Cheap dios. Tips?
 

Well, I can only use cheap materials like cardboard, and foil!
So yeah, my scenery for my dio-story is pretty naff. I'm planning on building a comm centre (or starting to build) this Sunday. It'll have some (very blocky) computer consoles, one display (Star Wars, hoth dude's thing) and a giant video screen, with a slot to change display pictures (you know, like a picture of CC when he's talking to them, or a world map or something). I'm just wondering what other household/extremely cheap items will work for it, and look reasonably good in 1/18 scale.
Thanks for your help and ideas.

Conduit pipes or plumbers pipes. Make for some very realistic looking industrail piping.

Large Houseplants, I think it's funny when people always think that my Dios are shot outside. I build a lot of my Jungles scenes in small habitats that I create using gardening materials.

I don't have the room for that kinda thing, with a giant tray full of soil etc(My parents are already a bit annoyed with me keeping all the "useless" offcuts from flooring and such). Luckily though, I have a big enough back garden for exterior scenes.

It's mainly the interior and man-made things I'm having trouble with.

Remember, it's not the size that counts but how you use it ;) My first dio - "The Tale of Zartan and the Grape Soda Machine" had a set that was just folded bits of cardboard with printed screens blu-tacked on - now my sets are larger bits of cardboard and old stereo cases with printed out things blu-tacked on...

There is a large suspension of disbelief, so there are many work arounds. VCR tapes standing on their short end work as an 'industrial' wall effect, and plain old sheets of cardboard work well if you jazz tehm up a bit. Print off some door designs, then edge them with spray painted black strips of plastic sheet. The new vehicles in bubbles and six packs are a good source of the plastic - or you can use strip balsa - it's cheap and easily available.

Pringles cans, coffee tins and the like, and even metal pie tins (small ones work great as missile silo tops or sci-fi wall coverings) can be sprayed and glued onto something. Bendy straws, shampoo bottle lids, insides of earphones (the cases of 'bud' earphones make for great mini-turrets), pen caps - anything can look like something. I just thought of a suitable thing that can be a crazy invention - take a golfball, paint it black - drybrush it all over in gunmetal. mount it on a texta lid so it has a thick base, then mount that on a pedastal. Attach 4 bendy straws (painted silver or red) running from the equator , turning 90 degrees into the pedestal. Take some old bits of wire and the like to jazz it up and wahey! instant radiotropic isolatortron 9000.

I think once you have 'something to show for it' your parents will be more understanding of why you're collecting all this stuff. And if you can't do it, you can always have it off camera - I had Raptor apear in several scenes dispite the fact I didn't have his figure yet. He even shared the true meaning of christmas in a strange pulp-fiction crossover. But anyway, I look forward to seeing what you come up with mate!

There is a book called Interplanetary Toy Book: Space People, Vehicles, Creatures and More for You to Make by J. Alan Williams that offers a lot of cheap alternatives to dio-making involving simple household items like discarded boxes and shampoo bottles. It's geared more for younger children, but does have some neat stuff in it, although more futuristic than modern. Still, I suggest looking in your local library for it.

I might have to look into that, Dune Echo. Thanks for the heads up.

As for me, I try to do as much of my stuff outside because 1) I don't have the talent to build stuff easily, 2) the imagination to build something, 3), the $$$ to build sets and 4) I'm a cheapskate too. Seriously, the latest chapter of my WIP dio, I used my baby's alphabet blocks to create a wall. I even make a comment that the Joes met in a toy warehouse to evade Cobra spies! Just blocks on the table with black art folders hiding the dining room.

Do you have a link to this dio? I don't think I've ever seen it!

Sure thing it's in my "misc stuff" section:
http://www.bur.st/~mviper/GrapeSoda/zart1.html

It's pretty rough (as I said, my first dio). I've also just added my sketch gallery to the site here.