Miniature Building Materials

[GluttonyReaper]

So, first off, this could be considered more of an art-y question than a science-y question... but I've opted to drop it into this sub-forum because I'm mostly asking about materials and structures and all that. Not sure if it's quite the right place.

Okay, so over the last couple of years, I've been messing around with Blu-Tack, something that has proven to be a pretty nice modelling material. As such, I've gotten pretty good at making these little guys:

Spoiler

They're about 2 centimetres tall, and semi-capable of supporting their own weight. And, of course, very easy to pose. Little tough to animate, but compromises are compromises  

But now, I'm looking to expand on it all a little. Essentially, I want to start creating structures and buildings to the same scale (which I believe is... 1/85? So a small skyscraper would be about 60cm), complete with inner furnishings and the such. But the important bit is that I want them to have the same impermanent properties as the figures that'll be inhabiting them, i.e. I want them to be destructible, in a way that's at least reminiscent of an actual building.

There's two approaches I'm really considering for this:

1. Gingerbread house mentality. Make everything out of Blu-tack - the buildings, the roads, the furniture... literally everything.

2. Make only the human figures out of Blu-tack - everything else can be made from something more suitable.

Starting with option 1. I've messed around with this a little bit already, but Blu-Tack has proven to not be so great structurally while scaled up. It's a pretty inherent trait for it to stretch, and not in an elastic way, and can't support it's own weight for long periods of time. That, and it doesn't simulate the kind of materials a building is made of very well - it more squashes and flattens than breaks. I guess I could reinforce it with wireframe or something, but even that is pretty thick, and again, tends to bend rather than crumble, even under "high" forces.

Now, option 2. I've considered a few things already:

• Paper. Very flimsy, but combined with cardboard, can be supported to make some pretty big structures, and is very cheap. But... tends to rip and fold rather than break and crumble. Also susceptible to water damage, I guess.
• Non-fired clay. Pretty good in theory - it can support weight and crumbles like you'd expect when dry. But... quite annoying to work with on a small scale - it just dries out too fast to work with, and starts cracking by itself if it's too thin. Any advice here would be appreciated.
• Wood. Again, difficult to work with when very thin (MDF might be an option here. Hmm.), and tends to more splinter than crack and crumble.
• Plastic sheets (acrylic?). Very strong. Perhaps too strong - it takes a lot pressure to break this stuff, and when it does, it breaks into larger fragments than I'd be happy with. Also not super easy to work with.

So... that's more or less where I am right now. I'd appreciate if anyone had any input into what materials to use, particularly with regards to the buildings themselves. I'm also trying to keep things pretty cheap (another reason I'd rather not use Blu-Tack for everything) so things I can get my hands on pretty easily would be best, and bear in mind I'm not trying to make perfect replicas here - much like the figures themselves, I'm more looking to represent rather than reproduce things.

Thanks for reading  

 

[kerbiloid]

Not an artist, but Papier-mâché?

An original model made of your substance, then covered with pieces of paper to keep the shape.

https://www.google.ru/search?newwindow=1&biw=1920&bih=977&tbm=isch&q=Paper-mâché+castle&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFqeD5_ZfUAhVnLZoKHWmiBfYQvwUIIigA

Edited May 30, 2017 by kerbiloid

[Xeorm]

Cardboard should work too. Might be a bit thicker than you'd prefer, but it can hold up well and works closer to real building materials than most. 

[Shpaget]

1 hour ago, GluttonyReaper said:

which I believe is... 1/85?

1/87, also known as H0.

If you are after stop motion, my suggestion would be to the drop idea about destructing the environment and make multiple stages of destructions instead. Like you said, finding a material that is strong enough to work with and to support itself, yet is destructible into realistic pieces is not trivial. The clay you mention would probably be the best for that, so if you don't want to make multiple scenes with progressive destruction, try to find a drying method for clay that gives you a consistent result. You could also investigate different kinds of clay. I'd bet there are special ones that are resistant to cracking.

But even then, 1/87 is rather small for this, your debris will probably look a bit too big.

Edited May 30, 2017 by Shpaget

[GluttonyReaper]

50 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Not an artist, but Papier-mâché?

An original model made of your substance, then covered with pieces of paper to keep the shape.

https://www.google.ru/search?newwindow=1&biw=1920&bih=977&tbm=isch&q=Paper-mâché+castle&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFqeD5_ZfUAhVnLZoKHWmiBfYQvwUIIigA

That's something I definitely haven't considered... it might actually have the properties I'm looking for. Definitely warrants some testing  

38 minutes ago, Xeorm said:

Cardboard should work too. Might be a bit thicker than you'd prefer, but it can hold up well and works closer to real building materials than most. 

Yup, it's a valid option. I think I might end up using it as a 'frame' for small buildings, then perhaps 'draping' something less resilient over it to give the effect I'm looking for. I haven't tried using it on it's own yet, though, so that's something I should probably give a go  

9 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

1/87, also known as H0.

If you are after stop motion, my suggestion would be to the drop idea about destructing the environment and make multiple stages of destructions instead. Like you said, finding a material that is strong enough to work with and to support itself, yet is destructible into realistic pieces is not trivial. The clay you mention would probably be the best for that, so if you don't want to make multiple scenes with progressive destruction, try to find a drying method for clay that gives you a consistent result. You could also investigate different kinds of clay. I'd bet there are special ones that are resistant to cracking.

But even then, 1/87 is rather small for this, your debris will probably look a bit too big.

Ah, that's a nice scale reference. Makes it easier to see what other people are doing in this department. Yeah, the stop-motion stuff is kinda secondary... I'm more just looking to make a static model for now, I'll probably scale up if I end up going down that route again. The destruction is more for artistic reasons (something something nothing lasts forever), really. Looking up different kinds of clay is certainly worth doing, though, it's something I'm quite comfortable with using, and if I can get it to work, that'd definitely be ideal

Thanks for the input, guys, this really helps. Sometimes I just need a little bit of external input to see things in a bit of different light - it's pretty easy to keep going around in circles when you're just thinking about yourself  

[Daveroski]

get some plaster-of-paris and a suitable modeller’s brick mold.you can make the bricks to the scale of your characters. There are even cements and paints available. Model railway enthusiasts use them. They also made good scenery for table top role-playing games

 

[DerekL1963]

44 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

1/87, also known as H0.

Yup...   And there are all but endless references in the model railroading community to scratchbuilding structures in H0 scale.  Also, for furniture and details, check out the dollhouse community.

[Shpaget]

Just remembered, you may find this relevant...

My colleague was working on a house ruin thing and asked me to make the gates for him.

This image is still a very early work, so keep that in mind, but it shows some of the materials used. The walls are styrofoam-ish, the ground is sand (brown) and crushed mortar (white). The gate is etched brass sheet.

 

Of course, this is a static diorama, not suitable for animation.

[StrandedonEarth]

2 hours ago, GluttonyReaper said:

Gingerbread house

Literally. Use gingerbread and/or different kinds of crackers, held together with icing. 

[GluttonyReaper]

1 hour ago, Daveroski said:

get some plaster-of-paris and a suitable modeller’s brick mold.you can make the bricks to the scale of your characters. There are even cements and paints available. Model railway enthusiasts use them. They also made good scenery for table top role-playing games

 

Plaster-of-paris... now that's an interesting option. 

1 hour ago, DerekL1963 said:

Yup...   And there are all but endless references in the model railroading community to scratchbuilding structures in H0 scale.  Also, for furniture and details, check out the dollhouse community.

Yup, even a quick google search brings up some pretty useful stuff.

55 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

Just remembered, you may find this relevant...

My colleague was working on a house ruin thing and asked me to make the gates for him.

This image is still a very early work, so keep that in mind, but it shows some of the materials used. The walls are styrofoam-ish, the ground is sand (brown) and crushed mortar (white). The gate is etched brass sheet.

<image snipped>

Of course, this is a static diorama, not suitable for animation.

Now that's very, very shiny. Hopefully I'll be able to match that level of detail down the road, we shall see

30 minutes ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Literally. Use gingerbread and/or different kinds of crackers, held together with icing. 

That's... a surprisingly good option. It may attract some unwanted guests, though...

[monophonic]

29 minutes ago, GluttonyReaper said:

That's... a surprisingly good option. It may attract some unwanted guests, though...

Magic modelling dough? You can even make it yourself, there are many recipes online but all of them are basically flour, salt and water.

[StrandedonEarth]

1 hour ago, GluttonyReaper said:

That's... a surprisingly good option. It may attract some unwanted guests, though..

You could shellac it or use some other strong paint. I figured you'd want to paint it anyways. If it's sealed inside paint it shouldn't attract anything. Of course, once it breaks it would need to be sealed again, if unwanted creatures are a concern. 

[tater]

Foam core and gatorboard could be useful:

 

 

Epoxy Putty (used in plumbing sometimes, and available at home project stores like Lowes, etc) is a great material. It sets hard, and until cured can be smoothed and textured with a little water.

 

 

[qzgy]

Having done some stuff with foamcore, I can agree that it is quite nice to work with. Not sure how well it would work on that scale though.

Have you also considered using wood and then painting it? Soft pinewood is relatively easy to carve with a sharp knife, and can give you a bunch of detail.