Diorama building help.

Well I am gonna make a garage diorama! The demensions are 27"x18" with a store front and the garage in the back and 2 garage doors. I need some tips on building supplies. Like what should I use for walls Whatever material is going to be sandwiched between to sheets of poly stiren on the inside it will look like brick on the outside of the garage it will look like aluminum siding. As many tips as possible will be helpful. Thanks! BTW. it is a 1:24th scale

If your going to sandwich the walls, then I think I'd probably use foamcore board for the walls, which will help save a ton on weight.

From there, you might want to take a look at Walthers (www.walthers.com). They are a large model railroad supply company, but they may have structural steel members like you would find in the roof of a typical auto shop, and you could probably use those to show a few roof members for realism.

Also take a look at Evergreen (http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/) & Plastruct (http://www.plastruct.com/). Both are manufacturers of sheet styrene. AFAIK both of them make structural steel shapes in plastic, that could come in handy for ya.

[quote=Also take a look at Evergreen (http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/) & Plastruct (http://www.plastruct.com/). Both are manufacturers of sheet styrene. AFAIK both of them make structural steel shapes in plastic, that could come in handy for ya.[/quote]

Thats the only stuff that our hobby place carries. :( and what is this Foamcore stuff? Pics would help to! thanks

Foamcore board is usually sold ins 15"x24" sheets and around 3/16" thick, and you can get them at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, WalMart, etc.

Its a medium density type foam, w/ something similar to cardstock paper on both sides of the board. It cuts pretty easily using an x-acto knife or a box cutter, and its fairly rigid, but the really nice thing is its light, and fairly cheap.

This is what it looks like

http://www.genesisartsupplies.com/foam_board/whitefblarge.jpg

As you can see, the medium density foam in the middle, w/ the cardstock on both sides.

Thanks! what should i use for the floor now? On top of it is going to be tile

A thread posted in the past week which you may find useful:

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=883641

here are the plans roughly
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n158/wrexink/planeddiorama.jpg

I think I'd probably use 1/4" or 3/8" plywood for the base. Nice & sturdy, but not extremely heavy.

On top of that you have all kinds of options. Paper, putty, dirt, styrene sheet, etc, for your ground terrain.

Ok i got that foamboard stuff and some plastic I beams and everything else. I also got all the doors and windows cut out. how should i make the walls stand?

Have you tried glue?

would that be sturdy enough?

Depends on the type of glue you use. It's kind of hard to give you advice when you're not exactly clear on what you're trying to do.

Your going to have to use something to reinforce the joints, whether its nails, or wire, or what not, that will run between the 2 pieces at the corners. Take the nails, and where you lap the joints, run a nail through one piece, into the edge of the piece its lapping over. I'd do it ever couple of inches, just for support.

And then you'll want to use some kind of glue as an adhesive. I'd look at using something like Gorrilla Glue, or something similar to that. You'll probably want somethign thats pretty high tack, so it will have the strenght you need.

Even w/ this, you'll want to be very careful, b/c it wont be the strongest joint in the world. It should be fine as long as it doesnt get hit or jostled around a lot. You'll want to assemble as much as you can before putting the building together, that way you arent reaching into hte completed structure more than you absolutely have to. Put all your details on your walls, get it all glued in place, and then start assembling the structure.