desert sand dunes

to the FSM forum jplagner.

I would go with HeavyArty on this. Take some insualation foam or otherwise, cut and shape, then cover with sand. Colour the foam first, as sand will not cover uniformely. Also, you may actualy want to make a mixture of sand, colour, and glue to cover the base, as this mixture would go hard when done and would look, well, like sand

I am working on a desert diorama as well, from Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am using a base of wood, then layering and cutting styrofoam to a good outline of the terrain I want. Then I use Celluclay to go over it. Its a papier-mâché thing. Then you can layer it or paint is however you choose. I got the idea from Sheperd Paine's "How to Build Dioramas" book, which is a GREAT tool in getting new ideas for anything you can think of. I hope this helps, and good luck. I look forward to seeing your completed project.

Here's a link to a "Sahara" diorama from the 1998 IPMS Nats:

http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/ipms1998/98nats33.html

The "sand" looks a little too light, but there's a lot of work on the stone building.

Look forward to the pics. You are just right down the road a bit. Do alot of work in that area.

Sorry Lizardqing2 but I ran out of space before. I live not too far from Dahlonega, in Gwinnett County, near Stone Mtn.
Thanks again for all the help. I'll try to post some pics when I get the thing done.

Thanks for all of the ideas, I'm going to experiment with all of them to see which works best for me.
The pictures from the desert are absolutely amazing. It's hard to get an idea of the colors while watching the b/w movie.
Hey, Mike, I actually taped this movie off cable about 10 or 12 years ago and I pull it out every few months to watch it again.

This is too weird. I was trying to find this movie at Blockbuster this weekend. I built a diorama of a German Machinegun position on a beach. I built up the dune with styrofoam and then used paper-mache to shape the dunes. Once simi-dry, I covered the dune area around the machinegun pit with Elmers' glue and then prinkled a fine sand. The sand was from train diorama suppies. Remember the illiusion of the water in the well played a big part of the victory over the Germans, it would be a shame not to include it in your dioramma. "Guns for water". Sounds like a really good project, best of luck. Mike

i did some on the first armor model I did. Don't know if this is up the alley of what you are looking for but here goes. I just took some pieces of aluninum foil and gave them the shape of the dune I wanted. Found that some ball my kids had worked pretty good. After shaping them I put some papertowels under them to support them and placed them on the base with some white glue around the edges, after they were attached i put a few coats of glue on the foil and when it dried made it hard as a rock. Then just started layering sand and glue until i had the look I wanted. Oh yea I did fold the foil to simulate ridges blown in the sand.
Heres a link to it so you can see how it turned out.

http://www.lizardsworkshop.50megs.com/bradley.html

By the way were are you at in GA? Anywhere near Dahlonega?

Here are some photos of Sahara Desert Dunes.






I would recreate these using styrofoam as a base, cut and shaped into hilly dunes. I would then find some fine sand. Try to find some with a deep red, Sahara Desert color, or add some spice like cinnimon or ginger to your sand mixture to get theat reddish color. Next, cover the whole dune area with white glue like Elmers. Sprinkle the sand mixture on liberally. Let dry overnight and shake off andy loose sand. You can add rocks and pebbles if you desire too. While the base is still damp, you can add track prints and foot prints by gently pushing them into the sand too. Good luck, it sound like an interresting dio.