Help with a Lunar Dio

[Mike]

Not sure if this is in the correct category. I'm about to start working on a small lunar dio. The base will be a wood plaque and a figure will be on top. This is my first dio and was wondering if there are any tutorials or WIPs for building a lunar surface. I was going to use a painted lava rock and if space permits a small crater built up with aves or sculpey around the base of a jar. My main concern is how to do the lunar soil. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[en'til Zog]

Hi, Mike! Check out the entries in the current "To the Moon!" contest. Some of the entrants tell how they made their Lunar Surfaces.

[Rocketeer]

Usually you build the basic ground shape out of some kind of putty (I've used Milliput for a small dio, but usually use Celluclay for larger--I've also heard of using modelling clay (plasticine), then coating with white glue), then coat the whole thing with thinned white glue and sprinkle on ground "texture". Texture can be sand (look in the gutters in front of your home), sawdust, or static grass. Somebody recently recommended using tea from used teabags (!) and I suppose that'd work fine for a woodland scene.

Then you paint ground, texture and all. Start with a very thin dark paint, to penetrate all the nooks and crannies, then drybrush with lighter shades until you're happy.

If you plan to use big rocks, you should embed them in the putty while it's still wet. Similarly, tank track marks should be pressed into the putty while it's soft.

Good luck!

[Scanam2006]

Lunar surfaces are a lot of fun. I used model railroad gravel and sand. there are several sizes so I use a little of each. If you are showing a landing, there would be few boulders so keep everything in scale.

The fun part is using an airbrush and starting with one shade of gray, going through many shades going back and forth. Try to think of the sun angle so that items will be lighter and darker depending upon how the sun strikes them.
You can then add powdered pastels for highlights and shadows. the overall effect is realistic and artistic

[BERT aka MODEL MAKER]

Lunar dioramas are my favorite subjects of interest.