G`day Folks, As the name suggests, we are talking about flowers today. Not just flowers, but a way to easily suggest model flowers on your layout. The method is fairly straight forward and cheap......so expense won`t enter into it. I feel the only side of it that requires some time and work is me, in that I need to develop my own physical ability or control, to make a really good job of it. In other words, there is some skill required, however time and practice will serve us well in that area. Anyway.......enjoy the video and let`s start planting flowers all over the place. Gormo
Great stuff again. I have been thinking about using shell grit, but I hadn't really seen anyone make good use of it until now. I have made my own flowers using the fine foam with acrylic paint and coffee grinder, then hand placing the flowers. The shell grit looks like it would have a bit more mass and be better for large area coverage. Some great panoramas of your layout there from the video footage, certainly proving your point on the artistic side of things, it looks like a real scene. Trip to the stupourmarket to the pet food aisle tomorrow I feel. Cheers Tony
Hand over your Lupins ! Excellent Gormo thanks for those great tips. Those last shots of the fields of wildflowers would get a POTW nomination from me. …. wanders off thinking of Monet and poppies Cheers John
G`day Tony, Yes the shell grit is very handy........mind you as it comes in the bag, no way, however give it a good pounding through the grinder and you finish up with a medium which grades through from fine powder up to almost intact shells. When I used it as ballast, I would sort it out and grade it by sifting it. The medium grade was used as ballast. The fine powder was kept and will probably end up as flowers and the coarse grade went back into the bag to be put through the grinder again. Be wary of the dust the grinder generates. The thing with the shell grit as used for flowers, is that you get a more random medium than you get with chalk. This is useful, in that it imitates the randomness of nature. You most likely have a steadier hand than I do, so you may achieve a better result than me. I would suggest you set up a small piece of card with static grass on it to practice on. I think the brush I used in the demo is not good enough. I think a stiffer, thinner flat brush would be better for me, then I won`t get blobs of glue happening. The scenes on the layout are considered very carefully and I try my best to make them look believable.......sometimes it works..... Gormo
.....Well Paul.........I don`t think so.........this is probably better suited to OO or N gauges For what it`s worth though.????.......If you cut up baking paper into postage stamp sized squares and put it through the coffee grinder, the result is leaf like bits that might be suitable for O gauge. I have tried this with colour added and you can make a reasonable representation of maple leaves. I know leaves are not flowers.........but experimentation......may lead to a solution........try anything....forget the rules.....you never know what might happen.??? You may be able to achieve something with Lichen, however it does not take the colour very well. I put some through the grinder and it made nice sized flocking in effect, however when red paint was added to the mix, the resulting colour was a Brownish / Maroon. So I think the Lichen absorbs the paint OK but does not present it as you would want it. That said......there may still be a future for Lichen......more colour experiments needed there to understand the process. Gormo
OK Folks, Just some extra pics to give some scale to these flowers. I have used an Australian Two Dollars and a British One Pound coin to give you a better idea, along with the best close up my camera will do without going out of focus. This flower was done with coloured shell grit. Gormo