Diorama - ground cover/ MUD

[Razor17019]

Hello all!
I am in the process of creating a Vietnam diorama. I have the plaster cloth down and now I need to add the landscape. I really have not used any landscaping items before (sand for my Normandy beach), so I am a little lost on what I need to do next. I checked out woodland scenics "how-to" online video demos and they helped a little. But I was needing practical advise from those that have done this sort of thing.
The thing I am trying to simulate is mud. I have a large foxhole made and want to add some kind of substance on top of the brown ground cover paint to make it look like a freshly dug foxhole.
With the mud, I need to simulate typical groundcover and jungle like plants.
Any suggestions or links that will walk me through this process?
Thanks!
Razor

[flyboy_fx]

I use DIRT and Elmer's white glue.
Mix it together and i drys clear (not the mud) and hard as a rock.
You can mix in most paint to tint it or change the color to what you want.
Then i give it a coat of testers flat and then if i want it wet use gloss over that.
thats what i do

[Razor17019]

I use DIRT and Elmer's white glue.
Mix it together and i drys clear (not the mud) and hard as a rock.
You can mix in most paint to tint it or change the color to what you want.
Then i give it a coat of testers flat and then if i want it wet use gloss over that.
thats what i do

I don't really want to use any real mud in my dio.
I wanted to find a non-organic substance to use.

[mediump]

You know what I've used before Razor, is tile grout. It comes in a wide variety of colors and two textures, sanded and non sanded. The reason I use it is becuase I have access to free material - partially used on jobs -
it is a cement and the non sanded is smooth and looks like mud. I used on my winter fox hole scene.

[aferguson]

i find mud tricky too. White glue and dirt does work well but you need a lot of glue to make a worthwhile amount.....dries rock hard. I may try the tile grout sometime. It's the NON sanded grout that is smooth in texture?

Btw.....vietnam dirt/mud is very red in colour, not at all brown or dark brown like our dirt.

For the vegetation a trip to a dollar store should yield all kinds of plastic ferns and plants which will probably be useful.

[Razor17019]

Thanks for info guys!
Razor

[ostketten]

vietnam dirt/mud is very red in colour, not at all brown

Probably due to the predominantly red laterite clay soils found in many parts of Vietnam, great stuff for tunneling too... just ask any "Nam' tunnel rat"...

[pickelhaube]

I would say use the sanded grout because if you use a lot of the unsanded it will CRACK. Also I do not think that they make the red in unsanded. Look for canyon red at Home Depot. It takes about 24 hrs for the grout to get hard. I have always wanted to try the grout but because I do not do diaramas I have not done it.

Grout is easy to use just hold back on the water and you can sculpt it better. Also if you use latex additive in it it will stick to your base better and it will hold the color better. But be careful with the latex additive it will stain everything that it come in contact with clothes and what not.

I did tile work before I got into granite.

[savage213king]

vietnam dirt/mud is very red in colour, not at all brown

Probably due to the predominantly red laterite clay soils found in many parts of Vietnam, great stuff for tunneling too... just ask any "Nam' tunnel rat"...

agreed in the bookl I read Tunnels of Chu-Chi It said that the clay soil turned into freaking Concrete and there was no way any bomb we dropped was going to make a dent in it.

[Jnewboy]

Yes, so use that, use Adobe clay type dirt. its pliable and in about 3 days it will be rock hard, and look real, because it is!

[kduck]

If you ever get down to Georgia just pull off to the side of the road and dig down a few inches. You'll find all the red clay you could ever need. I actually remember reading something years ago where a soldier from Georgia mentioned that the soil in Vietnam reminded him of home.

This is actually an interesting topic. The color of soil in different geographic locations is something that I've thought about a lot. When it comes to building dioramas or doing some weathering on vehicles or figures it would be nice to know what the typical soil color is for the location that your project is supposed to be located in.

[aferguson]

that's easy.....just look it up on the net. If you want to do an okinawa cave for example, just look up modern colour pics of okinawa caves and rocks. It's the same colour now as it was back then.

You can do the same for anywhere in the world.

[kduck]

that's easy.....just look it up on the net. If you want to do an okinawa cave for example, just look up modern colour pics of okinawa caves and rocks. It's the same colour now as it was back then.

You can do the same for anywhere in the world.

I agree and have looked at many such pictures but some places are harder to get good image results of what the soil looks like. I also do 1:6 figures and have been trying to find good pictures of the soil in certain parts of Chechnya with mixed results. It's not that hard to find pictures of torn up landscape but the pictures are often low quality with bad lighting. I know I'm being a bit too picky and should just go with "close enough" in many cases but those are the types of minor details that I sometimes stress over for no good reason . I still find it an interesting topic that IMO many enthusiasts don't pay enough attention to. Building materials can also play a part when you consider what type of rubble and dust soldiers would be moving through in urban environments.