French Cafe Diorama – part 3
I solved the dilemma about making sidewalks in front of the cafe by studying photos of Parisian restaurants, bistros and cafes. Most of their terraces are located on stone pavements, so I opted for such a terrace. I started by casting Acrilyc Resin into a silicone “tile” mold - (a silicone dish liner that we use in the association as a plasterboard mold). So I got about 250-300 "stones" that will represent the sidewalk in front of the cafe. I drew the pavement surface on a piece of balsa. I decided to slash the rows of "stones" a bit to make the diorama more interesting. I glued the "stones" with PVA glue to a wooden base. Due to the uneven thickness of the castings (tiles) and the remaining air bubbles in the mold, the pavement is uneven and slightly damaged, which gives it a realistic and worn look.
I aligned the excess on the edges of the base with the edge of the wooden base using a model saw. I poured the curbs in a disposable wooden mold, also made of Acrilyc Resin, and glued it to the substrate.
I made the diorama pavement from DAS air drying clay using a textured roller (Green Stuff World). I cut out pieces of dried DAS and arranged them in the direction that best suited the look of the pavement. For the openings in the pavement (manhole and water drain), I used elements of the MiniArt set "Street Accessories" in a scale of 1:35.
The DAS clay proved to be too thin, so I added another 2mm balsa board in which I cut out the appropriate openings to keep the manhole and drain level with the pavement.
I glued the pavement over the pavement, making sure the curbs covered the pavement a little. Beneath the entire structure, I added load-bearing slats that support the base of the diorama in the picture frame. I coated the surface of the sidewalk with diluted PVA glue and sprinkled with fine sand. After the sand dried I removed the excess with a brush.
In the end, I connected the sidewalk, ground floor and first floor in front of the frame… and discovered a catastrophic error.
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