Tight arse tip!

Another rant on scenery I know but hopefully his one will save you a bit more cash.  I did some searching and trials on how to make my own grass tufts instead of buying the ones that cost as much as 3 bags of static grass.  Below is the method I have found to be useful so far, but it could be improved on as time goes by.  You could alternatively do it in place, you would need a good bag less vacuum to reclaim the excess static grass for a second use.  The only problem is you will probably pull up other scenery flock and have a mixture of grass and flock.... 

A standard piece of alfoil.

Drop a few dabs of glue here and there to make your random bases for the tufts.

(You need an metal base to conduct the electricity!)

Next, coat the sucker with static grass.

I used a mixture of 4.5 and 6 mm long dry grass.

Using the 4.5 seems to fill out the centre a bit better and give it a full and inconsistent height in the grass.

A good thick coating of static grass is what you want, don't be stingy as you get what doesn't stick back later.



The finished product.

After a good 24 hours drying time you can remove the excess static grass for another reuse.

Then you use you finger nail to pick and then peel off the tufts.

(Don't know why this picture loaded upside down?)

The finished product ready to glue down.



Some tufts glued in place with a little more white glue.



Again another area where the tufts have come to use.  You are gonna need a million of these bad boys so get to making them!  Perhaps a good family bonding time with the kids, if you have the patience......

Cheap Trees

Just like everyone else that models an Australian rural scene you need gum trees, lots and lots of gum trees.  So me being one who is hard pressed for time and impatient to see a scene come to life rapidly, I didn't want to have to make the trees individually.  So laziness being the mother of all invention a light bulb sparked in my head!  Buy some of those crappy trees from eBay and try to dress them up like a gum tree using the same methods as twisted wire and no more gaps.

The tree as purchased from eBay.  Not at all like a gum tree, but the basics are there.  Twisted wire trunk and foliage to build on, to better represent an Aussie gum.

Step 1 was to mix up a batch of Selleys no more gaps with a grey paint.  Try not to mix in the grey consistently as you want a little of the white to come through in the final colour.



The trees with their new bark.  By not having to twist and solder the branches you save a heap of time.

The last step was to add a lighter colour of foliage to the original foliage supplied with the tree.  I used a Selleys spray on adhesive and then lightly sprinkled on a fine foliage from Noch.  I wanted to leave the original dark colour for depth, you could however paint it a different colour.  This would have to be done prior to painting the bark, otherwise you'll have green bark!

You can smash out a heap of trees after about an hour.  The most time consuming part is applying the grey no more gaps.

A few new trees planted around Boggabilla station.  While they are no means huge in height or perfect, but I can live with the fact they cost about $3 each and only took 3-4 minutes each to make.

The view from the opposite end.  I will make a few of my own trees that are monster like in height and a little more life like, as the maximum height of the ones here are 12 cm.  For now though these are serving the purpose.

A close up of one in the creek.



Again, a couple in the creek.