Zombie/apocalypse build/diroama thread

[willc453]

In the introduce yourself part, talked how I was getting back into modeling, but this time with 1/35th scale zombie/apocalypse dioramas. STILL waiting for my 2 part silicone mold stuff to arrive, so have kept busy puttying/sanding away at a lot of Tamiya figures legs and arms. Then thought of Afrika Korps figures because some are bare chested which will make it easier for me to make molds of and cast additional copies. Been using Milliput, but because of YouTube figure modelers, giving Green Stuff (a 2 part putty) also a try. With this stuff, figure I can make a wide variety of clothing.

Don't want to remain in my modeling comfort zone.....I want to jump right out of it and start running amuck. Started working on playground equipment yesterday. The 3 seater swing set is about done, though have to hit Michaels for fine chain. Merry go round is slowly coming together. Years ago, bought 3 die sets that give me round, square or hexagonal shapes in different sizes. The hand rails are made of soft lead solder. The small round pipe fitting parts they fit into are about 1/16th of an inch in diameter. Used a new Xacto to start the hole before drilling the hole for the hand rails to fit into. And no, didn't put a skid plate on it as some have it, some don't. Got a jungle gym also being built, along with a different one in mind later down the road. Next on my list is a teeter-totter which I hope to make out of styrene and rough it up a bit with a fine brass brush to give it a wood grain look. 

The trailer I'll use as a master to build others, while hoping to use the Verlinden tire/rim set to mold/cast additional tires/rims for them. I'll be taking in progress photos, but using a Canon 35mm camera with macro lens which means it takes time to shoot 24 exposures, then get them developed along with a cd with the prints. And I will have 4 eyes (those who, like me, wear glasses) running around surviving.

And of course, bought more stuff.  

[Leon]

Looks like your ready to rock and roll with this project Will!

[k1w1]

Sounds interesting. I will be following this one.

[tobias5555]

I´m in

[panzerjager2]

Very interesting........... 
PJ2

[jpc1968]

Film? Just use your cell phone for pictures or invest in a digital camera.

[TRM]

Grip and rip! Only way to take things to the next level, is to take chances! Best of luck!

[willc453]

My cell phone is a net 10, pay X amount for so many minutes phone. Been using this thing since I started driving truck and been doing that going on 13 years. If it aint broke, don't fix it. As to digital cameras, have you seen how EXPENSIVE they are because I'm looking at using it for macro photography. Had a HP digital camera that was perfect for me in taking everyone's photo, including self portraits back in the day when I was a over the road driver. As a truck driver, driven in every state in the continental U.S. except for Minnesota & Maine. When I first started going over the road, thought it'd be nice to have some sort of memento instead of a paycheck and memories and since I drink A LOT of coffee, decided to buy a coffee cup with the states name on it that I had passed thru. Was usually out for 2-3 months and on my 2nd return home, realized I could not drink out of 32 coffee cups! That's when I started photographing myself at state lines (signs saying welcome to Texas, etc.) or places of interest to me. Like a military museum in Kansas, another museum in Wyoming(?) where the guy had Priscilla Presley's motorcycle given to her by Elvis on display. He had a bunch of military stuff too. Or the air museum (forget where)with me talking with one of the volunteers who asked if I'd like to climb inside the cockpit of their B-29?! Wandering thru/taking photos of a Russian diesel sub down in Long Beach, next to the Queen Mary. Same model of sub used during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Anyway, my HP digital camera took a dump on me, so going to replace it with another, same exact model. If it aint broke, don't fix it. As it is, have FOUR Canon, 35mm cameras: AE-1, AE-1 Programmable and 2 FTB's along with lenses, etc. The reason for going digital was because I wouldn't know how the photos turned out if I had to turn film in, but with digital, instant gratification. And believe me, I made a lot of crappy digital photos, but able to fix that right then & there. Okay, enough of "I remember when".

Got my Canon out w/macro and took photos of what I've been building. Found out earlier this year that basically NO major store does in house film developing any more, but found out there were 2 Walgreen's that did. Shot 23 of 24 exposures early (02:00) today and just after noon, went running off to the nearest one. They and the other store no longer do this?!  Film takes a week to send out/come back, but prints will also come back on a cd. No idea how the photos will turn out because I haven't used my cameras in 10 years or so?

What have I been doing? The merry go round is finished and it's okay. Not great, not really good either. Overall, it looks good, but screwed up with the bars the kids would push/hang onto. They're not all level height wise and some are off just a hair with wise from others. Don't know if anyone has heard of this tip or not. Solder comes off the spool as bent/curved. I used a 8" flat jaw pair of pliers I bought from Harbor Freight years ago just for this. Cut the length of solder you need and GENTLY close the pliers on the solder. You may have to turn the solder (with pliers open of course), then squeeze again till it's all straight. I'd use the end of the pliers to straight out the solder once it was glued into place, then put the next piece of solder in place, use the pliers to straighten it. Learn and live. Mine has 8 bars instead of the 6 pictured.

The 3 seater swing seat came out okay....but leans a bit to the left. Tried straightening it a couple of times and of course, it came apart on me! Decided it's been out in the weather for awhile and earth is giving way to that one side of the swing giving it that lop sided look. About the same time I was shooting these things, felt like I had a V-8 moment. Tamiya's got a German work shop with crane as part of the kit which is why I bought it, but with the thought of a woman finishing up anti-zombifying some vehicle in a shop some where. Checked it out vs a 1/35th scale figure and crane's about 20' feet or so tall. But cut the main supports in length....

Making a copy of the jungle jim in the photo and it's been...interesting. That's because I'm using 3 different sizes of styrene rod. If you look at the photo, you'll see those bars on one side are repeated on the other side, but on the opposite side. And you can bend the rod, but it takes time/patience, other wise SNAP! Once I had the first one bent and size I needed, made another one and checked it against my first one so there would be no discrepancies and so far, so good. I do another swing/jungle jim, going to make it out of brass rods, but for that, have to hit hobby shops in Sacramento as there are none in Reno/Sparks.

One of the things I'd like to do/learn is putting led's in some of the vehicles and street/stop lights. Earlier this year, found some Christmas led's at Dollar Tree. 10 are wired together and they run off 2 double A batteries. The led's are about 1/8th of an inch in diameter, but still it's something to think about and me to play with.

Started working on some kits late last year, then had health problems. But getting back to them. Built the Italeri Humvee about 20 years ago and of course, Humvee's changed a lot since then. Making mine like it's mil surplus. Originally had the tow launcher on the roof which has been filled in with styrene and putty, but NO open doors? The only one that has open doors (from what I understand) is the latest from Tamiya and at the time, not sure how much modeling mojo I had. Thought, no problem, just cut the doors open. The Googled photos of Humvee's and realize there's a frame work around/thru both doors?!Got 2 panels made up and they ALMOST fit perfectly. Once they do, will make a silicone mold, then make copies so I can (hopefully) make more open doored Humvee's. Roof was removed so I could cut open the cargo hatch and modified the tail gate. The Army NG has Humvee's and want to photograph them so I know HOW these various packs are attached to the side of the vehicle. I have yet to see ANY photo showing hooks/straps available to do this.

The zombie hunter figure is on some WW 2 German motorcycle, though don't know what kind....they all look the same to me.  Using Italeri's BMW 75R w/sidecar which I've modified by opening the hatch where the spare tire sits. Via Google/YouTube, the Germans actually had a small trailer that could be towed by their motorcycles, but that's some scratch building down the road. What got me to thinking about zombie dioramas was the one this guy did, but notice she's on a Tamiya Japanese GSDF scout motorcycle. And yes, got a couple of 'em in my stash now.

Then there's Tamiya's German soldier mounted on a horse. Modified the neck so the head is hanging a bit further downward and slightly turned. Figure on making paper templates for a western style saddle, then make it out of Milliput along with new reins, etc.

[k1w1]

The Zombie hunters box shows several bike models they recommend for use with her. Mostly WWII bikes but I think the Japanese Defence Force bike is the only modern bike you can find in 1/35  Looks like a Suzuki DR200 to me. There was a Honda XL250 Baja - ( off road bike ) I think Tamiya,  but have not seen this for sale  for years. Personally I prefer the Suzuki as I think a more modern bike may suit the scene better ?

Maybe of interest. Masterbox do a kit in the Skull Clan series with the word Thief in the name. The bike is a WWII German bike but the sidecar is more like a platform - which may also suit the scene ?? Have a look on Google Images. I guess you could modify the sidecar you have if that was of interest.


Bikes - one of my favourite topics !

[willc453]

Got a couple of the Tamiya JDSF bikes for this very reason. There is (was?) a resin Special Forces(?) bike also available, but think it was going for $40? Of course when I went looking for it on Ebay and Google, can't find it. But did find this stuff. And on Ebay, there's some 1/32 diecast dirt bikes. I know they're not 1/35th scale, but it's just another option.

www.ansmodelisme.be/SECOND/tanks/bike.htm

[k1w1]

My opinion only - Stay with the 1:35 kit bikes. I am familiar with those Newray 1:32 diecast bikes. The detail is not good. Spokes and hubs are horrible. Also the bikes must be right scale wise with her straddling it or it will be very noticeable.


Miniart also do 1:35 WW11 WLA Harley Davidsons which are not expensive but very fiddly little models with lots of tiny parts to assemble.

[willc453]

Thanks for the bike info. Will stick with 1/35th. My mold making plans have been delayed. Ordered Oomoo from Amazon, April 2nd and told it would be here by April 15th. Checked tracking, which showed it was almost here so waited another day or 2. When it didn't arrive, sent message to seller and waited. 3 days later, no reply and happened to check on sellers customer satisfaction rating....bottom line: scammer. All within a few months, seller bilked a bunch of people. Contacted Amazon customer service who gave me a full refund and is gong after seller.

Oomoo is really good stuff, but won't use it any more unless I have a LOT of stuff to make molds of basically at one time because it "has a limited shelf life". They aint lying about that. Bought basic kit earlier this year (late Jan./early Feb.) to make a mold of a Humvee tire. Made 2 molds because I didn't do it right the first time. Then went to use it in a few weeks ago and part A had basically rubberized! Have ordered Micro Marks stuff and should be here some time next week....at least I hope so.

[willc453]

THOUGHT I'd pull photos of stuff I bought via Photobucket, but didn't see that option appear. But posting the stuff as thumbnails seems to work too. Will make a mold of naked woman, modify it, add clothes, etc. Still haven't figured out how I'll add her hair, but looking at Milliput or Green Stuff to do that. The Japanese troops will also become civilians and maybe with a little plastic surgery, become women? Not everyone's 6' tall which is why I'm looking at a variety of different heights on men. As to the 4 "maids", 

thinking of altering them into cosplayers for a zombie diorama. This is where I think that the T&A look is not only acceptable, but REQUIRED!  The VBL will be as mil surplus. The Land Rover Defender will have scratch built interior along with extra stuff like a roof rack, hi-lift jack, etc. Trailer will probably be depicted as abandoned.

[willc453]

From Vietnam, there was a G.I.'s expression of: you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? Don't know if I came up with this expression or not, but those who can do; those who can't read Playboy. Been doin' a lot of talkin'/readin' Playboy since my last post.

Assembled Trumpeter's dumpster and it's simply TOO small. What, the Chinese don't generate that much garbage?
Got to thinking about dumpsters for a diorama and made my first one the other day. Instead of just cutting pieces of styrene willy nilly, I drew everything out, sized it with a 1/35th scale figure....and it looked okay on paper. In reality, NOT! There went an hour of my time. Back to the drawing board making it a LOT bigger and this time it came out lookin' good.....well almost. It was when I put 4 wheels under it that the front part dumpster is now about neck high? Thought I'd use the small one as a smaller dumpster, but then thought of grease traps that are in the back of fast food places. So that's what it's going to be.

How many people have multi-fuel type military vehicles or know how to convert grease into fuel? So when shtf and everyone's running around trying to scavenge/pump gas at gas stations, they're hitting the grease containers.

And just what can you use for 55 gallon oil drums other than food, fuel & water? This is a deer feeding station. What ideas do you have? And thought the idea of using water barrels as wagons to haul kids around via large lawn mower was unique and maybe work it into a diorama?

[Leon]

Now those are some cool ideas Will!

[jpc1968]

is it me or does it seem like your diorama idea is all over the place.
There's a hippie van with half naked ninja chicks grease dumpster diving hauling kids around in drums on a lawn mower?? I just don't get it.

[willc453]

I have a variety of zombie/apocalypse diorama ideas I've gotten from Youtube & Google. Such as having several people inside a

dumpster fighting off zombies...as in ALWAYS be on the lookout for good fighting/defensive positions. The grease dumpster would show people trying to get/fighting over gas at a gas station while those with a tri-fuel vehicle (think 6x6 truck) are BEHIND the gas station draining the grease for future use.

55 gallon drums have a wide variety of uses/possibilities Such as the lawn mower hauling a bunch of kids to safety/carrying salvaged supplies. How much pound wise can a riding lawn mower carry vs what a person can carry? Put a couple of drums on a rack to supply water for use as a shower or sinks. Like it's a refugee/survivalist set up. How about an ATV by pulling a trailer either filled with young children/supplies?

Have several diecast 1/32nd scale trucks and they ALL have one thing in common: ALL the beds are too shallow as in maybe being a foot deep? Hence the camper going on one of them or making a flat bed version. Attempting to scratch build a open top trailer to tow behind a vehicle which lead me to finding photos of a trailers suspension and buying Verlinden/Zvezda tires/rims. Mengs accessories kit with its coolers, etc. comes with 2 tires & rims. Been checking out the toy section of every store just for wheels/rims to use for mobile homes/pull behind/5th wheel type trailers. Use the Verlinden/Zvezda stuff to make a Winnebago type motor home.

I know the photo's poor, but this is an idea I'm working on: abandoned playground. That's a Tamiya figure with a 3 seater swing set, merry go round and jungle gym aka monkey bars. The dinosaur is a "horsey ride" with a spring in its belly. Picked up some 28mm skeleton pieces to put in the park/playground.

When I find myself getting stuck/bored with something, start something else then coming back later to finish a project like the playground equipment. The diecast vehicles are nice, but lack a lot of interior detail and usually the VW bus doors open, but not the sliding door, while another VW bus I have has a sliding door, but the front doors don't. Several of the VW buses are a combination of metal & plastic bodies, so looking at making a 2 part silicone mold for the entire body and I never thought of VW buses/bugs having roof racks and of course, there are camper versions. Or the SUV's with NO spare tire rack? Some people (like myself) are using WW 2 motorcycles for their zombie/apocalypse dioramas....and always paint 'em o.d. Why not something like this bike? Look for mundane things....things you see, but never think about such as gazebo's and trellises, ideas from doll house maker web sites. From them, there are colored drawings of furniture in 1/24th or what ever large scale they're building in. Scaled/printed some, then tried applying the printout to a styrene box...didn't turn out well. Started making my own boxes with thought of them holding supplies until I realized I could also use them for other things such as filing cabinets. Make your own tables/couch from a 55 gallon drum. Meng's bottle set comes with a couple of 5 gallon water bottles which you can use in a home/office setting. Mail boxes and electrical junction boxes, fire extinguishers, ladders, etc.

I have a lot of ideas and been busy just making/assembling stuff for various dioramas like the dumpsters. Now trying my hand at making a wood floor made of craft sticks for a room and 3 different wood fences. The fences are made of balsa wood, styrene alone and styrene/balsa wood. Not sure how each will turn out which is why I'm trying 3 different ways. Working on about 60 different weapons ranging from WW 1 to present day. Not everyone's going to be running around with a AR-15/AK-47. How about a 12 gauge shotgun with a VERY long bayonet someone's great grandpa brought back from the war to end all wars? And I haven't even started modifying figures, much less making molds of the modified figures. Have 4 brick molds for walls such as the alley way and kept busy making a bunch of 'em. Last thing I want to do is start my diorama and find I don't have enough walls ready to go. From Youtube, going to make my own static grass applicator which cost me all of $7 vs $40+ via Evilbay.

Hope this helps anyone who may be confused on what I'm attempting and why there are so many different images posted.

[moramarth]

"half naked ninja chicks grease dumpster diving"

Half naked ninja chicks coated in chip fat?  No thanks!  Naked ninja chicks coated in baby oil?  I'm going to need some of that water effects clear gel... 

Cheers,

M

[willc453]

How about chicks in sun tan lotion? And why I'm trying to build a wooden section of fences and bought these figures. Anyone guess what I'm going to do with elephants (full size & babies), alligators, lions, tigers and hippos?

[willc453]

On Youtube, a woman built her version of this diorama based on this painting. Got a lot of photos/drawings of diners in use and abandoned. Doing something from scratch is a lot of work and got to thinking why not use a plastic shoe box or something like it as your starting off point? Also, why not something futuristic like pod homes/apartments? The apartment complex is in S. Korea which was started, then abandoned when a couple of workers died with everyone thinking it was now haunted. Now looking at plastic bowls of different sizes. How about boats as a place of survival? I'm not thinking outside of the box.....I don't have a box! Only limit in these types of dioramas is your imagination.

[jpc1968]

ok, granted you have a lot of ideas.....a lot. But the thing that gets me is the die cast vehicles. To me that's cheating. Build them out of a kit.

[willc453]

I'd be a lot happier in building civilian cars/truck kits but there are basically NO modern day vehicles available. Photos show what I've found/bought kit wise (1/32 & 1/35) so far. Takom has 2 versions of the VW bus the German Army's using at $35+ EACH. Those I haven't bought as the diecast ones will work for me. Everything kit wise else seems stuck from the 1900's to the 70's. I want my dioramas to be as realistic/modern as possible and know that when I say I'm building zombie/apocalypse dioramas it's a contradiction in terms. As to the semi's, those trucks went out of production in the 90's. Do you see any manufacturer coming out with kits of stuff like this after the Land Rover kit photo? As for motorcycles, you only have 2 choices: WW 2 or Tamiya's JSDF bike. So I use whatever I think will work for a modern day type diorama. As to the diecast vehicles, they need a lot of interior detailing like just the seats alone. Got a lot of interior photos of the different diecast vehicles I do have so it's not just a case of plopping one of them into the diorama. Vehicles will be wrecked, doors/ cargo hatches opened, etc.

[moramarth]

"die cast vehicles. To me that's cheating"

Using die-cast vehicles "as is" would be a bit sad, but given the lack of models (and their price) in Will's chosen scale resorting to die-casts is pretty much inevitable.  And I doubt they will be used "as is": for Post-Apocalyptic tabletop wargaming (and in some instances of scale modelling) it is the norm to buy die-casts*, tear them down, strip the paint, then re-paint and rebuild them, often incorporating bits from other sources.  There's sufficient demand for these that there are small-scale (usually one person in a shed) firms producing conversion parts and accessories for this purpose, much as there are for the scale modelling fraternity.
* These will usually be Matchbox/Hot Wheels for games like "Car Wars", and 1:43rd to go with 28mm figures.  The latter are better served by 1:55th scale stuff, but it's quite uncommon; given wargame skirmish figures are mounted on fairly thick individual bases and vehicles usually aren't the discrepancy doesn't look so bad.

I've also seen 1:24th/1:25th die-casts used for "Mad Max" style builds, the same process of disassembly, stripping and reworking applies.
In these scales some models are supplied un-assembled, and I've got one around somewhere where the body isn't painted, just primed.  After getting the usually rather thick manufacturers paint off a die-cast one often finds something a lot more promising than one expects.  I believe this was particularly true of the old Tri-ang "Minic" 1:1200th die-cast ships from about half-a century ago; they came in a horrible bright blue, but I understand from converters that once this was removed the castings had a wealth of detail utterly hidden by the paint.

Finally, die-casts have one great advantage: after Little Charlie has run the wheels off, chewed the tyres, and thrown it against the wall in a fit of pique you'll find it in a thrift/charity shop for only pennies.  The infantile destruction is of no account, you've merely been given a head start turning it into a Post-Apocalyptic rustbucket.  As Bakunin had it, “The passion for destruction is also a creative passion”

Cheers,

M

[willc453]

Here's what one of the diecast VW buses look like inside vs reality. Some of the photos are of the camper version which isn't available even as diecast, but you get the idea of the work that'll be involved in making them more realistic. Of course, there are things that "should be" obvious, but aren't shown on a model. Like one guy did a great job on having a shot up Meng truck as if running from a military blockade in a zombie epidemic. Good representation of bullet holes and damaged fender from hitting a lamp post. He forgot 2 things: deployed airbag and seat/shoulder belts. And thanks for the thrift/charity shop idea...never thought of them. But have been looking at Hot Wheel cars just for their tires/rims for other purposes. Door "hinges" are definitely going and will probably use strips of styrene to simulate them. Wiper blades on all diecast are part of the windshield and of course, seats don't look like they're really suppose to, gas/clutch/brake pedals are nothing but indentations, while gauges are nothing but circles. But then, they're toys and I'm not complaining. At least I got stuff I can work with.

[k1w1]

Arii do some nice little civilian vehicle kits in 1/32, mostly older Japanese vehicles but some later stuff. These models are cheap and you would find them on ebay. Airfix also have some 1:32 car kits.

You will need to be very careful with all this odd stuff to keep things in scale which will vary a little in diecast from brand to  brand and also all the varying detail qualities. You can not mix some of this stuff up in the same diorama as some of the crappy detail stuff will stick out like a sore thumb. For example those 1:32 Newray bikes you just cant put in the same dio as the Tamiya 1:35 Suzuki DR200 and hope to get good results.

Lastly - No offence intended but you need to pick one plan and start building. These big explanations about plans are too much to read. Show us some progress pictures with brief descriptions. Try to consider our many illiterate members who just like the pictures.

[willc453]

K1W1, you're right....less talk, more show. About a month ago, went to shoot some of the stuff I've been working on and went to use my Canon AE-1 Programmable which I THOUGHT was the same as my regular AE-1. It's not. Out of 23 shots I took of my stuff and other things, only FOUR prints came out and they were of my modeling attempts and kind of dark. Went to the AE-1 which I used for years shooting & trading slides of military aircraft. And the battery is dead? Took a week to find one here in town. I know enough thru experience NOT to trust the cameras light meter and use a trick learned years ago. Hold your hand in front of the lens far away enough to see your hand and use that aperture setting. And found my eyes can't focus on seeing the little red numbers inside the view finder! Got an eye exam via the VA and waiting for new glasses. And dreaded doing figures, in part because of the seams where the body parts come together, but a Youtube video solved that problem.

You're right about diecast and accuracy along with mixing/matching them with 1/35th scale figures. Have 2 VW convertible bugs, one which is a bit larger than the other. Passing on diecast motorcycles. Hope to show instead of tell by Sept. at latest.

[kostas]

Love the theme. I 'll be watching.
Just when comes to figures avoid
the "red" blood and use instead
browns and black.

[willc453]

Just an update. Enclosed are 2 photos of 3 dioramas I've been working on. One is The Fountain, the other is Childhood Lost. The Fountain 2 bases were made of 2 different size sour cream lids, with the large base being 6" in diameter. Able to drill out one of the larger bases using a 1 1/2" wood bit, then used my Dremel with sander attachment. About halfway thru the sanding process, it breaks?! Was going to toss it and cast another copy, but decided let's JB Weld it and see what happens. Was almost done when it broke a 2nd time??!! More JB Weld. Thing is, the fountain actually looks better with the cracks because it makes it look REALLY derelict. Will have at least one tree starting to grow from one of the cracks with a bush or three from the others. The half round base of the fountain is a plastic wine glass cut to size along with also using other wine glasses for the other pieces with a piece of styrene on them. Will have 4 miniature children praying on one level, an angel above them on the other. Inspiration is from a fountain in NYC, but putting my slant on it. I sprayed part of the fountain base with a can of Krylon fine stone spray paint. Looks like a flat granite finish to me. Needed some type of pavement around the fountain, so made a hexagon master out of styrene, cast 2 copies in plaster of paris, then copied them in silicone. Form was made of styrene 1/16" high, 3/4" long. Will now make at least 6 plaster copies to make a larger silicone mold so I can make more copies, easier as I think I'll need 50-60 of them around the fountain.

Childhood Lost is getting there bit by bit. Forgot to add the jungle gym/monkey bars and the dinosaur "horsey" rides before taking the photo. Ground cover is paper mache, the chain link fence is styrene rod and the screen material used for doors/windows to keep bugs out. Have what I need to make 2 static grass applicators, but simply haven't gotten to building them. Both bases have been stained and AFTERWARDS, read where I should of sealed both bases before applying the paper mache on this one. Oops...but board doesn't seem to be warping and to help dry the paper mache quicker, used a heat gun.

[k1w1]

Like the fountain. Looking forward to seeing it painted up. 

[TRM]

Looking good Will! Off to a great start with the fountain!