3d background

ok guys started the new background.
if you want make one of these this is what you will need.

celtec board
sharp knife i use the extendable stanley knife
hacksaw blade
straight edge
silicone sealer aquarium freindly i use bondit ha6
heat gun / gas burner
sand paper
paint brushes cheap ones will do as their no good after
tile cement you can get this in loads of coloures from b&q
g4 pond sealer or apoxy resin
hoover for the mess lol
pic ov the stuff you will need

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cut the celtec board to size.make sure this is ten mill shorter all the way round. you do this as when you cut the background into peices then you add the 4 coats of tile cement and the g4 this will make it a tighter fitting.
pic of back peice cut to size
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then start to cut some more board to make your tree or rocks make sure you make these peices bigger than what you want to make as when you start cutting away at it.
it soon becomes alot smaller getting the desired effect. two peices stuck together before carving.
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after carving
more to come as it makes progress

This great deano make sure you complete this mate because im going to have a go....

Great Post........

i will keep this updated as i go along with the background
then you will be able to make your own.

Great Stuff mate

My mate did one of these and it looked brilliant, a lot of work though but well worth it

816johnv wrote:

Great Stuff mate

My mate did one of these and it looked brilliant, a lot of work though but well worth it

yes mate their not made in a day and a fair bit of work goes into them. im well happy with the one i made for the six footer.

deano wrote:

816johnv wrote:

Great Stuff mate

My mate did one of these and it looked brilliant, a lot of work though but well worth it

yes mate their not made in a day and a fair bit of work goes into them. im well happy with the one i made for the six footer.

Just seen it WOW...... how long did that take you? and how long roughly will this one take you mate?

Top idea for a thread deano, I'll be watching this one.
And that's another thing we don't have on the forum a"D.I.Y" section.
J

Kurosaki J wrote:

"D.I.Y" section.
J

Great call have a word with the boss lol

I will create one later.....

Curby wrote:

I will create one later.....

When you create it, will it be DIY all by yourself??? LOL

ok the next step
a pic after roughly carving out
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and one after sanding it down to get a smooter shape
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now this bit is a must go over the peices you have carved out with the heat gun / blowtorch but dont get too close or you will melt it.
this gets rid ofv any lose bits and makes the peice hard. when you have done this you might need to remove any silicone that is showing just trim with stanly blade.
if you dont do this when you apply the tile cement it doesnt cover so is a must.
pic after burning it now looks rough but is hard and the tile cemant sticks better.
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when you have made all your peices and your happy with it time to add them to the back peice. put them into place and then draw around them. then remove them and any spaces need to be roughed up or carved to look like rocks or what ever you want.
like this
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when you have done this. its out with the heat gun again. then you can stick them into place.
you should then have something like this. this as taken four hours to do so not so bad.

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more to come later

Looking very good mate i cant wait to see this finished

816johnv wrote:

Looking very good mate i cant wait to see this finished

me neither

Geez you could go crazy with this theory and turn out some smashing backgrounds,
you might even be able to spin a few quid off of them -if you have/had the time.
Keep the progress report coming deano.
J

Kurosaki J wrote:

Geez you could go crazy with this theory and turn out some smashing backgrounds,
you might even be able to spin a few quid off of them -if you have/had the time.
Keep the progress report coming deano.
J

i was thinking that J i bet poeple would pay good money for these,,.......

I will also create a D.I.Y section later...all by yourself......

Curby wrote:

I will also create a D.I.Y section later...all by yourself......

Good man

the next step
once you have got all the peices made and your happy with it it,s time to cut it up so it fits between the cross bars on your tank.
what i did here was put the center tree trunk into place then cut down the side of it at an angle like this





once its cut up and fits betweem the tank cross peices its time to put the tile cement on to the background
mix the cement into a paintable paste and give the background a thin coat. this then needs to set before the next coat. its best left for 24 hours.
the next coat is then painted on but needs to be thicker but not too thick. once dried add another coat of the same thickness as the second coat.
make sure you do all the background front back and all the sides and theirs no celtec board showing.
it should then look like this.



ive used sandstone for the background and mahogany for the tree peices

once all the peices are fully coverd its time to seal them with the g4 pond sealer.
when doing this make sure you have plenty of time as it takes around 5 to 6 hours to complete this
paint the first coat on very thin and leave this to dry untill it is just sticky before adding another coat. then the same again leave till its sticky.
then repeat for the 3rd and 4th coats i do the back first as the background needs to be fully sealed.
after i painted the back i decieded i did,nt like the colour of the sand stone it looked too yellow.
so i mixed some mahogany and sandstone together and thinly brushed some over the front to make it look like this


then i sealed all the peices then it looks like this
.
i also did not stick the tree peices to the background before coating them with the cemant and sealer.
thought this would make life easyer for me and it also makes sure its all properly sealed. then i just stuck them on with silicone
its now looking like this all done



im still not sure if i like the colour of the rocks though
its just going to sit there now for three days to cure then it will get a good wash down before adding to the tank.
once the background is in place and the tank filled with water the shine goes so dont think your going to end up with a shiney background.
will add pics when its in the tank.

Sweet , looks great deano- the close ups of the rock sections( with the revised colour) look heaps natural but I can see how you're not happy with the colour in the full picture shot ( it still looks very sand stoney).
But hey overall a great effort - it will be good to see what other members come up with

J

yes j will be good to see what the other guys come up with.

im still not too sure about the background though maybe it will look better once under water with more bogwood and plants in the tank.

I think that looks Brilliant mate, i would be proud of it once its in the tank and has moss growing on it, it will look stunning

816johnv wrote:

I think that looks Brilliant mate, i would be proud of it once its in the tank and has moss growing on it, it will look stunning

cheers john

That looks fantastic Deano!! Great job!!

Great Thread Great Job and Great Picture's.....Well Done Mate....

cheers guys i will post some more pics when the tank is all done

Hows this project coming along?