@tankerken yeah Leesville Louisiana isn’t the best for beaches hahaha.
@Robert_Goldman I think I’m going to get some pea gravel and possibly another bag from Amazon that was recommended here. I have acrylic paints so I’m thinking maybe soaking one set of rocks in stone grey, another set in ochre then doing another set in a red/brown or possibly a darker grey. I’d like to do a beach scene and do a small resin pour over an 1:8 of the dio to show the closeness of the beach.
Not sure if I’ll add a figure as this will be during the battle or right when the tanks got ashore.
I have to laugh! When you replied “I’m in the swamp lands here”, my first thought was you must be in southern Louisiana, so finding sand isn’t going to be possible. Pretty good guess. And despite their useful appearance, stay away from the sesame seeds. I’ve had my experiences with diorama eating bugs;
Sorry for the illegible pest poster, I had hoped for better resolution.
@Paska thats a pretty good guess right there. Thanks for the poster. I’ve luckily not run into this problem yet, I’ve only used minimal real world vegetation and i tend to coat it in paste or a glue prior to usage.
I used to think my dioramas were immune to such infestations, due to my extensive use of Cadmium Yellow oil paint, these guys must use it as a condiment.
TBF, I meant it more as a general recommendation than specifically in this case But IMHO it’s still useful advice if you have to buy sand rather than being able to go somewhere where you can just take a few handfuls: try and find coarse, but rounded, sand. This means construction sand is usually right out, because that tends to be pointy so it grips well. But maybe certain types of sand intended for birdcages or aquariums or something would work?
For me, it’s not even 800 metres as you would walk it, and closer to half that in a straight line, but I realise not everyone has that luxury
In defence of poppy seeds and all organic material used in dioramas.
@Paska you are 100% correct. Organic material can attract unwanted visitors. I realize now that I should have been more specfic, but Gregory filled in the rest. I too seal everything. Like others, and you, I’ve had to do 1/35 scale exterminations of creepy crawly things on dios. Our current home backs onto a forest. Anything I forage out of it for dios, I wash, bake and seal. If for no other reason than to illiminate any chance of a tick showing up. I don’t like ticks. And there are other health concerns too: there’s no telling what may have on it.
It just occured to me that there is an odd poetry going on here; the stoney beach that caused the Canadians so much trouble is, in a way, being replicated in the making of your dio’s shingle beach.
I too forage for all sorts of diorama materials. Fortunately for me, I don’t have as much of a problem with creepy crawlers as folks in more southern latitudes. Ticks are rarely encountered, no chiggers, (hate them with a passion). I treat dried plant material with a glycerine/water mixture to keep them from becoming brittle and seal everything with clear flat lacquer which I’m quite certain kills everything. But I still have had problems with unwanted visitors. Here’s what they do to my paint brushes.
About a quarter of an inch back from the end of the bristles there are a series of chew marks where they ate the bristles. I also learned the hard way not to use baking soda to texture paint. Sodium Bicarbonate is not chemically stable, decomposing over time after being mixed with paints, leaving a goopy mess on your models. I use powdered silica now instead.
Powdered silica can be found at pottery supply stores or garden suppliers sell Diatomaceous Earth (DE) as a non-toxic insect control powder, it is also used in pool filters and for filtering beer.
If you live in eastern Washington, you can dig it up out of the ground right next to The Gorge Ampitheater for free, (on Silica Road). Volcanic ash, like from around Mt St Helens, can also be used, if you happen to be in the area.
You can also buy a pumice callus-removal stone at the drug store and grind it up in a mortar and pestle.
Glad I can help.
Having played the part of a geologist in a former life, I spent a lot of time in the field and have collected a large number of various minerals, rocks and other materials. One of the most useful things I have are these unassuming lumps of 30 million year old ocean-deposited volcanic ash that have fused into a soft, crumbly rock.
It can easily be broken down and sifted into any size particles that I want and readily absorbs paint due to its high porosity. It’s great for making rubble, texturing paint, adding to ground work, etc. There are billions of tons of it in NW Oregon, called the Keasey Formation. It has really cool fossils in it too!
This looks like a really interesting project and great advice already from the wider brains trust on what to use! Great learning material from a selfish perspective!
When much younger (but having a basic knowledge of the Dieppe raid) I visited Dieppe beach and spent some time playing and digging on the beach pretty much right where the photo above was taken. For what it’s worth I remember the rocks being mainly a uniform size, quite smooth and more oval shaped than rounded. Also once digging about 1/2 a metre into the stoney surface, there was a layer of mid grey coloured sand underneath. Mentioned just in case replication of a shell hole is being considered for this diorama.
@SamS i had thought about to an extent. At least a layer of ammo mud at the bottom of the dio because i could 1. Do a shell crater and 2. Show some rock movement that was affected by tanks moving over it.
@Paska dang, you just know all the right spots to dig for rocks and dirt. That’s awesome you know where to go. How are you breaking up these rocks, just slamming them on the ground or in a bucket?
The volcanic ash pictured above is very soft, you can practically crumble it with your fingernail. I usually just break it up with a pair of pliers or a hammer, then sieve it to the desired grain size. You can also carve it, as it has a very uniform fine grain and is very homogeneous.
Pieces of coal make great rock outcrops, so much so that Woodland Scenics uses them as masters for their rock outcrop molds.
But IMHO it’s still useful advice if you have to buy sand rather than being able to go somewhere where you can just take a few handfuls: try and find coarse, but rounded, sand. This means construction sand is usually right out, because that tends to be pointy so it grips well. But maybe certain types of sand intended for birdcages or aquariums or something would work?
on it. 
