UMS Agram @ 10th Days of Technical Culture

Agram Group Build Project #1 (part 2)

In this series of articles, we will follow our Goran, Kruno and Marko in the making of a diorama set in New York / Gotham in the mid-1980s. Diorama is being built as part of a new UMS "Agram" project called Agram Group Build, which was created after the trio discussed joint projects to be done on Wednesdays and how cool it would be to gather more people to work on something together… This gave birth to the idea of Group Builds... The idea is for everyone to do something on each of these three projects - the main rule (except that there are no rules) is not to mess with other people's work. That we all participate and make some kind of Frankenstein monster ...

KRUNO: After the obligatory introductory lemonade, I tried designing a window for a diorama. I tried to keep the proportions as in the pictures, and Marko forgot (aha!) to print the blueprints. That's why I used an unusual technique with a ruler on a mobile phone.. Satisfied with the result.

After de...

Agram Group Build Project #1 (part 1)

In this series of articles, we will follow our Goran, Kruno and Marko in the making of a diorama set in New York / Gotham in the mid-1980s. Diorama is being built as part of a new UMS "Agram" project called Agram Group Build, which was created after the trio discussed joint projects to be done on Wednesdays and how cool it would be to gather more people to work on something together… This gave birth to the idea of Group Builds... By the end of the year, probably three projects (diorama, some figure and some bust) will be launched so whenever you come and whatever your preference might be, you will have something to do. The idea is for everyone to do something on each of these three projects - the main rule (except that there are no rules) is not to mess with other people's work. That we all participate and make some kind of Frankenstein monster ...

Given that we still don’t know anything about finances in 2021 from the City at the moment, the trio decided to start with...

Miniature Painting Workshop - Hellboy Bust

Adding texture to a pre-made tabletop board

In preparation for a multiplayer scenario, I redid some surfaces on a plastic modular gaming board.

The board had the texture of cobbled streets, but there were a few surfaces that were completely textured for some reason. In addition, modern manholes are modelled on the board, which do not correspond to the world in which the scenario will take place. I decided to cover these parts with my own stone slab texture.

I cut a large amount of rectangles out of thick paper to act as stone slabs.

I glued the boards one by one with PVA glue (drvofix) to the places that needed to be textured. Drvofix is cheap, dries more slowly so I have plenty of time to set the boards, and the paper sticks well to the plastic.

When the glue dried I went with a layer of diluted PVA over all the paper stone slabs to impregnate the paper with glue. This makes it tougher, it will be even harder to peel off and it will absorb water less. The latter is desira-ble because w...

SW diorama Lando – part 2

In this series of articles, I will follow the making of a diorama of a fictional Land canteen set in the world of Star Wars. The floor plan of the building will be 11.5 x 6 cm with a 3.5 x 4.5 window and a 4 x 7 cm door. Everything will be placed in the Ribba picture frame from Ikea.

I made the construction of the awning from plasticard in the shape of the pipe, the rod and the slatted profile. I glued everything together using plastic glue. It’s quite a fiddly job, but if you’re careful and patient the results will be great.

I made the pins and rivets with paper pins, and before puttin them in place I drilled the holes with a small pin vice.

The construction for the benches consisted of a square plastic profile and balsa slats (4 mm thick). When everything was glued (using superglue), I added the rivets in the same way as in the previous step.

I made the door from 0.75mm thick plasticard. It cuts easily, but...