Hello everyone,
Today I thought I would post a thread outlining my discovery (although I doubt I can patent it) of a new diorama construction material that I have never seen discussed before. The new material?
Sheetrock
Now I know that 99% of you will NEVER go out to Lowes or Home Depot and but a 4' x 8' sheet of sheetrock just to build a diorama. However, there may be more than a few of you who, like me, has done some renovating or remodeling around the homestead and might have some sheetrock left over. Anyway here's what I've been doing.
I am in the process of build my first ever diorama. Instead of doing something simple, I've jumped in with both feet and building a large scene that includes quite a bit of marble and limestone stonework. During the planning process, I tried to figure out the best way to reproduce the stonework. At first, I was going to try to cast my parts with plaster. Then I decided to experiment with some sheetrock that I had laying around.
After some testing, I discovered that plain isopropyl alcohol did the best job of removing the sheetrock backing paper. Here's all you need, a piece of sheetrock, a paintbrush, and some alcohol:
I brush the alcohol onto the backing paper (one side only) in four coats, rotating the piece 90 degrees between coats. The key is to not let the alcohol evaporate completely between coats.
Let the piece sit for about 2 or 3 minutes (no more) and then begin to gently peel up the backing paper from the sheetrock. There is sometimes a little crumbling right at the edge, but the majority of the backing paper will come right off and leave a very thin coating of softened adhesive with a bit of paper behind.
Once you've removed the paper, just take a sanding block with medium-grit sand paper and lightly sand the remaining adhesive and paper using a circular motion. Repeat the process on the other side of the sheetrock and you are left with a solid piece with no paper remaining. This piece can be carved with an x-acto, cut with a saw, or broken apart in whatever way you want.
Be on the lookout for how I've used sheetrock just like this on my first diorama in that section of the forum in the days (or hours) to come.
I hope you've found this information useful.
Enjoy your modeling...