>
>
>I walked into a new DollarRama store yesterday and unexpectedly came
>out with a bagful of parts useful for making dioramas.
>
>1. A 9" x 6" x 2 1/4" wooden box that I intend to set aside for the
>front facade of a 1/35 scale business building. The dimensions are
>roughly good enough for a 1 1/2 or a 2 storey buliding. I'll look
>for photos of suitable old European buildings and scale them up to
>1/35 and use the printout to detail the box side with a door, windows
>and bricks or a plaster front. Does anyone know what kind of wood
>this is? Its a very light colored and light but rigid smooth
>grainless wood that takes a sharp finished edge. It s a common wood
>used in other wood knickknacks in the Dollar stores.
>
>2. Plastic model cement for $1. White glue, superglue.
look for the 3 packs of superglue gel in a green pkg. best gap filler ever, beats the hobby stor stuff to hell. the brand anme is the original superglue. the logo is the guy stuck to the steel bar.
>3. A pattern hole punch in the shape of a 1/4" teardrop, a slightly
>smaller teardrop, a butterfly shaped one and other less suitable
>shapes. The first three punch shapes are useful for punching out
>"leaves" for populating diaroma trees. The best leaf material will be
>ordinary bond paper pre-colored with artists' oil paints and then >punched out.
>
>4. There was a bag of autumn color maple leaves in silk I had
>originally intended to use for (3) but the silk didn't "hole punch"
>well to make leaves. However if folded and then with its edges
>snipped it forms a credible "bush."
>
>5. A paper cutter jig that will slice 8 1/2 wide paper consistently
>as strips or at an angle. It has a hinged ruler to hold down the
>paper and the cutter point knife holder slides on a rail on this
>ruler. This will be very useful for making windows, doors and columns >for (1).
>
>6. There are bags of bird feathers that, if trimmed and slotted like a
>comb, will make excellent fronds to make a palm tree. Does anyone
>know the kind of, and source for the dye that one can dip in to color >the feathers?
cheap food color works great. use full strength.
>7. Fancy framed pictures with the frame that will form an attractive
>base on which to display a model. $1.
>
>8. Stacking parts organizer bins, 2 for a buck.