An underground gold mine – Realistic Scenery Volume 9

[Music] hey all and welcome to the long-awaited mineshaft tutorial this is by no means a quick video but it's full of awesome tips and tricks that you can use for making all sorts of model scenery and dioramas so sit back relax and enjoy watching how to build an underground gold mine like most good projects this mine starts off with a simple plan drawn on paper when doing a large project like this it's usually a good idea to have a plan written down or drawn down to help keep you on track with your goal the mine is made in one 287th scale and the tunnels were sized up by measuring a small hecho scale figure and allowance was made for the thickness of the rock molds I'll be using which I'll show later in the video extruded polystyrene is my material of choice it's very versatile as you'll soon see with the right tools this stuff is a breeze to work with i roughly transfer the drawing are made onto the foam the small piece of paper is a guide that I'm using so the width of the tunnel stays constant while I draw the tools are used to cut and shape the foam or a set of foam cutters from the hot wire foam factory they proved to be absolutely essential for what I was doing and made working with the foam very easy and surprisingly clean the hot wire foam factory is based in the United States which can sometimes be a problem for people overseas when it comes to power compatibility however the hot wire foam factory also have adapters and transformers as well as country-specific power suppliers for overseas customers using the sled combined with the hot knife enabled me to get precise 90-degree cut right along the top edge and also gave me the freedom to follow the contour that I drew along the top edge just be sure to work in a well-ventilated area because the extruded polystyrene emits fumes that if breathed in may cause headaches one of my favorite tools is the free hand router it was especially useful for the mineshaft because it enabled me to bend the wire into the shape of the mine tunnel and when attached to the sled I was able to easily and very accurately carve out the tunnel sections throughout the goldmine project I regularly use the hot wire cutters for a range of jobs that require me to cut through the foam you can also get similar results using a sharp knife however the foam cutters make the job much faster and a lot cleaner to line the inside of the tunnels I use some homemade Rock molds I need at a large flat mould so I found our large rock with flat sides and good detail to mold start by cleaning the rock to remove loose dirt and debris wd-40 drive PTFE works as a mold release which is first sprayed onto the surface of the rock and left to dry prior to applying the latex rubber woodland Scenic's latex rubber is used to create the mold basically the first layer is applied with a very thin coat it's then left for approximately 30 minutes before the second coat is applied and after about 7 coats the mold is ready to be peeled away a small amount of cleaning may be required to remove small pieces of rock that remained on the mold and just like all the other molds I've made I use plaster of Paris to make the rocks spraying the rock malt with water prior to pouring the plaster will help avoid bubbles appearing on the rock face and also tapping the mold or hitting the table will help the plaster get into all the small cracks and crevices of the mold once the plaster is dry and the mold is removed you're left with a perfect flat rock the woodland Scenic's molds can be used however they tend to have a little too much depth for what we need although you can fill in the very bottom of the mold and get low relief rocks that may work now flat rocks are then sized up to fit inside the tunnel openings and cut they are surprisingly easy to cut and break to size with a ruler and a hobby knife blunt knives actually work better for this job so if you have any old knives you're better off using those they'd be afraid to break the sections of rock and send them to make them fit the glue that holds our molds in place is more plaster just remember to thoroughly soak the rough molds with water prior to pressing them into the plaster otherwise the plaster doesn't set properly and the molds won't stick pressing the molds down allows the wet plaster to use out and fill in the small gaps between the molds any gaps that don't get filled from the plaster underneath are filled with additional plaster this process is repeated for the entire mine the gaps are then chiseled away to blend the joins in so they seamlessly connect one rock mold to the other once we are finished and the rocks are painted you won't even know that where the gaps were the same process of applying the rock molds to the tunnel inserts as well as the roof are applied and once all the gaps have been filled and everything is blended together the edges are all sanded back so everything is flush and the small tunnel inserts at the back press neatly with no visible gaps the floor is measured and raised accordingly to set the tunnel height to fill in the space I used foam and cut a bevel on one edge using the hot knife and the sled tool the bevel makes it much easier to press the foam hard against the inside edge and have the foam conform to the uneven shape of the rock wall to fix the foam down I'm using some hot wire foam factory styro goo it's tacky straightaway however because most of the foam pieces are curved I also use some newspaper to help hold it firmly in place while the glue dried the edges are trimmed flush using a sharp knife sanded and then vacuum to remove the dust the edges are masked with a very small overhang above the surface maybe two or three millimeters to create the floor of each mind sharp I used all-purpose foam coat and some of the hot wire foam factory medium grits and the foam coat drives a lot harder than regular plaster of Paris and as it begins to harden if you lightly rub it with a wooden tongue depressor the surface becomes very grainy which is perfect for a rough dirt texture that I'm after the walls get soaked with water before lining the tunnel surface with the foam coat here you can see after about 10 minutes it has started to harden and as I continue to work it with the tongue depressor the surface is becoming grainy and is starting to resemble a dirt texture with a small hecho scale man you can see the tunnel height is just slightly taller and is exactly what I was aiming for to match up the surface level of the tunnel with the tunnel inserts I mask the insert with a large piece of masking tape and then place it into position so the walls and the roof line up perfectly inside the tunnel next with the insert firmly held in place I tape it on to the main diorama so it won't move I use the hot knife to help insert some skewers the skewers act as registration guides so the insert can be attached and removed with it lining up perfectly every time just be sure to only apply glue to the top portion of the skewer as we don't want it to get glued to the main diorama yet once it's dry the excess skewer is removed to get the floor levels to line up I use a felt tip pen to draw on to the masking tape as shown once it's removed I can see where the surface will line up and it's just a matter of trimming the masking tape down to that level and adding the plaster in the same fashion as the other tunnel floors [Music] with all the masking removed any additional gaps in the surface are filled and sanded back the process for coloring the interior surface is identical to the process described by woodland Scenic's it's called a leopard spotting technique and I'm using some of the liquid pigments from woodland cynics to achieve this the ratios are mixed following their recommendations I started with the yellow ochre followed by burnt umber only applying them in spots across the rocky surface leaving some white spots raw umber was then applied over the entire surface including the spots previously covered with the yellow ochre and burnt umber finally a very watered down black was applied over the entire surface while at the same time using a fine mist water spray to further help dilute the black and help it run into all the cracks the mine entrance as well as the tunnel supports are constructed using matchsticks there's nothing special about them I'm basically using them straight from the packet some sticks look a little rough but that actually works in our favor to create an old wooden beam look wood glue is used to glue the pieces together and it's carefully measured up to fit perfectly in the entrance with all the walls painted I moved onto the floor a light brown is used as the base coat and then a 10 or buff color is dry brushed over the top as a final stage of blending I brushed some thin down to Vallejo silver gray into the tunnel focusing on the floor the silver gray mostly covers the floor however some overspray hits the walls as well which helps blend the floor and the walls together in a very subtle way to create the stain for all the beams inside the tunnel I'll be using the steel wool and a vinegar technique it's very easy to make it just takes patience you'll need some very fine steel wool and you'll need some white vinegar all you need to do is place the steel wool into a container and pour in some vinegar when you store it be sure to leave that lid slightly open so the gases can escape and leave it for approximately three days when you come back you'll be left with a murky liquid I strain it with a paper towel to remove any tiny bits of steel wool and it's ready to use simply dunk the matchsticks into the mixture and spread them out on a baking sheet to dry once dry you'll be left with an old looking silvery gray piece of wood that's perfect for the beams inside our mine adding the beams is one of the more fiddly parts of the mine believe it or not but the beams are cut to size and pressed into fit tight inside the tunnel no glue was used to hold them they're just held with pressure the process is repeated about 80 times something I should have done earlier was the hole for the elevator cable but with a hot knife and the hobby knife it was a quick and easy job to do the main elevator tunnel supports are added along the length and these are again constructed using standard matchsticks the long supports were made with three millimeter basswood strips and stained with our vinegar and steel wool mixture although I gave them a very light airbrush as well with some silver grade the basswood didn't stay in the same color as the matchsticks so the silver gray was used to help get the color a little closer to the matchsticks it's not perfect but it looks pretty good to me the lighting is done with extremely tiny LEDs these are less than one millimeter in size and a perfect for the mine they came pre-wired and I found them on eBay the wires are twisted together near the top but just be sure not to over twist them as the small exposed wire at the very top has the potential to touch which means the LED won't light up if not fixed the wire is then painted with Vallejo black brown and is ready to install for installation I mark out every second beam and drill a small hole just big enough for the wires a small piece of stiff wire is then pushed through revealing the location of the hole in the back the hole is then widened using the hot knife making it much easier to push the tiny and flimsy LED a wire through the hole the LEDs are pre bent at 90 degrees near the top so they sit about halfway along the top beam and tacky glue and a lot of patience is used to fix them into position to mask the small hole we drilled I'm using a very small square of styrene cut using the micro mark chop it and painted black brown to match the wire now that we have the LEDs installed we need to wire them up they are all wired in parallel and each positive led wire needs its own resistor there are probably easier ways to achieve this but I basically grip the resistors together and connect the LEDs one by one until everything is wired up and working the tiny wires are insulated so you will need to lightly scrape the ends with a blade to remove the insulation prior to soldering them to the resistors the same process is applied to their negative LED ways they are grouped together and soldered to the main bus wire electrical tape is used to secure everything down and prevent accidentally tugging on an LED wire and breaking it I test each section I work on as I go to make sure everything is working as planned the elevator structure needed a flat surface to sit on so I had to make some adjustments to the surface in order for it to fit also the top surface needed to be widened which was easy to do using an extra piece of foam the contour was carefully traced and the hot wire sculpting tool was used to cut out the shape it was then glued and held with styro group and some skewers for additional strength prior to plastering the top surface I painted the entrance with Joe Sonya's fawn and installed the main entrance structure the structure had been stained with the vinegar and steel wool mixture al Ahmar super tack adhesive is used to secure it into position regular plaster of Paris was used to cover the top surface and because we did most of the contouring using the hot wire foam tools only a thin coat of plaster was needed there were no large gaps that needed filling the plaster is carefully worked around the main entrance with a skewer trying to avoid getting plaster on the wood where I don't want it the plaster continues to get worked and as it starts to set it becomes easier to smooth and remove any brushstrokes marks or lines once the plaster is dry we can paint it our earth base coat color Joe Sonya's fawn just be sure to avoid getting paint on the stained wood of the entrance before adding our ground texture and spraying glue all over the place I masked the front of the mine with some paper I'm using Woodland Scenic's scenic cement as my glue for this project it gets painted directly onto the surface and then while it's still wet I sift over my dirt mixture using an old spray can lid and a stocking before misting with glue I remove excess dirt from the entrance and from areas that I don't want dirt to be fixed to the misting process is achieved by wetting the area with isopropyl alcohol and then with a 50/50 mix of scenic cement and water I missed that over the area the alcohol helps the glue penetrate into the dirt as opposed to creating a shell over the top while the dirt remains loose underneath to build the main elevator and the associated building and the lift I used a laser cutter the buildings were designed using CorelDraw and cut out with a variety of materials three millimeter MDF was used as well as one point five millimeter pine plywood and one millimeter birch plywood the files for cutting these structures will be freely available on my website for those of you who are interested in cutting these out tacky glue is used to assemble the structures and they are airbrushed the desired color I ended up painting mine a deck tan color to simulate an old structure that had been in the elements for a while the contouring around the shed needed a little work in order for the shed to fit properly if you've seen some of my previous tutorials you'll be familiar with the process of adding scenery the structures are temporarily set in place so I know where and where not to add grass and trees once I have an idea of what goes where I start with the six millimeter late autumn static grass and get it ready in the static grass applicator Mod Podge straight from the bottle is stippled over all the areas that I want six millimeter grass to be applied then the buildings are removed and the grass applicator is powder and static grass is applied the excess grass is removed and before it has a chance to completely dry our tea some of the grass fibers to give it an uneven and rough look the second step is applying two millimeter late autumn static grass to the edges of the six millimeter grass the same process is applied with the glue and then the application of the grass the two millimeter grass helps blend the taller grass in with the surface you'll find there is often quite a lot of excess grass so be sure to collect the excess for later use also a vacuum cleaner can be used to give it a final cleanup additional layers of texture are added with my blended leaves mix basically some dried up leaves put through a blender and sift it to remove the larger pieces this is randomly spread over the area and some of the woodland scenic splendid turf as well as some of the medium green coarse turf is used as well [Music] excess ground material is removed from areas like the path that leads up to the elevator shed and the road now we can seal it all in place with a misting of alcohol and diluted scenic cement yellow ochre pastel is used to highlight the walkway and the road [Music] additional blending may be required in certain areas like at the main entrance when sealing areas in fragile and confined spaces like this it's easier to apply the alcohol and glue using a pipette that way the glue doesn't end up in areas that you don't want it the diorama is framed with wood in hindsight this could have been done earlier however doing it now even though we've done most of the scenery isn't a big problem I simply measure and cut the wood so it tightly hugs the edges of the diorama and then screw it together give the diorama a test fit to make sure it's good and then glue the diorama into the frame I'm using polyurethane glue which works well on both wood and foam but be aware that it expands so you'll need to clamp or weigh down pieces when using this type of glue with everything dry I can sand back and blend the edges this is why it would have been easier to attach the frame prior to finishing the scenery about sanding it back and adding scenery doesn't take too long the face of the mine is going to be textured using all-purpose foam coat to help it adhere to the foam I wire brush the surface to roughing it up the foam coat is mixed in the same fashion as we did earlier for the tunnel floor it's then spread over the surface very thin and continually worked as it begins to set making sure to remove any obvious stroke marks be careful when applying the foam coat close to the edges we want to avoid getting any on the inside of the surface of the mine small areas of plaster can be removed with a damp hard bristle brush once everything is covered and it's dry we can paint the face the desired color I decided to paint the face a a very dark almost black colored Brown the reason for this choice was to drive the viewers attention to the mine tunnels however painting the surface different colors to simulate sedimentary layers would also look amazing and that is something I will likely be doing later with this model over time again remember to be careful when it comes to painting around the edges of the tunnel now is also a good time to make any small touch-ups to the edges and remove any obvious white spots to the scenery the structures can now be added and glued into position extra dirt is sprinkled around the edges to help blend between the ground and the building and the pipette is used to apply the glue as we don't want glue covering our wooden buildings and possibly damaging them there are hundreds of ways to make trees but this is one of my favorites I'm using a dried plant material from knock they call it sea foam however it's also called super trees in the US for people in Australia if you want this product you'll have to order it from the UK as most suppliers from the US are unable to post it to Australia there's a fair bit in one box and I select the best ones to make standalone trees once I have a tree selected I trim it to size and remove any odd bits of leaf next I give it a spray using spray adhesive and press some woodland Scenic's medium green coarse foam into the branches step two involves spraying the tree once more with the adhesive and sprinkling over some olive green knock leaves finally without spraying again sprinkle over some woodland cynics find turf burnt grass to help highlight and blend it all together and you have a finished tree now all you need to do is drill some small holes into the scenery and glue the trees in place [Music] adding figures and details to the mine is pretty straightforward I used a variety of figures some pre-painted from Woodland Scenic's and some unpainted Prez your models painting tiny hecho scale people can be difficult but if you mount them to something like a wine bottle cork or something like what I've done here it will be much easier I simply super glued their feet to the base after I tied it up any marks or flashing to add the figures I just took my time and glued them into position with some tacky glue I only use a very small amount of glue so they can be moved easily without damaging the scenery the last bit of detail to add is the lift bucket which was made using some laser-cut ply and some strip styrene it was painted to match the wood inside the mine and then the cable was attached the small piece of skill being glued to the back helps hold the lift bucket in position once mounted into the scene the cable is threaded up through the mine and over the will and finally glued to the inside of the shed gradually over time additional details inside the mine will be added and a future project will be adding sedimentary detail to the surface I'll also be adding a backdrop and surface lighting in future videos as well I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on building an awesome looking mine and I'd like to thank all of my patreon supporters for helping support the channel and sending their ideas and thoughts if you too would like to help support the channel and become a patron be sure to check out my patreon page Cheers and thanks for watching

Channel: Luke Towan

Views: 3,237,790

Keywords: Realistic scenery, realistic model, amazing model diorama, underground mine, mine diorama, making rock molds, hot wire foam factory, hot wire foam cutters, hot wire freehand router, super trees, seafoam trees, gold mine diorama, luke towan, boulder creek railroad, old mine shaft model, building amazing scenery, model railroad scenery, war gaming scenery, diorama scenery, woodland scenics, noch, gaugemaster trees

Id: b25H-5BeWvY

Length: 30min 53sec (1853 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 23 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Dick_Demon]

That grass action at 21:32 was some magical stuff.

[u/Dyolf_Knip]

These videos always make me want to take up a new hobby.

[u/notHiro]

For anyone wondering almost all of Luke's videos are incredibly interesting to watch, even if you're not into miniature model making.

[u/what-s_in_a_username]

Was wondering what this guy was up to, haven't seen anything new on his channel in a while. I love his stuff, it's so relaxing.

[u/YMK1234]

pretty impressive stuff. And now I want a hot wire cutter ;)

[u/GFandango]

Holy shit I don't think I have ever put that much effort into anything.

I lost it at the grass applier device magic. Fucking amazing.

[u/MannyBothansDied]

My Aunt and Uncle make things like this for people all around the world, some sold for as much as $90,000. I love underground stuff like this cut in half.

[u/Excavateandfill]

Do people play with these models they build?

Id never have the patience. It would look like a 5 year olds

[u/Tango_Mike_Mike]

Now I know what hobby to pick up, I want to make WWII dioramas