I want to display my Italeri LCVP pulled up to the seawall at Inchon (Korea) and disembarking Marines up scaling ladders. To accomodate the hull of the LCVP, the diorama needs to be a little over an inch deep. The seawall rises about 5-6 inches above the water and is made of gray stone blocks, laid diagonally (I've seen the existing seawall at Inchon, so have a good idea of the color and appearance it had in 1950).

I had planned to construct the basic diorama shapes with dense florists stryofoam, with the face of the seawall made from a self hardening clay of some sort. There will be a few inches of ground, including a slit trench, behind the seawall, which I thought I would do with celluclay.

I haven't worked with any of the various products used to simulate water, except for a small ship diorama I did yearsago with artists gel medium, si I am looking primarily for advice in how to best approach the water around the LCVP. The water of Inchon harbor is muddy brown and there should be a slight chop. Also the water at the stern of the LCVP should be churned as the coxswain would be using the engine to hold the boat against the seawall. Obviously, a "pour it and let it harden flat" product won't work. I need something that can be tinted to the color of the harbor water and sculpted to represent a choppy, churned surface. I also need a product that won't shrink away from the hull of the LCVP, leaving a gap as it dries. Finally I would prefer to fill most of the well inside the diorama frame with styrofoam, and only have to use my water product for the top 1/4 to 3/8 inch -- if possible. Is there a product that will do what I want? What are my options?

I am willing to use an old boat model for an experimental pout, but because of the size of this diorama (the water area is about 12 x 20 inches) the product I use needs to be somewhat reasonable in cost. Finally I need somethign that is available in the states as the cost of shipping it from overseas is likely to be prohibitive.

As for the seawall, will sculpting clay over the styrofoam base work, or am I risking the whole thing coming apart? What other options do I have?

Thanks
John

Hi Jhon,

very good idea of diorama, to reproduce the water I Prossedi in the following way: on your block stryofoam you put toilet paper soaked flat wood glue and water, once dry you again in the same operation the opposite direction.

after blows a spray paint in black, after drying passes airbrush different color blue or gray-green if you want to reproduce a river then you finish with a dry brushing with white foam to reproduce.
and finally a shot gloss.

This is an idea for you to try

goodbye

fabrice

You can get the stuff at Michaels (if you're in the States). I used it for a PT Boat dio some years back and it works well. Still planning on using it for my LCM3 dio someday. Here's a link to what you can achieve with this stuff.

http://www.track-link.net/gallery/4994

Envirotex Lite is a two part epoxy. The key to using this stuff without melting the plastic is to pour in layers, about 2mm thick. Let it cure and then do another layer and so on. You can mix acrylic paint in the resin to get the color that you want.

Steve

"...any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy." John F. Kennedy, 1963

Thanks. Picked a small package up this weekend to run some tests -- see how it will react (or hopefully, not react) with the stryrofoam (dense florist foam) and air drying modeling clay that I plan to use in the diorama.

Any suggestions for shaping and testuring the surface for wave action, boat wake and propeller churning?