I've been wanting to do a junkyard dio, but I'm having some trouble with it. I'm not wanting to do a commercial junkyard. I'm wanting to do more of a hillbilly junkyard with 3 or 4 cars in the bushes/ trees.

My problem is that I can't envision the size of the diorama and arrangement. I want it to be about a foot deep and maybe 2 feet long at most (so it will fit on a shelf). I'm also wanting a shed or something to break up having just cars out there. I thought about maybe a small barn, but I'm wondering if that would be too big.

Any thoughts folks?

John

Maybe some insperation on this site?

http://www.junkyardlife.com/2010/04/junkyard-crawl-reader-sends-us-latest.html

Some nice old panel vans and cars from your side of the pond too. What about a rusty corrugated tin shed or barn to house them? I can show you an easy way and cheap tool to make the wriggly tin for it.

All the best

Nige

Yeah, check out Nigel's corrogated tin making tool...pretty cool for those old tin shacks.
As for your dio...try and picture how many vehicles you'll be wanting to put on it...this will give you the basic size needed sans added goodies{shed/trees thru the engine compartment/guard dog and house/fence?}. Istead of the whole barn you could do a foundation and alittle bit of remaining wall{s}...gives the illusion of a barn without all the building{bad pun!}.

Never done it John, but if you wanna post some in progress pics when you start it would be really cool. I have an artical in FSM around here somewhere that shows something similar to what you have in mind using a 57 Nomad.....I swear the guy used a shrinking machine it all looks so real. I'll see if I can round it up over the weekend.

Hermon

Nigel, the tin tool has set me up for a ver!y cool idea! That junkyard site is exactly what I'm wanting to replicate.

Thanks Bob and Hermon. I roughed out something in MS Paint. I'm terrible with it, but it'll give an idea of what I'm thinking so far.

The cars won't be lined up parallel like that, I just couldn't figure out how to rotate them. In the upper left corner, that "creek" is going to be up a small hill and run down a short fall then off the edge of the base. The brown line running from the water to the 'still is to bring fresh cold water to the condenser in the 'still. The whole still will be under a sort of lean-to made out of corrugated tin (just a roof and one side closed).

What do you guys think?

John, I think your handwriting is really bad.

Just kidding man. Honestly I think if you pull it off you could have a show winner there. Your local craft store sells a clear acrylic resin made for simulating water (used it once on a waterfall for my sons school project) and it works great.
The water pipes can be made of damn near anything.....coffee stirrers come to mind. They could be proped up on stumps and logs which you can easily find online at any RR supply company.
As for the still, there is actually a company that makes 1/24 scale stills complete with moonshine jugs etc. You should be able to find them online as well. Making your own would be almost as easy though, except for the jugs.

An old "beater" 50's model truck would be a cool addition to your dio I think. Complete with a couple boxes of moonshine jars in the back.......like someone was about to make a delivery.


All in all this is a pretty awsome project. I'm anxious to see it develope, and if I can help just holler.


Hermon

Hmmm...you make a "runner car" parked near the shed and the lil boneyard could be old runner cars that died. Most anyone who has a still in a covered area has said shed somewhat open...that stuff can be flamable! Even though I live in a large city, I do know some folks out in the country that actually have stills{really} and most are set up inside a barn or a shed. "Jugs" are a thing of the past from what I've seen....my one friend uses old CO2 canisters for his homemade wine and "squeezins" as he calls it - torpedo juice as his dad calls it, yes, his dad is a WWII vet. He also uses his turkey frier for heating up the mash, but old school would be a regular fire with a grate over it. Have some chared oak pieces lying around for a coloring agent in the containers if you don't like yours clear.

so I wrote that with the mouse. bahhhhhhh!

I'm going to scratch the still. I found some G scale wooden barrels to use for the thump keg and the condensing keg. Boiler will be styrene and painted to look like copper with char around it.

I have some 1/35 resicast jugs that I found that I was going to have discarding in the trunk of one of the junkers. I'd really love to find some milk jugs to carry the squeezin's in. Maybe some mason jars would work.

Until last May, we lived in a dry city (sales were legal outside of city limits) and I was joking with my wife about building a still in the garage. She didn't like the idea for some reason. LOL The residents of the city FINALLY voted to have alcohol sales, so that killed my part time job. oh well. At least now I can drive a half mile down the road for a 6 pack.

John