grass. If you just look around your house and basement you can find lots of ways to make great diorama materials without spending money.
The Eight-Step Process to great diorama terrain
Step 1: Design your diorama on paper first. Sketch out the different areas and put marks where you want the main terrain to be and where the various objects will be. Show any water, rocks, trees or figures. This sketching is important because it will help you as you build the actual diorama.
Step 2: Create a base frame for your diorama. Use strips of cardboard and crumpled newspaper to form a base. This use of materials will give the diorama a three dimensional landscape. Refer to your sketches so you know where the high and low points are.
Step 3: Cover the base with strips of paper towel that have been soaked in papier-mache, Hydrocal, or Plaster of Paris. This forms a beautiful hard shell that you can paint and add items to.
Step 4: Paint the base shell different colors based on your sketches. These colors could range from green where the grass and trees will go, to blue where the water will go. You can be liberal with the color because terrain materials will cover it. The color acts as filler between particles.Step 5: Add the ground cover materials. Sprinkle on sawdust sized materials in the colors desired. Put green where the grass is and gray or brown where bare ground will be.
Step 6: Add mid level texture and items. At this point you are transforming your diorama from a flat object to something three-dimensional. Sprinkle on thicker terrain materials. These could be small pebbles, or thick brush.
Step 7: Add the taller items such as trees and large bushes.
Step 8 Add the finishing touches like animals, figures, creatures, or buildings.
This eight-step outline is just a guide to help you understand the process of making realistic terrain for a diorama and the important thing to remember is that you work from the bottom up. Each step adds another layer to the scene and each step is a bit taller than the previous step. You don't have to be a professional artist to make professional looking dioramas. With a little practice, some good materials, and by following these steps you can make some really attractive and realistic dioramas.
For complete tutorials on diorama making with pictures and videos: Have Fun Making Dioramas
For other fun, creative and interesting projects including how to make a catapult, a trebuchet, a terrarium and even a video game visit his site at: StormTheCastle.com - Creativity with an Edge
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Will_Kalif
How to Make A Warhammer Gaming Terrain Board
By Matthew I. Glanfield
The first thing to consider in continuing a Warhammer gaming hobby is to construct a terrain board that will fit all your models. This will give you a fun and exciting place to put all you Warhammer games on which is much better place to play on rather than on the kitchen table or on the floor.
It will also provide you more options on your terrain pieces and create more terrain pieces that will fit on the your table, creating a gaming environment that appears and feels impressive and realistic. It will also enhance your gaming experience and allows you to play more with its wide space area depending on the size you will be doing.
This article is a step-by-step guide on how to make your own gaming boards. There are many options in creating your own gaming boards, it includes the materials to be use, but this is the one which is the easiest and the cheapest as i have found out so far.
What size board should you create?
There are a few options to choose from. They include:
-2' x 2'
-4' x 4'
-4' x 6'
-4' x 8'
(' denotes feet - one foot = 30 cm)
The 2' x 2' boards are very flexible and allow you to create terrain that you can move around and form into various pieces, especially if you build in hills or rivers.
However, our favorite size to choose is 4' x 4' boards, as it is a very good standard board size and it is very good for battles as high as a few thousands points on each side. It is also easy to add two of these boards together to form a 4' x 8' playing area for especially large battles, whereas with the 2' x 2' boards this is a little more clumsy and creates a playing area with a lot of gaps and unsightly lines.
But in the end it is always you that will choose on what board that will best fit your gaming mood. Materials and Tools Needed
Here is a list of materials that you will need:
-1/2 sheet of plywood (4' x 4')
-16' of 2?x1? (pine is what we use, but it doesn't matter)
-16 x 1 1/4? screws
-power drill
-small drill bit (3/16? should work)
-measuring tape
-pencil
-saw
-sandpaper
(WARNING: You should ALWAYS have adult supervision when using any tools or power tools.)
Step 1 - Cut 2?x1? to size
Our first step that will be doing is to divide the 2?x1? into four pieces, two 4 feet long and the other two is 46 inches long.
Step 2 - Create foundation
Drill holes first on the wood before putting in any screws. This will prevent the wood from splitting. After you have drilled holes on the wood you can then screw in the screws using either your power drill if you have or simply by hand. Be sure to screw it tightly to gain enough strength on your foundation.
Step 3 - Attach Top
Attach the plywood on the top of your frame. Once again drill holes wherever you will be putting in screws to prevent splitting. Three to four screws on each sides should be fairly enough. Once you are finish in screwing down the plywood on your frame, use the sandpaper to polish all corners to get rid of any silvered wood. This will give you a smooth edge on your table for better look. That's it after polishing all the edges and the sides be sure to check all the screws if it screwed tightly you have now your gaming board with a strong foundation. The next step is to finish the top but will be discuss in another article.
MiniWarGaming.com is a useful resource for Warhammer terrain help, Warhammer projects, and more. Our online Warhammer store provides all Games Workshop products at a 10% discount, and free shipping worldwide (on most orders). You can visit the store at http://store.miniwargaming.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_I._Glanfield
How to Make a WarHammer 40k Rusted Steel Shed
By Matthew I. Glanfield
This past week I decided to groom my terrain collection with an authentic rusted corrugated steel shed. As you all know I love making warhammer terrain. Especially warhammer 40k terrain. I can make one in less than 90 minutes so let's get to it. Here's a list of the materials we'll be using:
• A block of polystyrene (insulation foam) or regular Styrofoam
• 18 popsicle sticks
• 2 strips of cardboard 3 inches high and 12 inches long
(the amount of cardboard given to you in a pizza box would be more than plenty)
• Utility knife and scissors
• Paint brush
• Black paint
• Grey paint
• Brown paint
• Rust colored paint (or just a red and brown mixed could work too)
• Silver paint
• Green paint (something that resembles moss color)
I'd loved to see things look blown up and partially wrecked and destroyed, so if you've looked at the shed and said "man this looks really beat up" you'll know it was made by Miniwargamer Dave. Kay, nuff talk and more building then wrecking I say. Let's get to it.
Step 1 Prepare and cut the cardboard.
Cardboards are usually flat so you'll have to peel one layer of the flat sides off in order to expose the corrugated look of the inside. You'll see the corrugated part once you start peeling. Use a sanding block or sandpaper to sand off any excess bits in the grooves. You can size the cardboards strips however you choose.
Step 2 Glue Styrofoam to cardboard
Cut 4 blocks of Styrofoam equal to the height of your cardboard strips and glue them together.
Step 3 Attach wooden rafters
What you are going to do is to glue down the popsicle sticks to the Styrofoam.
You'll have to glue 4 sticks underneath the 5 horizontal ones. Those I had to break at both ends then glue together and onto the Styrofoam blocks. Next is glue 10 sticks horizontally-5 on each side.
Step 4 prime the walls/roof with black
Next step is you'll have to prime your walls black. Cut and shape roof parts as beside the shed. Depending on the glue you've used the popsicle stick roof will be sturdy enough to drybrush a few accent colors. Use 2 shades of brown and a lighter green to resemble moss. Next paint the Styrofoam grey to resemble concrete.
Step 5 Paint on the rust ( the best part by the way)
Paint the walls a dark red for the first layer of painting. Don't worry about making it perfect because you'll be adding many layers. Next drybrush a dark brown. Finally drybrush a silver grey to certain parts only saving a lot of the "rust" exposed. In the end you should end up with 2/3 rust 1/3 metallic color showing through.
Repeat the same for the roof . Then glue on the roof pieces. Let it sit to dry for a good 20-30 minutes.
Matthew Glanfield is the webmaster for http://www.MiniWarGaming.com, a site that strives to provide useful resources to players of the Games Workshop Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40K, and Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_I._Glanfield
bravenet.com