I am trying a new idea.
Instead of using styrofoam as a base for the cliffs I am thinking about using "wellpapp" as we call it in Sweden, or "corrugated fiberboard" ( I checked wikipedia).
It is light, very strong, costs close to nothing, all glues stick to it, I can cut and shape it to whatever I want, and it's NOT plastic. The plaster and airdrying clay didn't stick THAT well to the styrofoam.
The styrofoam worked, but I am afraid the plaster or whatever I use will fall off at some point while I handle the cliffs.
For smaller pieces I wouldn't hesitate using it, but for my large cliffs I do.



I cut 1 inch strips of the fiberboard and glued them together into a wall.
All the holes will be very good for the plaster to stick to. I just hope the moisture in the plaster will not soften and warp the wall.
Only one way to find out.

Yet another little test.
I cut off a piece of a paper/cardboard-cliff that I made before, and covered it with wax clay, and then used pebbles and rocks to shape the clay.

It looks like a white brisket. But I like it.

Makes me think that I can use the airdrying clay for this. If I could shape it in the same way.
But I didn't like it. It was kind off slippery and stuck to the rock. But I think I might use an old trick.
That is to use a thin sheet of plastic as a barrier between the rock-tools and the clay while sculpting it.
I will give that airdrying clay another try.

Another little test.
A revisit to the airdrying clay.

Turned out really well.
I used thin plastic, like kitchen wrap plastic, as a barrier when I pressed rocks and pebbles into the clay.

And it sticks to the cardboard wall very well. It's made from 1 inch strips of corrugated fiberboard.
I tried to work the one I did previous with styrofoam. It didn't work. The clay falls off, unless it's a thick layer.

First I didn't like the smoothness of the clay/rock, but after some time looking at it looks like it's been worn down by the wind for millennias.

The plastic is very thin so it becomes wrinkled sometimes. That looks like cracks in the clay.
So I don't mind that either.

I think this might be it. After so many tests and a lot of learning I think I will go with this method. It's lightweight, dries quickly, pretty quick compared to if I would have to do molds and so on. And it's non toxic, and no plastic.

The board is free, the clay is not expensive. But it's not free. Might get a better price if I order more of it at the same time.

Left to test is to paint it. I don't have worries about that.
Worst thing would be if the clay gets too moist or wet and softens into sludge.

I thought I might use airbrush to paint it and then seal that with something non gloss.
I will check online for some tips on what to use.

Well, I am good at thinking.
I have never done cliffs like this before and there are many ways to do them.
While I go through all the many materials and techniques I learn a lot. Which is the reason why I bought the model and why I am building the diorama.

I am pretty sure what result I want, so I want the best way to get there.
Better do small misstakes now than do bigger ones later when the stakes are higher.

And maybe someone else learns a thing or two.

Before I started with the paint tests on the cliff I made some more cliffsurface on the other side of the one I made previously.


It is airdrying clay or "air-hardening" from DAS, terracotta version, on corrugated fiber board.
It dries really quick. It's so warm outdoors and indoors since it's summer. Actually midsummer on friday.

I wanted to add some thin layers of paint to slightly shift the color from red to other colors close to red. I have a nice reference photo I found online. I tried to paint with an ordinary brush on the backside. It was very hard to get the result I wanted, so I changed to the airbrush.

I tried to apply the paint in with some sort of logic to it. I am not sure I did. Ended up just airbrushing where I thought it looked good.
After that I drybrushed some different colors on the peaks to get more of a rock look.

Next to the piece of rock is a paper where I airbrushed and cleaned my brush. Turquoise, pale yellow, grey and very pale terracotta.

The clay is quite brittle. The stack or wall of fiberboard warped a bit from the moist clay when drying. When I tried to bend it back into shape the dry and hard clay cracked in a few places. Which was good. I must remember that to next time I need cracks.

It's so hard to take a good photo. I want the light to come from above to enhance the cracks. But it's too often to late in the night when I am finished so I have only the electric light. The photo below is taken when the sun is very low on the horizon.

The three major grooves across the cliffs I carved with a knife in the fiberboard before I added the clay. They are a bit to even and evenly distributed. They should be changing in depth and width and their distances from each other should also be different.
Besides from that I am very happy.



Next thing to try is some sort of decoration.
I am thinking some flocking here and there. Tufts of dry grass. Maybe some vines growing and following the cracks in the rock. And also spray some diluted glue and sprinkle sand to add some erosion.
I have already thought about having sand and smaller rocks collected at the base of the cliffs as if they have fallen of the cliff surface.

The mock up Falcon is a worthy model in itself.

Mark

Thanks guys.

As I said it is overworked. I could have done a simpler "hot-wire"-version of it in cardboard, just a thick silouette, but that would be boring. Now I got 2 fun days out of it instead.

But it hit me yesterday evening that I could try out my paint ideas on it. I have only painted the small mini falcon from the boardgame and I would need to paint something larger than that to see what it looks like, before starting on the fullsize model.
So now I am glad I did the extra work on it.

I also had an idea about uploading the paper model for free for anyone to use. But it is currently in such a messy state.
It's one thing to make sense of things and parts when you are the creator. It's another if you have no clue, when the parts aren't identified.
I thought other people could benefit from it. But I think I will sit on it for a while until I have time to add all that are missing.

I have finished all the cliff mockups now.
I moved everything to another room in my house for more space around the table, so I can walk around it and wiew it from different angles.
The raised area/platform is temporarily made from styrofoam, books, pieces of wood and bags of soft airgun bullets, which made me consider having crushed rocks around the raised platform.

This is what it looks like.





And a photo from almost the same angle as when we see the Millennium Falcon for the first time, at the dockingbay 94 on Tatooine.


I will move everything around a bit to possibly find a better layout.

Right now I am thinking the diorama will be very industrial, with pipes and machinery everywhere, with small shops and cantinas here and there.
Maybe a little bit like where the Falcon landed on Kessel in the Solo movie. Rocks and pipes.
We'll see.

Looking good

It's very warm right now outside and in my house. Even with all windows open. There is thunder and lightning so I can't sit by the computer and work. What else can I do?
I can sit under the cooling ceilingfan and paint the cardboard mockup I made a few weeks ago. The paint dries in no time.
I have just made the top so far, and some of the "thickness" or sides (not sure what it is called actually). I will do the underside and the rest after a few days of thinking. I have a week left on my vacation.

I painted the white mockup with the basic colors, green, grey and white, then did a second run over it again with colors that were slightly different to get the aztecing effect. Then added patina and dulled the colors with the airbrush, and used a white marker to add some details like wires and highlight certain parts.

The green shade is off. The small model I made a year ago is more vibrant. But it doesn't matter. It's good enough for me to see that the colorscheme will work.


And the small model, from the tabletop game, that I painted a year ago.