Here I have begun working a bit with the Raw umber.The top portion of the panel has just the pin and pencil and toothbruck flicking techniques.From the mid portion on down,i have taken a very small round brush and with some watery raw umber filled each individual hole so that it swells level and diffuses a little color around each hole.It is important to let the holes wick up the watery mix.Take advantage of the fact that you are using raw, dry wood ,for example at the bottom touch the the ends of the boards with your watery mix and let the wood wick it up just like it would do in nature.When weathering try as much as possible to follow mother natures routine in the aging process.For example:rust would show later in the process than plain crud,moss and fungus still later.For those who maybe worried about the wood not being sealed, you could I suppose, use a spray fixative over your finished panel.(I am not too worried about this as these dioramas are going to a controlled enviroment.)
I find that these panels can be a lot of fun to do if you treat each one as a little artists canvas of its own.Gather lots of reference material and be creative.Make each one a little different as they can be subject to different weathering and lighting in real life.Also keep in mind ,as in my case,the buildings' modules could have been added at different times in the history of your diorama.Smaller buildings and trim could be painted, while large outdoor wallpanels could be left subject to more weathering.Also there could be a cost factor invovled in not completely painting the large main structure.
This is the great thing about diorama making, the learning just goes on and on and there is no time to get bored.It incorporates just about every aspect of modeling and a lot what is called "ART" too.Hope your havin' as much fun as I am.
Cheers! John.
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It has been said that the difference between a "pilot" and an "aviator" is that a pilot is a technician,and an aviator is an artist in love with flight.
JohnReid (Aviator)