MAP66

Thanks again Mikkel, I think the tomatoes can just about pass for the larger beef/steak variety, they must eat a lot of Steaks Its the leaves which are overscale with the out of the packet vegetable plants. Re. the garage, I'm afraid I cheated as its empty, there is a black Austin 7 to go on the drive though. Is that a shot of the inside of your garage with a restoration project awaiting?

Well I've started on the veggie plot and so far we have runner beans, leeks, turnips and tomatoes. The frame for the runner beans is made from micro rod to resemble bamboo canes. The turnips, leeks and toms are out of the packet and vastly overscale which is a shame but I just wanted to see how they would look. Next will be some carrots, onions and maybe lettuce. On the garage doors I have added a hasp and staple lock. Its nearing completion now, thankfully. However, we are in the process of selling up and moving so most of my modelling gear is packed away with only stuff left out to complete this diorama. I bet there is something that I have forgotten to leave out

The Colonel is in the garden while enjoying a read of the morning paper, a gentle southerly breeze teases the pages causing them to rustle. In a moment he will glance upwards and realise that his cock (weather vane) has seized up!! it's pointing in a North Easterly direction. He really should have addressed that creeping ivy much sooner, as its entwinned itself around the weather vane. Time to get the ladder out of the garage Colonel.

Thanks Mikkel for your kind words, very much appreciated. Before I started on making trees, I had mistakenly thought them to be a 'dark art' whereby, only the very skilled and knowledgeable modeller could achieve convincing looking results. At the time, I just wanted something which did not look plastic and resemble sticks of broccoli, like some of the out of the packet trees do. As you have said "discovered", by having a go its surprising what you can achieve and the mysteries of tree making dissolve away. I had not considered dioramas at this point, that only happened when I discovered, to my surprise, that constructing trees was producing reasonable results, so I thought they need to be displayed. I say this like I have a production line, but in truth I have only constructed a total of 5 trees so far, using a mixture of plastic and wire armatures and all have turned out reasonably well. You do need a bit of patience though and the commitment and belief in ones abilities to have ago. I had no idea that the Silver Birch would work when I took it on, I was about 10% confident of success but I still went for it and the first attempt, although passable, was not good enough in my view. It was Gordons book which revealed to me the other methods and materials to use for achieving more realistic results. The Oak tree is destined for another diorama, I was going for another Cake Box size base but need to see how that would fit the tree. I am planning a modern era park type scene for this one.

Thank Steve, I am very pleased with the tree and I will definitely use Mr Gravett's methods again. Its taken longer than expected to complete this diorama as life keeps on getting in the way, which means I can only grab a few minutes working on it every now and again. It will get done though, eventually, with the occasional kick up the backside.

Thank you John, that's very kind of you to say so. Its been a labour of love

Well, I'm finally happy to report that the Silver Birch is now complete and its turned out pretty good for a second attempt. I have inserted it into the garden diorama with a blob of blue-tac and took some photos. Its quite fragile, due to the thin copper wire used for some of the branches, so it will be placed somewhere safe for now and be the last item to be glued in place on the diorama. Next thing to tackle will be the small vegetable patch and then get some more characters painted up. Then back to the Oak tree, remember that! Out of interest - Can anyone recommend a cheapish digital camera which comes with photo stacking, I need a way of keeping everything in sharp focus when shooting close up and my Samsung mobile phone camera results in a lot of the image being blurry as depth of field is very narrow.

Hi John Many thanks for the info and links for tree making and supplies. I am going to have a good look through to see all the range available. Much appreciated. Mark

Thank you Mikkel, Re6/6 (John) was quite right, I followed Gordons guidance and it didn't disappoint. So it takes a little more time straightening out the postiche but its worth the effort for modelling this variety of Birch. Would also work for Weeping Willow, that's another one for the future.

The first sprinkling of foliage has been added which is a mix of Green Scenes 125 and 129, attached for now with hairspray. The upper branches are next and I intend to use longer lengths of postiche for these which should fill out the tree more right down to the lower branches. I think it looks better than the larger first attempt tree where I used thin strips of foliage netting. This method seems to represent the drooping foliage more realistically.

Its been a while since I last posted an update, haven't really progressed much as I have only had one stint at attaching the straightened out postiche. Its going to take a few more sessions to complete that stage and then it will require a hair cut to tidy up the straggly bits before I add the scatters. I am pleased with how its looking though. Without the scatter material it does make for a very nice Birch for a winter scene. That's one for the future, I can imagine a few of these running along an embankment with patches of snow on the ground.

Well, I've started on Silver Birch MkII which is smaller than the original and will be better suited for this small diorama. I am still experimenting with bark discolouration at the moment (progress pics below) and after this I will attempt to attach the postiche to the branches, to represent the long twiggy stuff, which will be straightened out first. The first tree was a scale 55' tall and this version is 32'. Once the postiche is added, I will take some images of the whole tree situated within the diorama. Hopefully it should all work out, I'm following Gordon Gravetts technique so fingers crossed.

Hi Chris Not sure if these would be appropriate for a small yard L120: 2CWT SACK SCALES + SACKS (2) sold by Dart Castings https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/dart/L120.php I used them in my 2018 CBC 'The Coal Drop'. Not sure if they would have ever been used for weighing sacks of coal - I just thought it looked the part so used them. You can just about make them out in the image below.

Yes, this was taken at the weekend, James prefers wearing something entirely different when gardening during the week.

Thanks for the feedback Mikkel, I haven't yet decided if it looks like she's just come back from paint balling in which case she must have been an easy target or is this something Joan Crawford would wear while tending her Geraniums? I'm still undecided

Some images of my garden scene diorama in 4mm scale (still under construction).

Just playing around with some characters which could feature in the scene. Lawn mower man definitely has a place but have I overdone it with the colourful gardening smock as worn by his Mrs?

Thank Mikkel I cant resist adding the little people, so they will appear soon.

Thanks Steve I have a few characters in mind to add to the scene, but they won't all feature at the same time. You met lawn mower man on the previous page. There's quite a few cameo scenes I could do on this diorama using different figures, but I need to rein it in a bit as I want to start on the oak tree diorama.

Lids now fitted on the compost container and some more items have been placed in the greenhouse ready for the house occupier to do some pottering (house occupier not installed yet). Going back to the Silver Birch, I am going to attempt a smaller version using the Gordon Gravett method for this diorama. So wire armature, filler and straightened postiche for the foliage.

I’ve had a modelling dry spell for the last couple of months, so lack of progress on all fronts. I think I’m back again now though, as I returned to the garden diorama last week and constructed a small brass shed kit which ignited the flame again and promptly spurred me on to knock up a compost container from ratio sheets of wood planking (still needs a hinged lid). I have also made a start on some more ground work to the rear of the shed and around the compost container and the next step will be to model the small vegetable patch which hopefully will include a runner bean frame made out of very thin plastic rod to resemble bamboo canes. I also had a think about the oak tree diorama again and am now confident on what to include in the scene, so that little project will will follow on after this one.

Thanks Steve, the scatter I used for the ivy is by Jarvis ref. JFT3 Dark Green Fine Turf. I liberally sprinkled that all over first and shook off the access, then a bit more glue and added some slightly courser material to bulk it out a bit. Unfortunately I don't recall where I got the courser stuff from but it has F11 in black marker on the sealed bag. Jarvis do a course turf JCG3 which looks similar, so should still work. good luck with the brambles.

Still continuing with the Oak and attempting to adopt the techniques from Gordon Gravett's book on trees, I have now introduced some ivy growing up the trunk. The ivy vines are made using plumbers hemp and then stuck down onto the trunk using dilute pva. More pva was applied by a very fine brush and then green scatter sprinkled over to represent the ivy leaves. I have also added teased out postiche to the ends of all the tree branches. I think in its present state it could pass for an Oak in winter but I want to introduce some foliage, so that will be the next stage. I'm looking forward to planting this Oak into a diorama after I complete the Silver Birch one first.

Glad it all worked out Chris, the lighting effect looks bang on

The sun was out, so I decided to take a quick close up photo of the bark detail in natural light. I'm very happy so far with the results I have achieved with the Oak just by using simple techniques. This is the level of detail I was aiming for and its a great relief to know that I am actually capable of producing trees of a reasonable standard which will hopefully feature in a layout of the future, when space becomes available. For now though, I feel yet another diorama on the horizon, featuring the Oak - maybe a park scene?