dioramas

Make sure you seal up the diarama base before you start. When I was a kid I built a few diaramas and most of the wooden bases warped because of the moisture content of the stuff I used. I liked celluclay for a base. Cheap easy to get at the craft store.

wow looks like my girlfriend who has never done a model or anything crafty before was right.. she said why go buy stuff just use dirt.. ill give it a try next time i do it, when you use like elmers white glue does it dry clear so you wont notice it?

All my groundwork is actually done with earth. I mix very fine earth with a 50/50 (approximately) mix of water and white glue, then spread this mud mixture onto my dio. When dry, it looks just perfect. Anyways, you can try that. Grass, if you don't want to make your own, go to model railroad shops, as they cary a lot of modeling grass and other things for dio's.
As for pre-fabricated ruins etc, there are a number of manufacturer's. Quickest to spring to mind for me is Verlinden, but there are many others. However, be prepared to pay a hefty price.
There are even plastic parts of building ruins. I believe tamiya makes, and academy and italeri had a few as well, featuring a ruined section of wall, or a simple dorway, etc.
Check the dio forum, the people there will definitely be able to help you out.

I use model railroad supplies and natural stuff from around the yard when I make dio's (which isn't often... limited shelf space here). When I use real soil, I crush it fine to get it more to scale, then mirowave it for a bit to get rid of all the little crawlies in it.

Ron

There are a number of materials to make real dirt. You can use soil, chalk grounded up into fine grains, gravel, Plaster mixed with paint and grounded up chalk.
For soil, you can either fry it to elimate the bacteria(This is true!) or don't fry it. After that you can mix it with white glue, gravel and produce a mixture which can be both applied to models and the ground.
For grass, you can buy static grass for HO Railways.
For walls, I know that Tamiya once sold some broken down wall kits. Verliden does sell a few nice diorama bases now.
Or you can used wood, plaster and a motor drill and create your very own walls!
Good Luck!

First off best place to start is the diorama page of this forum where everything is about dios but i will hook you up with the info i know. @ ways to do dios Scratchbuild or pre fab if you go to verlinden's web site they have a lot of pre done dio stuff. If you want real looking dirt try real dirt ground up good mixed with some white glue and for wallls go with 1/4 or 3/8 inch plywood for 1/35 scale get a dremel tool and cut the wall to the way you think it should be hope that helps but go to the dio page of this forum those guys there are so knowledgeable