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 One man's trash is another man's treasure , or so the saying goes in flea market circles . A truly bad habit that I have developed over the 35+ years of modelling is rat-packing garbage that has potential for modelling projects . Utilizing everyday objects that have served their intended usefulness and get earmarked for disposal is one of the oldest tricks in the world of kitbashing . Whether that trash is used disposable razor blade covers , blade dispensers , detergent bottles and caps , packing cartons , egg crates or what-have-you , incorporating these ready made items can really add to a project . Why trash and discarded containers can contribute to a modelling project is fairly simple : these items have been designed , machined and/or cast typically in durable and interesting forms and thus possess a professional manufactured appearance that is often far easier to modify for a project than scratchbuilding , and more often than not resulting in a much more realistic and beleiveable final product . The secret to this " strategic recycling " is looking beyond the original concept of the item . Case in point , and featured here in Kitbashing 101 , some throw aways rescued from the trash compactor at work . With the holiday season over , any leftover and unsold giftpacks are broken down and the product contained within is restocked on the shelves . There were 4 unsold Bombay Sapphire Gin giftsets after the holidays that left package skeletons of clear blue tinted acrylic casings . Opened they consisted of two L-shaped panels that I immediately recognized as having the potential for wall window panels . Stacked three high they made quite excellent high tech corner window casings and with a little bit of paint and additional work will serve quite well for modular diorama setups .  The methods to create a brick wall are many and varied , and can range from the extremely simple to the extremely complex . As with most modelling techniques , what works best is really determined by your own particular requirements . For my castle interior diorama I have chosen to create a rough hewn brick surface using a technique I learned in the first grade - carved styrofoam . A word of warning : this technique is outrageously messy , so keep your vacuum cleaner handy ! As far as brick pattern creation goes , this is perhaps the easiest to do , and one of the things I like about it is how you can use the nature of the styrofoam to assist in your work . To begin is simple enough , using a sharp pencil to draw your bricks , and scoring the surface of the styrofoam in the process . Once you have drawn your bricks , use a folded piece of medium grit sandpaper to carve in the grooves deeper and round out the edges of the bricks . The styrofoam helps in this stage since it is prone to rip out during the process and this helps in achieving a nicely random rough hewn appearance .  Changing the grit of sandpaper , using files and/or rasps , stylus' , pencils or sticks can all alter the results of the appearance of your brick surface and by combining the use of different tools greatly enhances the final look . Depending on what your particular needs are , from this point you could conceivably start painting . Because of my particular use for this model , as the brick surface stands now , the styrofoam is far too soft and to strengthen it I will be applying a layer of plaster rigid wrap . The rigid wrap will not only make it extremely strong and hard , the texture of the plaster will also enhance the look of the stone surface . Alternately , if you wished , you could forego the use of rigid wrap ( which , by the way , is plaster infused gauze bandages ) and simply coat the styrofoam with ordinary plaster of paris for the same effect . The use of rigid wrap is just a method to enhance the overall structural strength .  To give you an idea of what this would look like in its finished form , I have used Photoshop to create a " painted " version of the brick surface . The methods one might use to finish this brick wall are as varied as the manner to create it , and is again , determined only by the materials you use . You could conceivably paint it with oil paints , acrylics , watercolors , pastels , textured paints etc . etc . The only limit is your imagination . | Diorama Accessories | The Dark Mausoleum | New Dioramas | darkmausoleum_part2 | diorama_technique | LeopardGirl_Diorama | shoji diorama | Shoji Groundwork | Mayan Triarama | Diorama Technique2 | | Mail-O-Rama | Geeb's How To | Head Sculpts Using Polymer Clay | Customizing The Batcycle | 1/6 scale diorama | terrain diorama | 1/6 Scale Boots | Re-Rooting Hair | BimBott | Read_A_Book | WorksInProgress | Aki Ross Repaint | Gun-Bashing | painting heads | Diorama Technique 3 | | Return Home | Updates | The Archive | Gorby Site Map | Geeb-O-Rama's Model Workshop | Geeb's Toy Box | Geeb-O-Rama Goodies | Movie Madness | World Of The Bizarre | Cool Beans | |
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