Trees!

Hello :o)

The trees for the layout have been one of those things that I have dabbled with in the past but never seriously sat down and tried to get any number of them done. Highclere being a quite large layout for its scale needs quite a few of them of differing flavours to fill out the countryside. This weekend was spent producing a few more...

Now I know this guy Stefan has been posting pictures on a German forum for a while and there have been links to his work posted in various places in the past but for some reason last week I switched on Google Translate and sat down to read it.

http://stummiforum.de/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=50628&start=825

His work is amazing, it might be all purely for photographic reasons but there is no doubt he knows how to model, and model things extremely realistically. This has been an inspiration to me and after reading a few how-tos he has posted within his thread I wanted to give it a go.

The picture above was my first attempt. Now me being me I decided I knew a better way of making them and deviated a bit from Stefans methods using my static grass applicator. As you can see the results werent upto much.

So it was back to the beginning and I tried again. I will not go into too much detail as its described on Stefans thread but as you can see from the above photo the assembly of a tree is really easy. The green wire is simply wrapped around a central wire and looped out in regular intervals, there loops become the tree branches later on. So by this evening I ended up with these...

I am really pleased with how they have come out. The differences I did were I used some Brass multistranded picture hanging wire as the main trunk wire instead of a single stranded one, and I used some PVA glue covered in some Treemendus Bark Powder (http://www.treemendus-scenics.co.uk/tree-kit-order/) which gives a very good representation of Bark.

I have still got loads more to make though but at least I have the confidence I can do them now. It has also taught me that sometimes it is worth following other peoples instructions as well!

Julia :o)

I got the big camera out...

Me again :o)

I couldn't resist it and so I got the big camera out along with a few trains to hopefully remind myself of one of the reasons why I am doing this. Im far from good with a camera but hopefully the photos below will give the impression of what I am trying to achieve.

Julia :o)

Can anyone help?

Hello :o)

I would like to start this blog entry with a request for some help. Hopefully there is someone out there who will be able to help me out....
Amongst all the other things I am trying out is my attempt at making my own wheels, not only for standard gauge but also for the smaller narrow gauge bits and bobs where wheels are hard to find. Now I have figured out how to most of the bits for wheels with the exception of the wheel rims which to date have been beyond my capabilities. I have seen on the interwebs articles where a form tool for wheel rims can be made by producing a wheel and using that to produce the form tool but that means producing a wheel rim in the first place. I have also seen on this blog http://otiraminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/ a tool which has been wire eroded but sadly the guy hasnt replied to my request.
Therefore I would like to ask if anyone knows of, has access to, or knows someone who has the use of a wire EDM machine who would be willing to produce some form tools for me? I can provide everything (apart from the EDM machine!) needed. I have approached a few engineering companies so far and I have had only a single reply quoting a couple of hundred pounds to produce one. If there is anyone out there who could help, it would be VERY appreciated...

Anyway, on other matters I have added a little bit of colour to the layout. I know everyone likes pictures so here are a few...

I am guessing I should add some trains sometime soon!

Julia :o)

Highclere progress

Hello again.

I hadnt planned on putting another post together so quickly but I felt it might be worth it considering the comments that were made on my previous blog post. This is how the layout (well, one board of it) is looking after this weekend...

This is how the signal box and lineside hut are looking now. As I mentioned in the previous post I had reworked the hut to remove most of the weathering. I also took the opportunity to darken the brickwork a little as David had suggested. I didn't remove all the weathering though and I personally feel both buildings look better for it. Of course comments will be most welcome.

Above are a couple of (not very good) photos of me playing around with the lights inside the signal box. Trust me, it looks loads better in the flesh!

I have also made a few more small bushes using some picture hanging brass braided wire. They aren't based on any particular type of bush / tree but I feel they add some much needed intermediate height to the layout between the grassland and the trees. Its worth pointing out at this time the trees on the layout aren't in their finished position, they are pretty much being stored on the layout for now as it seemed the safest place for them. There are loads more to make (at some point).

Finally an overview(ish) of how the board looks right now. Still lots and lots to do...

Julia :o)