Ever evolvin dio. ft. 'THE INDESTRUCTIBLE TREE' as ft. on youtube.

[Badder]

I'm still holding off starting on the ground, wanting to get some more scenery 'set pieces' done first.

 

One thing I want to show is a length of hedgerow. I am not sure where it will go yet, but it will edge a farm track, with a bit of earth banking, exposed tree roots and dense and varied undergrowth.

It may surprise some of you to read that I am going to make the hedgerow first and fit it later when the ground has been modelled.

 

And I've decided to make another tree or two. They won't be as big as the last one, and will be much more open with regards to their foliage. I'm imagining something like ash trees, or silver birch. Again I may not try to replicate actual species, just portray 'characters'. We shall see.

 

With the hedgerow, large tree, building and section of dry-stone wall completed, I can finally down the layout.

 

Work on the hedgerow will commence tomorrow.

 

Rearguards

Badder

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by Badder

[Badder]

So, work starts on a length of hedgerow.

 

The hedgerow will consist of two small trees, some bushes, lots of undergrowth and an area of earth 'undercut' with exposed tree roots. As stated above, I will be making the hedgerow in its entirety, only fixing it to the base when the ground is ready.

 

I will be constructing the hedgerow on a baton of wood, as I did for the hedgerow in my diorama 'Lost in France'. For that diorama, I used 90 percent natural materials: twigs, silver birch seeds and seed dividers, herbs, and various dried plant parts. The other 10 percent was astroturf, to represent rushes. This time I will be using mostly manmade materials as they are longer lasting and can be made with an eye to realism in scale. I will however, be using the astroturf again. I will be going that one stage further though, shaping each and every leaf 'blade' carefully to get a more realistic effect.

 

Not very exciting, but here's the baton of wood.

This wood was retrieved from our woodshed and just so happens to be of the required shape and length. In the past I'd have been happy to use this wood 'as is' but as this is going to be my 'Grande Diorama' I've given it a blast in the microwave to kill off any woodworm/fungus. The wife didn't know what I'd put in there, but became concerned when the thing started making loud popping noises.

 

'It's nothing dear, just the resin in the wood!'
 

Ahem. It was EXTREMELY dry wood. I suspect there may have been some woodworm or beetle pupae in there after all!!!

 

Anyway...

Holes will be drilled along the baton and these will accept the 'trunks' of trees and bushes. But first... the trees and bushes.

I'm going to use my 'fishing line' method for both trees and bushes, adapting the construction to suit. I won't be using real twigs/branches this time as the smaller trees will require the kind of dainty yet strong armatures that natural twigs cannot provide. Instead, I will be constructing the tree armatures from wire, putty, the garden twine and possibly latex.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

In breaks between building an armature for a tree, I knocked together a clump of undergrowth.

 

Earlier, I showed some undergrowth which I reclaimed from my now non-existent vignette 'The enemy at the gate'. I bunched this together and added another bunch made exactly the same way, using my fishing line method. I then dunked and mashed the new, larger, clump in medium CA and then in Dil Tops. Once dry (it all dries very quickly) I 'dry-brushed' the foliage with a medium green.

Basil and Dil tops will cover most of the ground beneath the undergrowth.

 

Below, two reclaimed clumps from the vignette, plus a new bunch of fishing line, CA'd at their base and clumped together. CA was dribbled over the join at the base and Basil was sprinkled over. The Basil not only provides ground cover but also acts with the CA to bond the three clumps together.

 

And here's the new, larger, clump. Some more scatter will be applied and some more dry-brushing will follow.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

For size comparison, shown with an old abandoned figure.

 

The clump is standing in the plastic base used for containing profiteroles, which I used to 'foliate' the undergrowth. CA was dribbled into one section and Dil Tops into the adjacent one. As one section became unusable due to cross contamination, I moved onto another. These profiterole bases are ideal for this. My diabetes might disagree though!

 

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I forgot that I now have a stash of Seafoam.  So, I will be using small pieces for the hedgerow. Here's some fitted behind the clump. As you can see from the first photo showing the rear side, I simply CA'd it into a groove in the base of the clump and sprinkled Dil Tops over the still-wet CA. I find that herbs act as a medium for the CA, helping it to cure quickly while increasing the area of bonding.

 

 

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I sprayed dilute PVA over the undergrowth and sprinkled on more Dil Tops.  The whole sub-assembly will get many coats of matt acrylic varnish.

 

The whole hedgerow will be constructed from sub-assemblies representing various mixes of plants. I won't bother showing any more unless they are significantly different in construction.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

First things first, I decided not to fix the hedgerow to the 'firewood', but to a length of machined wood instead. This machined baton will fit along the top rear edge of the firewood baton, forming a flat surface for the hedgerow to 'grow' along.

 

But before fixing the clump to the baton, I decided to add some more plants around its base. I came up with the idea of making something akin to cow parsley, and for the two clumps of cow parsley I again used fishing line, only lightly singed at the ends, which I dunked in medium CA and then Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow. The results are okay, I think. These clumps of 'cow parsley' were then glued around the clump using medium CA sprinkled with Dil Tops. Another 'fishing line' plant was added to the rear. The clump was then fixed to the baton using PVA.

 

Next I fixed a section of metal gauze along the rest of the baton. I screwed it down to hold it securely, then applied plaster of paris over the top. The gauze serves two purposes: to improve the bond strength between plaster and wood, and to act as the earth for further applications of static grass (I attach the crocodile clip to an exposed corner of the gauze) 

 

For the grass I will use Woodland Scenics Static Grass (light green) and Peco Scene Static Grass (straw)  I made myself a static grass applicator last year, from an electrified bug-zapper - the tennis racket style one. For something costing less than 8 quid, including batteries, and taking only an hour or so to make, it was well worth it. The majority of the grass will be applied using this applicator, either for mass coverage, or in patches.

 

As the first clump was already glued directly onto the baton it required that I made patches of grass to fit around it. Here I used a mix of both brands of grass, roughly 9/1 in favour of the Pico Scene grass

 

Fascinating, the colour differences between the grass in the photo above and below... which are of the same grass and taken within seconds of each other.

The patches were placed upon medium CA in the first instance so that I could position and then hold down the patches with a wooden stylus. Once set, I trickled thin CA around the edges allowing capillary action to secure the patches absolutely.

 

 

Some more tufts of longer grass, and some scatter will finish off this particular clump for now.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I've continued 'growing the hedgerow' along the baton with another fishing line plant, some more Seafoam and static grass. Unfortunately the 'cow parsley' flowers have gone a bit grey (something all should be aware of if using CA with Woodland Scenics' Soft Flake Snow) However, I will touch them up with some white.

 

Again, I've disguised the fixing points where bush 'trunks' meet the base by sprinkling Dil Tops and/or Basil over the wet CA.

 

Low Energy Lightbulbs have flattened all the colours and tones in the photos below. There are greater differences when viewed in better light.

 

BELOW.... Far right, just above the emerald green painted plaster... here you can see where I sprinkled Basil over the wet CA.

 

 

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Vince1159]

Absolutely fantastic Badder....

[Badder]

1 minute ago, Vince1159 said:

Absolutely fantastic Badder....

Thanks Vince,

Much appreciated. Progress slowed due to exhaustion, but I plan to crack on with the hedgerow over the next 2 days.

 

Rearguards

Badder

[PlaStix]

Hi Badder. Just been catching up and it looks like you're making good progress. As ever your skill in creating realistic foliage and groundwork is amazing. Looking forward to seeing more.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Ratch]

That's growing nicely

[Pete in Lincs]

I too have been playing catch up.

It's all coming along very nicely indeed.

I like how you modify as you go along to achieve the desired result.

My scratchbuilding follows the same lines!

BTW, The water butt. The word you wanted was staves.

It will need three metal hoops around it too.

[Badder]

49 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

I too have been playing catch up.

It's all coming along very nicely indeed.

I like how you modify as you go along to achieve the desired result.

My scratchbuilding follows the same lines!

BTW, The water butt. The word you wanted was staves.

It will need three metal hoops around it too.

Thanks Pete,

Yeah, try things out, think what might be better and give that a go! Only way to learn, improve and maybe discover new methods/techniques.

And yes, staves! Silly me!

I'm actually gonna bin that butt and make a new one. We have an old 44 gallon barrel right outside our back door which was used for storing whisky, and it has 4 hoops around it. I won't be using that as a template though.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

[Badder]

8 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Badder. Just been catching up and it looks like you're making good progress. As ever your skill in creating realistic foliage and groundwork is amazing. Looking forward to seeing more.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix,

I know it's a lot to wade through, so thanks for taking the time and commenting!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

7 hours ago, Ratch said:

That's growing nicely

Thanks Ratch,

I've improved the cow parsley very slightly by altering the manufacturing process. Results to appear later.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

I've used some Woodland Scenics 'Underbrush' to bulk out one of the fishing line plants, and some more Seafoam to make a Silver Birch tree.

 

The Silver Birch was a piece of cake to make, simply selecting a suitable piece of Seafoam, painting the trunk/branches white and applying black here and there to give them that distinctive look. To finish it off, I sprayed the foliage with dilute PVA and scattered Dil Tops over, let it dry then gave the whole tree several coats of Winsor and Newton's acrylic matt varnish. 

 

I have some more Woodland Scenics products which I will use to make further bushes. I am aslo thinking of planting a telegraph pole in a space in the hedgerow, but I will have to decide where the hedgerow is going to be fixed first.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

The 'underbrush' bulking out one of fishing line plants is visible between the left-most bush and the patch of 'cow parsley'.

 

And the Silver Birch will go here:

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

Only a little progress in between bouts of coughing, sneezing, sweating and dizziness....

 

Another fishing line bush added, this time dunked in Basil. Another Seafoam bush added. This will be hemmed in by more bushes.

 

 

I am thinking of spattering the Silver Birch foliage with a yellowish green. I am currently playing around with the idea of adding some 'dock leaf' type plants.

TFL

Badder

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

Made a bit of a booboo with the Silver Birch: choosing a far too violent yellow/green.

Because it was spattered on (a paper mask-surround and spatter with a stiff brush) it would have meant either tedious precision repainting, a complete re-spray, or an over-sprinkle with more herbs. I chose the latter. So, the foliage is thicker now.

 

After that was done I continued extending the hedgerow in the same old way.

 

A few tufts of static grass added to screen the bases of the fishing line plants. The grass may look a bit untidy, but some combing will sort out the worst of it.

 

Meanwhile, I've decided to use the snowflake paper-punch again to produce some 'dock leaf' and similar. It will mean some fiddly trimming, but I won't need to produce much so it's no big deal.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Badder

[Ratch]

These are very realistic - most impressive

[Bullbasket]

On ‎28‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 00:53, Badder said:

I chose the latter. So, the foliage is thicker now.

 

And it looks better. More like the height of summer.

 

John.

[Badder]

17 hours ago, Ratch said:

These are very realistic - most impressive

 

7 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

And it looks better. More like the height of summer.

 

John.

Thanks chaps,

As always, your comments are much appreciated.

 

TFL

Badder

[Vince1159]

Amazing,simply amazing...

[Badder]

35 minutes ago, Vince1159 said:

Amazing,simply amazing...

Thanks Vince,

You are too kind!

 

I have trickled to a halt on the hedgerow, but only because I have to decide where it is going to go in the dio, and how it is going to relate to other bits of scenery. I am thinking of maybe continuing with a dry stone wall, some fencing, or a 5-bar gate. I am experimenting with some leafy ground cover, as I mentioned, but with little success so far.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Vince1159]

7 minutes ago, Badder said:

Thanks Vince,

You are too kind!

 

I have trickled to a halt on the hedgerow, but only because I have to decide where it is going to go in the dio, and how it is going to relate to other bits of scenery. I am thinking of maybe continuing with a dry stone wall, some fencing, or a 5-bar gate. I am experimenting with some leafy ground cover, as I mentioned, but with little success so far.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

,i'm going on a diet when you've finished this with all this popcorn!....