shrubbery

[martin]

I have no idea what to use for shrubbery... I seem to recall people used to use sponges?

is that any good for 1:24 as I've seen images with much more sophisticated looking stuff.

[gnottyash]

I guess we all have our favourite methods. For low growth (heather/bracken etc) I used to use grated fibre board, spray it with Spraymount and add more and so on. Then spray it shades of green.
I've also used thin plastic netting (garden/pond covering type) scrunched up and held in clumps by thin wire - spray black/dark brown and then add foliage.
Dried buddliea heads are useful too. I don't like lichen from model railway stores as I can never see anything except it being lichen.

[martin]

cheers gnottyash some interesting methods!

[michael]

Hello Martin
One method that I have found works well is to take furnace filters and cut them up and then spread woodland senics foilage matt over them.

[Steph'H]

Hi Martin,

Just a thought, we are at the right time of year for all sorts of plants to be getting their seed heads....I have used dead Sedum flower heads covered with scatter etc as trees etc on smaller scales, maybe they would make bushes etc in larger scales? Umbelifer (Cow Parsley type plants) are also useful, as, as gnottyash says, are dead Buddleia flower heads.

cheers

Steph'

[chris stockdale]

I have no idea what to use for shrubbery...

HEAD KNIGHT:
We want... a shrubbery!
[dramatic chord]
ARTHUR:
A what?
KNIGHTS OF NI:
Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!
ARTHUR and PARTY:
Ow! Oh!
ARTHUR:
Please! Please! No more! We will find you a shrubbery.
HEAD KNIGHT:
You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive.
ARTHUR:
O Knights of Ni, you are just and fair, and we will return with a shrubbery.
HEAD KNIGHT:
One that looks nice.
ARTHUR:
Of course.
HEAD KNIGHT:
And not too expensive.
ARTHUR:
Yes.


No prizes (but my apologies for interrupting the thread) for guessing where this comes from - or is it just my age


best

[henrix72se]

we seems to be of same age...

/Henrik

[gnottyash]

I forgot mentioning the other end of the plant - the roots. If you have any strong weeds in the garden, their dried roots might make good branch systems beneath scatter material foliage. Most need trimming of their whispyness and volume of finer roots, but usually you end up with a workable basis for a small shrub.
With all this rain encouraging weeds to grow, the wretched things are currently plentiful...so they might as well serve some purpose.

[martin]

I have no idea what to use for shrubbery...

HEAD KNIGHT:
We want... a shrubbery!
[dramatic chord]

somehow I just Gnew someone would...

[Bilco]

Can we assume now that everything in the garden's shrubbery?

[More_Cats_Than_Sense]

Can we assume now that everything in the garden's shrubbery?

Gnot if you have cats or dogs, Gno.........

[Will Vale]

No prizes (but my apologies for interrupting the thread) for guessing where this comes from - or is it just my age

The very first thing that went through my head on reading the thread title was "NI", so you're not alone...

For airy small shrubs with a branch structure, the Woodland Scenics instant tree stuff (Fine Leaf Foliage?) looks fantastic, but it's incredibly fragile. Adding a pinch of coloured scatter (red, white, etc.) for flowers can look really nice - it breaks up the green and adds interest, but use in moderation.

[martin]

while pulling up a tomato plant yesterday I noticed the roots are rather fine - quite good for ivy and crawling plants

sorry about the image quality but I only have a phone camera:

[Bob Taylor]

We must ALL be of a certain age but still childish. Good in it?

I have no idea what to use for shrubbery in this scale though, sorry.
No help.


Bob.

[richard andrews]

try rubberized horse hair or a scouring pad pulled apart and covered in woodland scenics foliage mat or similar .
regards Richard

[Paglesham]

Even in the larger scales, lint is good stuff, though becoming a little harder to get. I use it cloth side down, none of that daft "stick it fluff side down and tear off when dry stuff"! Just stick it down as is, work it up with your favourite paint media, then as it's drying, tease it up with a brass wired suede brush and toothbrushes. If you want a rabbit run, just roll it down with a wheel off a Dinky toy, still on its axle.
For coarser stuff, hemp or sizal string, but PLEASE don't just stick it down straight 'n' spiky. Give it a bit of curl by pulling it under a scriber or similar rod held against the cutting mat, THEN stick it down with an eye to the prevailing winds on the layout.
Rubberised horse hair (upholstery stuff) for bushes and vigorous weeds with a dusting of dried teabag contents. Then spray the lot with different shades of greeny brown. You can always fix the teabags/WS sponge with cheap hairspray to fix it all. Hedgerows can be made from wire wool, bunched and clipped, teased and painted a la George Stokes, the absolute Master of trees and hedges.
Don't forget to make the prevailing weather side of your trees, etc a little darker and greener than the other. Observation of the real deal is the answer really.
Hope this helps.
Paglesham

[Glen A]

Don't forget to make the prevailing weather side of your trees, etc a little darker and greener than the other. Observation of the real deal is the answer really.
Hope this helps.
Paglesham

I think the answer is never to use just one colour when doing any scenery. You need at least 2 colours, but 3 or more is better.
When you look at bush, although you make think all the leaves are the same colour green, some are in light and some are in shadow. The only way to re-create this in the model form (in my opinion) is to use two shades of colour.

[Paglesham]

I agree. You need a darker colour for the inside of the bush/hedgerow, which is in shade and lighter colours for the better lit outer layers. In any scale this gives a much greater sense of depth.
Once again, the only way to get it right is to go out and observe the real thing.
In the larger scales like 1/24th and above a broad leafed grass becomes actually measurable! A single blade of grass could be an inch high, by 1/48th" or more wide. Our job is to suggest, rather than model, because even I wouldn't say make individual blades of grass

I measured a nettle and found even in 1/32nd scale it was over an inch high and it's leaves would be a 1/16" long! Fortunately our eyes compensate and suggest to us what a "plant" might be.
Paglesham