Badder Posted August 5, 2021 Author Share Posted August 5, 2021 On 7/15/2021 at 7:26 AM, Vince1159 said: Absolutely fantastic Badder,lovely job.... On 7/19/2021 at 7:35 PM, FrancisGL said: Hi Badder, This tree is going to be a "living monument", and I really like the idea of it being "removable ... lol", very smart, if something can be used for more than one purpose, Great! ... Thanks chaps, I would have responded ages ago, but for some reason I was unable to sign in to BM, until today. I hope you and yours are well? Meanwhile.............. not much has gone on tree-wise, due to 'life' getting in the way, quite rudely, but fingers crossed it'll all iron out. So, this tree............. which I thought was nearly done with regards to the 'foliage'. Turns out that what I thought would be 'not much more to do' was wrong. lol. I thought maybe 150m of line would do it. Well, I added that and it seems to have just 'vanished'. I've got to add another 150m or so! But I am working on the base of the tree, adding roots and thickening up the trunk and that's all going to plan........ TC chaps and Rearguards, Badder 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted August 5, 2021 Author Share Posted August 5, 2021 (edited) Unfortunately, life has been a bit invasive recently, so modelling has had to take a back seat. 150m of fishing line was added a few weeks ago, but seems to have vanished into the 'TARDIS' that is this tree. So another 150m will need to be added. DOH! The photo below shows the areas which still need SOME filling, but not too much. With the silhouette of the tree completely sorted though, I've been able to look at the trunk and finalise it's thickness at the base and begin adding some thick anchoring roots. These are made from the same twine as was used to make the branches, with 2 or 3 strands twisted together and CA'd vertically down the trunk, before being bent outwards at the bottom. I'm about 1/6th of the way around the trunk so far. A bit of filler will be used to smooth the roots slightly, hiding the twists. TFL Badder Edited August 5, 2021 by Badder 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted August 6, 2021 Share Posted August 6, 2021 I was wondering how you were getting on, the tree's becoming a veritable nylon monster ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted August 14, 2021 Author Share Posted August 14, 2021 On 8/6/2021 at 11:50 PM, Pig of the Week said: I was wondering how you were getting on, the tree's becoming a veritable nylon monster ! Hi Mr P, At a very rough guess I reckon the tree is made up of 850m of fishing line, with 300m of that being what remained of the original line. Of course, the tree is taller than the original, but with the internal structure of the tree being more visible it had to be modelled more accurately, so the nylon twigs 'sprout' from deeper within the tree. In other words, the messy interior of the tree was hidden within a layer of furry, short-pile carpet, but is now a much more realistic interior more loosely covered with chunks of shaggy, long-pile rug. I'm at the point now where I am just fixing the last of the branch/twig assemblies to the tree. Most of the 'new' assemblies were just dry-fitted before. This is a job requiring goggles and a gas mask, and good ventilation, or, just turning one's head away and wafting the air with an old school cap. I KNEW that would come in handy one day! TC Rearguards, Badder 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 I don't think any of the schools I went to were posh enough to have a school cap ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted August 28, 2021 Author Share Posted August 28, 2021 I know that endless photos of this tree, in all its versions, must be extremely boring, but it's all work in progress and some may even prefer the earlier versions, or may have come up with their own preferred method etc, so in my book, it's right to have shared it all. Whatever, the tree is nearly finished. I've added the last of the planned branch/twig assemblies, have bent and repositioned some of them to make a more pleasing look, have given the canopy a few sprays with greens, and have finished the construction of the trunk and root system. I will definitely add a few clumps of foliage here and there, just to hide some of the dodgier ones. Aside from that, all that's left to do is paint the trunk/roots and those last few clumps of foliage. On the subject of making this tree interchangeable with another, that will be made much easier if the tree itself is situated on raised ground within a circular dry-stone wall. Rather than havng to swap 2 trees over - meaning I'd have to ensure both trunks and root systems were identical - it's much easier to make 2 identical dry-stone circles. Anyhoooooo, the tree.......... First a pic of the tree with the last of the branch-twig assemblies added: :And here it is after spraying with green acrylic inks and a bit of a trim with scissors followed by a downwards comb with a dinner fork. Just for reference, the following photo was taken from roughly the same angle as the one above, Front lit, the canopy looks fairly thick, but back lit, you can see that there is actually a lot of space within the canopy: And finally, the trunk/root system: TFL Badder 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted August 28, 2021 Share Posted August 28, 2021 I like the menacing backlit shot with it looming darkly in front of the ruins ! As you say it shows the space in the tree that the other shots don't. Btw, on a bit of a tangent, I used, inspired by your technique, the soaking paper in ca glue thing, in an unexpected way... I had the task of re-making a little tuning knob thing on an old banjo for someone, I scratched me head a bit then thought of your ca/paper trick, so I've been laminating onto the peg it's fixed to, it will need some more layers but it seems very well attached to the little metal post it's meant to rotate, and I'm sure will be fine and be shapable to suit. It'd be very difficult to make something and securely fix it to the metal post in any other way, so your ca paper laminating thing was a great save there ! 👍 Apologies for the rather "off piste" ramble 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 On 8/28/2021 at 11:24 PM, Pig of the Week said: Btw, on a bit of a tangent, I used, inspired by your technique, the soaking paper in ca glue thing, in an unexpected way... I had the task of re-making a little tuning knob thing on an old banjo for someone, I scratched me head a bit then thought of your ca/paper trick, so I've been laminating onto the peg it's fixed to, it will need some more layers but it seems very well attached to the little metal post it's meant to rotate, and I'm sure will be fine and be shapable to suit. Hi Pete, How did you get on with the CA'd paper Banjo tuning peg bodge-job? I have certainly used CA'd paper to secure metal fittings onto things, and vice versa. I have a home made scribing block where I used CA'd paper to secure a metal scriber to a sliding collar on the upright post and it's done a grand job. Regards the Banjo, I'd be slightly worried about the constant retuning weakining the bond with the tuning peg - unless the metal peg has some raised or recessed detail on it to provide some bite? I would imagine the peg would have a screw thread on the end for the knob to screw onto, for example? If there is nothing to provide bite, I'd perhaps file a couple of rings around it. Rearguards, Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 Starting from the bottom and working my way up, picture-wise, here's the trunk of the tree after the addition of a few more lengths of garden twine to make it more gnarled and wrinkly like my scrotum. I've deliberately created holes and fissures in amongst the roots, to make things a bit more interesting. Matt varnish and washes and some moss effects will finish this off. BTW I'm thinking about maybe banging a few nails into the trunk, and/or adding a ladder, and a decrepit tree house lol..... Upwards: Really, the tree's canopy is all pretty much 'adjustable' and I am constantly fiddling with the branches, clumps of foliage and the fishing line 'twigs'; closing the canopy, opening the canopy up, trying to decide which looks best and it's surprising how dense, or how airy it can look. I decided to go for the more 'closed' option. With that in mind I gave the foliage a good downwards blow with a hair drier set at its hottest setting, (Just for a few seconds) causing the line to go limp and 'droop' in a more vertical fashion before it cooled and set more rigid again. So, here, you may notice that more of the'twigs' hang down than did before, and decreases the size of the gaping holes in the canopy, in my opinion, anyway. With that done, I then decided to add a bit of texture to all of the 'twigs'using green acrylic 'Grit Paint'. I just used small spatula to smear it all over the twigs, then combed downwards through them. It's not very obvious that it's there, but it's there and once it dried it stiffened the twigs up some more. The next job was to re-apply Red Earth acrylic ink to the boughs, branches, twigs and trunk. No need to be fussy, I just poked the AB up inside the canopy and sprayed as best I could, directly upwards. In some places I sprayed in from the side through the gaps in the canopy. Whatever, the tree 'armature' was treated and a lot of the undersides of the culmps of foliage. And then I got the AB in there and toned a lot of the Red Earth down by spraying with Sepia-coloured acrylic ink. In places the Red Earth is much more apparant, in places it's been toned down to more of a brown and looks to me like old dried out, or dead twigs. I've just a little more to do with the Sepia and that'll be the canopy done, apart from the final coat of varnish. As you can see, the foliage is currently gloss/satin, but it might end up matt. I haven't decided. TFL Badder 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted September 8, 2021 Share Posted September 8, 2021 The tree, especially the trunk is looking quite "Wagnerian" now 👍 The banjo pegs I'm very satisfied with, taking your point about secure fixing, the 'shanks' I was fixing to were in fact square section and a bit rough, so I think there's a good bit of bite there, they don't take a huge amount of pressure either as the strings are quite thin so I reckon they'll be fine in use. All thanks to your good self, I'd never have thought of laminating paper with CA to make anything like that.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted September 10, 2021 Author Share Posted September 10, 2021 On 9/8/2021 at 5:45 PM, Pig of the Week said: All thanks to your good self, I'd never have thought of laminating paper with CA to make anything like that.. No probs. It's great to discover something 'by accident' and then share it and find that someone else finds it useful, even if its not model related. I'm calling the tree 'finished' btw, but haven't gotten around to posting the pics here yet. I have posted the tree in the RFI section though. I do think it's a diorama in its own right. Lol Of course, it's NOT ACTUALLY finished, it will get some more work done to it when I 'plant' it in the ground. Rearguards, Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted September 26, 2021 Author Share Posted September 26, 2021 Hi all, sorry for absence, but I've been busy making vids of me throwing and bashing this tree, to prove how indestructible it is! lol. (Link to vid bottom of this post) So, the tree is finished and I'm now working on the ground it's 'planted' in. The tree will be removable from the diorama so that it can be replaced with another at a later date, either because it is 'better', or purely for variation in photographs. I will bemaking a kind of dowel/rubber sleeve type affair underneath the circle of 'ground' it is now fixed to, and that section of ground will lift out of the diorama with the tree. Whatever tree is swapped over, will have the same shaped circle of ground fitted to it, and the same dowel/rubber sleeve device. Before I make that device though, I'm going to add this bench, which will have a kind of 'lean-to' structure with a couple more legs added pointing rearwards. Being a conifer tree and quite a large one, there will be very little in the way of vegetation on the ground beneath it, but a fair few 'pine needles' and twigs. I will probably use very short static grass to replicate the 'needles', unless I can find something thinner. Here's the tree finished: And with the bench leaning on the trunk at the moment. TFL Badder 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major_Error Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 Nice! Here it will be nice with one tree for each season? Lovely! 8- D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 (edited) On 9/27/2021 at 8:24 AM, Major_Error said: Nice! Here it will be nice with one tree for each season? Lovely! 8- D Hi Major, Good to see you. Thanks. I will definitely be making one for each season, although strictly speaking this conifer tree will be good for all 6 seasons......... winter, spring, summer, autumn, the seasons on Uranus which are 21 years long, but all of them VERY cold and of course, the Silly Season. Rearguards, Badder Edited October 7, 2021 by Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 I'm wondering tho, in the deep mid winter, would we need some snow on the actual tree itself ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 I'm wondering tho, in the "deep mid winter", would we maybe need some snow on the actual tree itself ? Just a thought.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted October 23, 2021 Share Posted October 23, 2021 I've been keeping up with your youtube vids Mr B.. The punched out leaves on the latest one look fab, good to see it all in "moving film" which gives a better 3d idea of their true appearance than still photos. Btw..any chance of a tutorial one on making plaster castings from miniart buildings in the works ?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badder Posted October 26, 2021 Author Share Posted October 26, 2021 (edited) On 10/8/2021 at 9:54 AM, Pig of the Week said: I'm wondering tho, in the "deep mid winter", would we maybe need some snow on the actual tree itself ? Just a thought.. Btw..any chance of a tutorial one on making plaster castings from miniart buildings in the works ?? Hi, Mr P, Thanks for your kind words, During my spare time I always have one, or other, of my unfinished models sitting in front of me, and I kind of get blind to their 'good bits' and only see their 'bad bits'. So, I ALSO get to see them in a new light when they are on video! lol It's good to know that you're having a peep now and then, so thanks for that. To answer your questions, the tree will get snow added when I put it in my Pit Stop diorama and I'll remove it for when it's photographed in THIS diorama. I have some of that microballoon type snow stuff and I'll use that. It's part of the reason why I made it an 'indestructible tree'. I will probably make a video of me scattering talcum powder over it and vacuuming that off, just to further prove how indestructible it is. I will eventually get around to showing how to make moulds and cast MiniArt walls etc, but that would have to wait until I actually need a new wall, and I don't see that being for some time. But you never know, maybe something will pop up. Whatever, you will see it here first. Rearguards, Badder Edited October 26, 2021 by Badder 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pig of the Week Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 It does give a whole new perspective seeing them live on camera to be sure... Maybe you could put a "new video bulletin" on here when you have one coming out, YouTube does suggest them as I've watched and liked /subscribed etc, but likely takes it's time ! Be v. interesting to see your take on a snowy scene 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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