Country road WIP

[frank2056]

I've had the Minart "Country Road" diorama base for years:



I repurposed the cart (a regular injection kit) for another project. The base and wall are both vacuforms, so the work required to get them ready has been an annoyance.  After every step forward I've put the parts back into the box and moved on to other projects. Over the years, I've cut out the wall from the vacuform backing and removed/filled in most of the pips in the thin plastic. A year ago, I glued the wall together, puttied the many gaps and eventually painted everything in black before it went back into the box.

A few months ago, I decided that I want to get better at bases and dioramas, so once again, the country road came back out. This is what I have so far. It's still very much a WIP, but I'm getting closer to something that I'm satisfied with. The "tree trunks" are Ficus branches from the planters in front of our building:



I made the tank tracks a little less obvious with some putty. They could be tractor tracks? I've used static grass, some pre-made grass and bushes and some "clutter" - small brown bits of... something. I also used a leaf punch; I painted some glossy paper with various green and brown AK pens, then punched out hundreds of leaves:



The wall looks shiny in these outdoor shots, but once I finish weathering and coloring it, I'll spray a matte finish:





I need to add more static grass (I made a static grass applicator and have yet to shock myself) and make a small tree or bush. I may move some of the larger clumps of grass, or add more clumps and clutter. Luckily, most of the grassy groundwork is easy to move around.

[Rick Lowe]

Looks good, Frank. 

[scautomoton]

A blind man would be happy to see that. Great work so far.

[zenrat]

Good job.   

But now i've got John Denver stuck on my cerebral juke box.

[PR19_Kit]

But now i've got John Denver stuck on my cerebral juke box.

You and me both Fred! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo

[NARSES2]

That does look good 

[Mossie]

Looks fantastic.  Love a bit of scenery modelling.

But now i've got John Denver stuck on my cerebral juke box.

You and me both Fred! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo

Both beat me to it.     

[buzzbomb]

Firm believer in bases to make models easier and safer to handle and set the context. Great work

[su27rules]

  

[NARSES2]

Firm believer in bases to make models easier and safer to handle and set the context. Great work

Especicially when it comes to vehicles and figures 

[frank2056]

Thanks for all the comments! I'm not really sure of what I'm doing. Some of the diorama supplies I've seen are for trains and wargaming and not very convincing. I still need to make a tree/bush and rearrange some of the grass and groundwork.

[Old Wombat]

Thanks for all the comments! I'm not really sure of what I'm doing. Some of the diorama supplies I've seen are for trains and wargaming and not very convincing. I still need to make a tree/bush and rearrange some of the grass and groundwork.

Trees & bushes are problematic.

Most of the commercially available versions are too fake looking, even the better, expensive ones don't really look right.

Homemade versions can look excellent but they take a lot of time & effort to construct.

I've read that the roots of small saplings & shrubs can make a good framework to start with.


Like what you've done so far! 

[Mossie]

I've seen some OO scales trees that look convincing at scale. Conversely, while details in 1/72 armour can look less convincing than in 1/35, rough detail for trees and shrubs can look better in the small scale.

[Steel Penguin]

for trees most people dont realise how big, and tall they are when they have grown a bit.  Mrs SP made a couple for her late fathers railway, they ended up in the corners as they were a good foot tall,  made of braided and twisted waste plating tie wire, then painted with multiple artist acrylic paint, and scenic foam.  they were very impressive.

another possibility is the wooden part from bunches of grapes,  they may need a little trimming  but can look very knurled and wind swept  and would fit in for smaller trees on a 1:72 scale

[frank2056]

I ordered a tree-like bush made my MIG, but the grape branches sounds like a good idea - especially since we have some in the fridge.

Just looked up the names for the various parts of a grape cluster"

Shoot: The primary green branch where the grape clusters (as well as leaves and tendrils) actually form and hang from during the growing season.
Peduncle: The main, woody-green stem that connects the entire bunch of grapes to the vine shoot.
Rachis: The main, central branch or "skeleton" that runs through the middle of the grape cluster itself, from which the individual grapes branch off.
Pedicel: The tiny individual stems or "branch-twigs" that connect each single grape berry to the rachis

So I picked out a couple of good Rachis with branchy pedicels.