Working on the Mine

I've recently started working on the next video, basically it is going to be an old gold mine diorama. I know what you're thinking... That's pretty boring because all we'll see is a hole in the side of a mountain...
However! It's going to be built as a cross section diorama so you'll be able to see all the tunnels and interior of the mine as if the earth has been sliced away revealing the internal structure.

As you can see from the image above, I've been doing a few test on creating the dirt/rock structure inside the mine shaft. I've decided to line the interior walls with rock castings using some of the Woodland Scenics rock molds and then blend the joins with some plaster of paris or a similar product.

As for actually cutting the mines internal structure I'll be using a special foam cutting router from 'The Hot Wire Foam Factory'.
So far in my tests I've been more than impressed with the capabilities of this tool and it will be making regular appearances in many future videos.
Previously to gut channels in foam I'd either cut individual pieces of foam and gradually piece them together to make the channel or I'd get a chunk of foam and hack away at it with a sharp hobby knife... It was a very messy process!
However with the routing foam cutter it's much faster and much less messy which is perfect for when I'm building models in the lounge room! 

The foam I'm using is foam insulation board (Extruded Polystyrene) most commonly used for as the name suggests 'insulation' but it makes for great diorama bases and I've used it as the main base for my model railway layout. It's very versatile and strong yet lightweight which is perfect for portable train layouts.
As for lighting I'll be adding small LED lights along the malls to illuminate the inside of the mine, I'm not sure what LED's I'll be using just yet? I may use the Woodland Scenics Just Plug lights or depending on price I might just order some micro LED's and wire them up myself... I do plan on using quite a lot of LED's so I'll more than likely wire them myself and power them with a portable battery mounted in the back of the model.
Filming has commenced and I'm just waiting on some extra rock molds to arrive and a few small HO scale mining figures that will be working in the mine once it's finished.
Stay tuned :)