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modeling water can sometimes prove to be
a little tricky but it doesn't have to
be in this tutorial I'll show you some
simple techniques for modeling a river
and adding details to give the river
life with some careful planning anybody
can achieve a great looking water scene
let's not waste any more time and get
started create creating our
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River as with all my diaramas I start by
creating a sturdy base this one is
simply a square frame made with pine and
a piece of extruded poly stying is cut
and glued to fit snugly inside the
frame I'm using a polyurethane glue to
secure the foam as it bonds well both to
the foam and the wood and due to the
expanding quality of the glue I make
sure that whenever I use use this
particular glue I weigh down each piece
so they don't move as the glue expands
and
cures now that I have my work area I
begin designing I start with a rough
sketch on some paper and once I'm happy
I transfer the design onto the
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board extra pieces of foam are used to
add elevation and contouring that will
make up the land form of the die
Dr this is basically a trial and error
process as I gradually cut and hack away
at pieces of foam until I get the shape
I'm
after I generally just use a sharp hobby
knife and some very coarse sandpaper to
shape and carve the foam and I don't
forget to keep the small off cuts of
foam because I'll use them later as
filler for small
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hills the polyurethane glue is used
again to glue the the foam together
however when glowing two pieces of foam
together you'll need to roughen up the
foam with a wire brush and dampen the
surface with a sponge as this will help
the glue form a very strong
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bond and don't forget to weigh it down
to prevent the pieces moving as the glue
cures the next step is to place the rock
molds these are made using some plaster
of Paris and the Woodland scenix molds
basically I make a large batch of rocks
and spread them out ready to be test
fitted it's mostly trial and error
process where I pick a rock and see how
it looks I use sandpaper to flatten the
rocks that will sit on the bottom and I
use a hobby knife to carve other rocks
so they fit together like a
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puzzle
don't be afraid to break rocks in half
to make them fit better each rock is
held in place with a small amount of hot
glue so they stay in place when I add
the sculpter mold
later this area behind the top of the
rock face gets filled in with some of
those scrap pieces of foam we saved from
earlier and for the even smaller gaps I
push some scrunched up pieces of paper
into
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them the main land form covering this is
done with sculpter mold it's a very
versatile product and does a fantastic
job when adding Contours and texture to
your scenery it Blends well and can be
left rough for bushy uncapped areas or
rub smooth with a finger for areas that
are wellmaintained
simply add some water until it's the
consistency of cottage cheese and start
putting it down and spreading it
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out
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I just make sure to avoid putting it
down the middle of the diarama where the
river will be going depending on how
super you made the sculptor mold you
have about a 10 to 15 minute window for
using this stuff before it starts to
set filling in the gaps between the
Rocks is done with plaster of Paris just
be sure to Wet The Rocks before adding
the plaster filler otherwise the plaster
won't stick and stay in the gaps
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properly with all the main contouring
done and Plastering finished I tidy up
the edges with some sandpaper removing
any excess plaster I also smooth the
surface of the river using a fine 600
grit sandpaper this helps remove any
small drips of plaster that are on the
rivered and also helps give a smooth
transition between the embankment and
the riverbed once done I vacuum away the
dust I have three main colors I use for
the Rocks starting with the darkest
first giving the rock face a thorough
coating the plaster sucks up the
moisture in the paint very fast so I
find adding water helps the paint flow
over the
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Rocks the second coat is made slightly
lighter by adding some white and it's
coated across the surface using the flat
side of the brush and that way it
doesn't go into the small
gaps
then an even lighter Stone gray with a
very small amount of bassol gray is used
and a heavy dry brushing technique is
applied making sure I leave areas of the
darker color below showing
through then finally a light dry
brushing of silver gray is applied in a
downward fashion only getting the edges
of the
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Rocks the same process of color is
applied to the rocks that will be placed
in the middle of the river as
well the base just below the rock face
is painted gray and the river bed is
painted a black brown right up to the
embankment this will be Blended later
with an airbrush
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as with nearly all of my diaramas I
paint the ground and earthy color for
this I'm using Jo's fa watered down and
liberally coated covering any remaining
wide
areas for the areas next to the riverbed
and the rock face I apply the Earth
color with a smaller brush and I'm just
being a little bit more careful in order
not to get paint where I don't want
it the surface texture is done with a
50/50 mix of dried sifted dirt and grout
to get a nice color and a very fine
texture it is applied through a stocking
to ensure a fine even coat is
applied water down Mod Podge is painted
over all the areas I want the dirt to
stick and then the dirt is
applied applying the glue first helps
the dirt texture stick to the steep
hills and
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embankments excess dirt is removed from
the rivered and rock face first with the
vacuum and then dusted with the brush to
ensure no unwanted dirt will get glued
to the
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rivered once done the entire area is
first sprayed with isopropyl alcohol and
then the area is misted with Scenic glue
to ensure it's stuck down really
well the alcohol enables the glue to
penetrate into the dirt rather than just
the glue simp simply forming a crust
over the dirt
texture areas of pulled glue can be
soaked up with a paper
towel I ended up giving the riverbed a
second coat of black brown due to some
of the paint being rubbed off when I
used the paper towel to soak up the
excess
glue to give the illusion of depth I
blend the area between the rock face and
the middle of the river using some black
Brown through the
airbrush just be careful not to
accidentally spray the rock
face the same technique is used to blend
the river bank as well using tan
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Earth
I also spray up higher on the embankment
and across the top of the rock face with
some burnt umber to show different
layers of
soil the rocks that protrude from the
water are first test fitted and once
happy I paint the base with bassal gray
and blend the edges with some black
brown using the airbrush
again they are simply held down with a
small amount of mod podge so they don't
move when I add the
water river debris can now be added as
well I wanted to add some Fallen trees
and branches and this is easily done
with some salt Bush Twigs it's just a
matter of finding one that fits well and
looks
good things start to progress quite fast
from this point I start by adding grass
I first make a batch of static grass
toughs which are very easy to make as
long as you have a static grass
applicator it's quite easy to make your
own and I have a tutorial showing you
how to make this one I'm using here I'm
using 6 mm static grass for my grass
tops and standard white glue on some
baking paper just make sure to attach
the grounding clip to the metal tray and
before you know you'll have hundreds of
grass
toughs
the 4 mm static grass is used to blend
in and around the 6 mm grass
tffs and watered down Mod Podge is used
to adhere everything down I'm
deliberately applying the glue quite
rough and patchy because I'll be adding
additional layers of grass
later the tffs are randomly dropped into
the glue and then the static grass
applicator full of 4 mm grass is shaken
over the
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top I avoid working on large areas at a
time as the glue dries quite fast but
before the glue has a chance to dry
compl completely I use a piece of wire
to gently tease the grass so it's not so
uniform and
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straight the excess grass is collected
using a vacuum and stocking which can
then be used again for other
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projects
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the 2 mm grass is used to further blend
the transition between the ground dirt
and the longer 4 mm static grass it's
applied semi- randomly along the edges
however I still make sure that there are
some bare patches of plain dirt
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remaining
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and just like we did with the other
grass I vacuum away the
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excess it's hard to get all the loose
grass using only the vacuum so if
possible you may need to turn the
diarama upside down and shake away all
the loose grass otherwise you can use
the brush attachment on the vacuum to
tease the grass and help get all those
loose fibers but just make sure that the
glue has had time to dry before using
this
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method adding more color is done with a
variety of materials I firstly sprinkle
finely ground dried leaves randomly over
the area this is basically Dead Leaves
found in the garden and put through a
blender then sifted to remove the larger
pieces that get discarded the fine stuff
is what I use
I use the paintbrush to press the fine
chopped leaves down into the grass I
don't want the chopped leaves to be
sitting on top of the
grass fine Turf burnt grass is also used
to add pockets of color randomly over
the area and I also use a small amount
of Woodland scenix Earth blend as well
to simulate other types of plants and
weeds
coar Turf is used for low-lying bushes
and weeds and to help that blend in
better I also sprinkle some burn grass
over the top of the coarse
Turf fielded flowers can be added using
colored foam on this diarama I only
added some very small areas of yellow
and orange you need to be careful to add
too much of this because it really
doesn't take much to ruin the realistic
look of your
scene before I glue all of this down I
remove any loose bits of leaves and foam
from the rivered and from the rock face
as well I further protect the river bed
before gluing by covering it with some
paper
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towel
the area is misted with alcohol and then
misted with the scenic glue to ensure
everything is firmly fixed in place not
much alcohol and glue is needed for this
layer you want to try and avoid having
any of the glue start to pull if you
find there are still some loose spots
afterwards you can simply repeat the
process on those
areas before it's had a chance to
completely dry remove the paper towel
from the rivered
next I add highlights to the dirt road
I'm using some yellow ochre pastel and I
lightly brush it over the Wheel tracks
you can also dust other areas of the
scenery to add a bit of color
variety finally before I pour the river
I glue the river debris so it doesn't
float above the
resin
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in preparation for pouring the resin I
need to Dam up the river there's nothing
worse than having a leak in your River
resulting in a hard to clean up resin
going everywhere I use masking tape for
this and to further ensure no leaks
occur I apply a bead of white glue
around the perimeter of the masking tape
so far this method hasn't failed me
yet mixing the resin is actually quite a
simple process you just need to ensure
you follow the instructions carefully if
you're using in virex light then you'll
need a precise 50/50
mix stir the mixture as instructed in my
case 2 minutes and if you're going to
add color just make sure it's compatible
with the the resin you're
using I'm using an opaque pigment
specifically for epoxy resins I ended up
using a mixture of burnt Umber and some
blue the pigment is quite condensed and
a little goes a very long way so start
with very small amounts of pigment and
gradually add more as
desired
once the color has been thoroughly mixed
I pour the resin into a second cup and
mix for a further
minute I then begin pouring the resin
into the
river don't worry too much about bubbles
yet as they are easily removed
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later simply finish pouring the resin
and if required use a toothpick to help
the resin flow around difficult
objects wait about 5 or 10 minutes and
then the bubbles will float to the
surface then just breathe over the
surface as if you're breathing onto your
glasses to wipe them
clean the carbon dioxide in your breath
will cause the bubbles to
burst large bubbles that get stuck to
the bottom can be teased with a
toothpick and brought to the surface
where they can be popped with a breath
of there as the resin cures be sure to
cover the area so dust doesn't get stuck
to the
surface that is the reason why I haven't
added the larger trees and bushes yet
now just leave it for about a day and a
half as the resin
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cures you can see the river is mostly
bubble free however there are a couple
of bubbles that got missed but don't
worry because after adding ripples they
will be much less
noticeable the tape should simply peel
away and now it's just a matter of
adding the
ripples for this I use Mod Podge gloss
and a wide flat brush and I also have
the airbrush ready to go as
well start by applying a thin layer of
mod podge over the surface using a
stippling motion and I only apply the
Mod Podge in small sections about 2 to 3
in at a time
now with the airbrush gently press the
trigger to activate the air flow and
gently wave the airbrush over the
freshly applied Mod Podge start from far
away when you first apply the air and
gradually move forward until the Mod
Podge starts to get pushed across the
surface just enough to create the
ripples too close and the Mod Podge will
start to fly all over the
place it's possible to create the
ripples using the paintbrush without the
need for the the airbrush and you will
get fantastic results however I found
that using this method in conjunction
with using the airbrush helps remove
bubbles from the mod podge and it
results in much finer and a more organic
shaped
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ripples for the areas in tide spots like
near the Rocks I just use a small
paintbrush to create the ripples
to create more turbulent water behind
and around the Rocks I use some Woodland
scenix water effects this works perfect
for rough areas of water because it's
much thicker and it holds its shape
quite
well this area is only mildly turbulent
so I lightly stipple the water effects
with a brush in and around the rocks and
I create a bit of a tail trailing back
from the rocks in the direction of the
flow of the
river
once dry I add some white highlights to
the rough
areas only apply a very small amount of
paint at a time because it's easy to
overdo the
effect I use a dry brushing technique to
apply the
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paint if you do put down too much paint
you can use a wet micro brush or cotton
Bud to wipe away the
excess trees can now be added as desired
I use a very simple technique for trees
on this diarama I'm using salt bush
trees collected from The Great
Outdoors any type of twig with a fine
Branch structure will work
well once I've plucked and pruned The
Twig into the shape I like I add a very
small amount of polyfiber to add extra
volume to the branches
with some spray adhesive I coat the tree
and sprinkle some coarse Turf over the
top and then repeat this process until
you get the desired volume and finally I
add a sprinkling of burnt grass over the
top to add highlights this results in a
very natural looking
tree trees are simply fixed on onto the
diarama with matte Mod Podge by first
drilling a small hole big enough to fit
the trunk and then with a small amount
of mold Podge in the hole I press the
tree into position making sure it's
angled
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appropriately smaller shrubs are added
using some Woodland Phoenix finally
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foliage with a dab of mob Podge these
simply press into the static grass and
that is usually enough to hold them
upright otherwise you can create a small
hole for them to press into using a
pin I decided to have a bit of tree
variety and added one of the detailed
trees I made from a previous video These
are made using the Woodland scenix
deciduous tree armatures and more finely
foliage carefully attached to each of
the
branches a final layer of bush can also
be made with some Woodland scenix Clump
foliage this is basically glued on top
of the underlying scenery as
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desired
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now for the human touch this is a
sitting figure I'm adding a very thin
piece of wire to act as a fishing rod
and it's slightly curved to look like
it's bending and I painted this one
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blue once dry it's held into position
with some tacky craft glue and then I
set the figure on the diaram again with
a very small drop of tacky glue
the fishing line is made with a hot glue
gun I'm making use of those stringy bits
of glue that usually drive you
insane I use a bit of tacky glue to
attach one end of the hot glue string to
the fishing rod it holds surprising ly
fast however you can also use super
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glue once dry I trim away the excess
line and press it onto the surface of
the river to prevent the line from
moving or detaching I lightly dab some
Mod Podge gloss over the
end other human elements can be added
like more people dogs and cars and now
you're done you have an amazing scene
that demands
attention wow you made it to the end of
this epic video you may have noticed
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