TFA Star Destroyer diorama - sand suggestions needed

Hey

I've ordered one of the little 4 inch Bandai Star Destroyer kits and I'm planning on making the scene from TFA with the crashed SD in the background (pic below). This will be my first model build since I was a kid and first ever diorama.

I plan on making the SD look battle damaged with a small drill and some pliers but what I am struggling with is the sand. As it's such a small scale the sand almost has to be completely smooth to look like large sand dunes/mounds. I will be slightly burying the the front of the SD but also want to make the sand look wind swept across the entire piece and inside the engines (2nd pic - I know this is a different scene but I want the same kinda look at the back).

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should use so that I can get the look I want? I suppose I want something that I can colour beforehand, mould into place and let set. But I also need something that I can maybe blow to make it look wind swept. So tips on how to do that would be most appreciated (and also what sand colour to use as I'm partially colourblind).

Thanks!

At that scale, baby powder. Baking powder might work as well. Might want to shape the "dunes" from Styrofoam first, then wet it with glue and sprinkle powder over it to give it sandy texture.

I'd use clay or putty. I'd love to see someone do this diorama, please post pic's :thumbsup

Chaank said:

I'd use clay or putty. I'd love to see someone do this diorama, please post pic's :thumbsup

Click to expand...

Form the scene with clay/putty and then cover in a glue and then some sort of powder to give it a sandy looking texture?

I will make sure I take a lot of pics as I go along!

Powdered abrasives would work and the size of the particles can be much smaller.

Someone already has done this with the Bandai SD. I think there is a thread here on the RPF about it.....

Edit- Oops, it was on the Starship Modeler forum. Very nice!
http://www.starshipmodeler.net/talk/viewtopic.php?t=120042

Thanks for the link, I'll sign up and take a look.

I would stay away from Baking Powder. Personaly I would go for something like a drywall spackle or construction putty and then paint it and use some sand colored pastels to dust things


You might also take a look at this
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1502

His build thread is here. You could always ask him what kind of putty he used and about his techniques
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1312&start=60

Wow. That is incredible!

I will most likely try and contact him for a few tips.

If I look into your idea of using construction putty, how do I go about then getting the pastel dust to 'stick'?

You may have to do a few coats and seal in between with a matte varnish. You may have to build up several layers.
You grind up the pastels and brush on. Pretty much the same as normal weathering powders.

There are tons of tutorials on youtube etc..
Here one example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1PXu9oJkjk

I wouldn't use them to create any of the dunes or drifts, but more to help blend in areas where the metals meet sand, or where dust would normally settle

Basically use the spackle/putty first to shape everything (this will be the hardest part in getting the right look), then use an airbrush to paint the sand colors. Then apply the pastel/weathering powders

Thank you, I really appreciate the advice.

as you say I think forming the dunes and drift will be the hardest part to get thenlook rigjt, but also bridging the gap between that and the model itself with the right colours.

I'll do a few trial runs first I think.

Take a grain of sand...now imagine that grain of sand being roughly 18000 times smaller. Anything that looks like powder or sand will be like a boulder to a figure of that scale.

I would use plaster of paris. Sand down any rough spots and paint several coats until it looks right.

TazMan2000

This one sounds really tough - especially at that scale. Searching google and nobody seems to have done it really well. Although I did see a place that sells sand dune moulds.

blakeh1 said:

I would stay away from Baking Powder. Personaly I would go for something like a drywall spackle or construction putty and then paint it and use some sand colored pastels to dust things


You might also take a look at this
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1502

His build thread is here. You could always ask him what kind of putty he used and about his techniques
http://www.keeperoftheforce.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1312&start=60

Click to expand...

That is dead on! I signed up for that site, but always forget to go check it.

I remember in the Prequels, one of the ILM people saying they actually measured different materials with calipers to get a particle that was to scale. I forget what they actually used though. It's in an interview somewhere.

I would agree that at this small a scale, the dunes will look less like sand than like water - without the glossiness. You have the right idea to do some practice runs using different materials before committing. You might consider (if available where you live) Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty, a wall & surface mending putty that - conveniently - dries to a nice tan color. It comes as a fine powder to which you add water and then mix. Depending on how much water, you can control the viscosity and drying time (they are related - thicker, faster dry, etc.) If you make the landscape contours using something like styrofoam, then pour DRWP on top, you could even use a hair dryer (on cool setting) or an airbrush to create wind-swept effects. Handling concerns are bubbles in the putty and it is a bit brittle so thin sections can fragment.

For coloring & weathering, powdered chalk pastel pigments would be ideal. Also, keep in mind 'scale effect' on colors: the theory being the smaller the scale, the less luminous colors tend to look if they are adjusted to simulate the scale thickness of "air" involved at normal viewing distances (the ol' grey mountains in the distance phenomena...) So, you'd tend to use colors that are toned down with white and grey or blue (look to the movie to see what I mean.) So, if you viewed a 1/4000 scale model at 12", this would be equivalent to a distance of 4000x12 or 48,000 inches (4000 feet) away. Although many ignore any scale color effects on their models, it is almost derigor for dioramas since you are depicting, hopefully realistically, a scene and not just a model (because a model can be built to appear as a model or as a tiny replica of the original, depending on the builder's philosophy.) You'll also need to carefully consider the fall of light on the various surfaces, since a tiny surface obviously reflects differently than the full size object would. In essence, you'll need to enhance the shadows and highlights to make up for what 'full size light' cannot do.

Anyway, for what its worth...

R/ Robert

Thank you all for your input, I'm blown away but the amount of useful information you've all provided and it's given me lots to consider!

Can't wait to crack on with it and give it a go.

I love Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. I prefer it over Plaster of Paris. I got mine at my local Lowes store years ago.
I just used it to make groundwork for this recent build.



And here is what it looks like in its natural state.

white glue might actually dry quite nicely for this. Then airbrush it

Take a grain of sand...now imagine that grain of sand being roughly 18000 times smaller. Anything that looks like powder or sand will be like a boulder to a figure of that scale.

Click to expand...

I agree. At this scale the "treat it like water" idea is better than using any size of particle. Just make it very flat "water". And consistent color shade. The only variation in the shade of the sand particles is due to the effects of lighting.

One very subtle effect with windblown sand is how it gets 'sorted' by grain sizes. This will effect the reflectance values in those areas. So, slight variations in color along contour lines swept by the wind may be visible. Just something to consider since a monochromatic effect will be less visually 'interesting'.

R/ Robert