Trees and bushes...?

[Lucky13]

Sure is bud! 8)

 

[B-17engineer]

I'm completely confused. I just got 2 kits in the mail, an Opel Blitz and a Stug III, there for a diorama I have planned after I get a couple aircraft under my belt. But I don't who they came from, I never ordered them, and I didn't ask for it for my birthday...... so I'm really really confused, but hey I'll take em!

 

[GrauGeist]

A short while back I was working in my little garden, and in the process, cleaned up an Alyssum that had reached the end of it's life.

It was an older plant, perhaps 10 years old, and had wooded up nicely. When I removed it from the planter, I realized it looked alot like a tree and would be perfect for a diorama.

I thought I'd grab a photo of it so perhaps it would give others some ideas of sources for trees or logs for one of thier diorama projects.

 

[Airframes]

Great stuff Dave! That's just the sort of thing needed, which can be trimmed and used for various scales of tree, with the addition of foliage made from lichens, rubberised horse hair, dried herbs, tea leaves and/ or sea moss etc.
A friend of mine who used to be involved in horticulture told me about a decorative fern, available at little cost from garden centres etc, for indoor use. Can't remember its name, but know which one it is (if that makes sense!?), and he's right, the centre part can be cut out and allowed to dry. If it's then sprayed with clear varnish or hair spray, it prevents rotting, and it can then be used to make various sizes of tree, bushes, scrub etc.

 

[GrauGeist]

Don't forget Shellac! They make a number of different types, and it'll also help strengthen the material. Another coating to consider, would be a matt finish polyurethane, which also would give real good strength once it's set up.

I guess I should have given an idea as to the size of the Alyssum parts I posted earlier.

I tossed together a "diorama" of sorts

The truck in the photo is a very old (like about 30+ years old) 1/32 kit with the tree-like Alyssum posed behind it using a weight and a length of solid copper wire. I wasn't going for details here, just a quick something to give everyone an idea of the scale of the "tree".

And the rock is only there to hold the sandpaper down...

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Dave, shows the scale well. I'll have to get some of that asylum...abysinian...al...wood!

 

[GrauGeist]

lol Terry!

Try (phoenetically): Ah-Liss-Um, not Ellysium!

It's known sometimes as "Sweet Alyssum", really neat ground cover but I'm not sure if it grows in England or not...

It does grow like crazy here in California, both the white and purple plants being the most common colors.

 

[Airframes]

I think it is here in the UK Dave, used as border plants around lawns and so on. My ex- horticultural mate will know - he'll probably tell me what time it buds, for how long, how deep the roots are etc. Get the picture of the type of guy? Great bloke, but can bore the c*ap out of a constipated elephant!!

 

[Lucky13]

Great stuff chaps!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

It's known sometimes as "Sweet Alyssum", really neat ground cover but I'm not sure if it grows in England or not...

It does grow like crazy here in California, both the white and purple plants being the most common colors.

Grows like a weed here and in Pommy land

 

[Lucky13]

Just looking for stuff for that '110 on wooden runway... That pic annoy me, need to that as diorama....d*mn, blasted, b*ll*cks!

MiniaturePlanet Model railroads, architecture and dioramas

Question is though, where to get the proper wood planking for the runway?

 

[kgambit]

Would this help?

AeroScale :: Mark58 1/48 scale airfield structures

Looks like they have 1:48 wooden runways already prefabbed.

 

[Lucky13]

Cheers KG! Completely forgot the Mark.58! They don't seem to have the wooden runway anymore though, couldn't see it anyway.

Mark58 Homepage

 

[rochie]

Jan, Muller used those wooden coffee stirrers you get for free in Mcdonalds for wooden planking, looks bloody convinsing on the base he sent me, check out his black 16 in the defence of the reich build !!!

 

[Airframes]

Keith uses those wooden coffee stirrers you see at some coffe places, and ice lolly sticks can also be used - any close grained wood basically, for scale effect. Many craft shops (and model shops) have Ramin strip, and other wooden forms, as well as sheet, block and strip Balsa. Cut to the required length, width and thickness, and painted or wood-stained, they do the job.

 

[Lucky13]

I'll snoop around in the craft shop in Glasgow later this week then....

 

[Airframes]

Would the craft shop happen to be next door to a pub?!!

 

[Lucky13]

Almost, not one, but, eeerrrrmmm....three!

 

[Airframes]

Hah! Snoop = 5 minutes. Pub = 3 hours!! Result - bits of wood all over the pub!

 

[Lucky13]

No point in asking you and the chaps to join in then, is it?