To The End

I think I'm now at a point where I can say that 'To The End...' is now as complete as it can be. The lower edges of the board have all now been painted with grey primer/undercoat, three coats with some light sanding in-between coats and the final coat applied with a sponge roller. 

I've also fixed the backscene board in place. This is a piece of hardboard, not the most ideal of materials as it has a tendency to warp when un-framed. Unusually this piece is actually double-faced, having been salvaged from an old wardrobe, and had already been primed both sides and painted sky blue on one as part of another project. Newly cut edges were touched in with primer and everything was going well until I dropped the board and damaged a corner! Argh!! 

Luckily the damage was repaired with liquid superglue to bind the corner, then Milliput to smooth away the damage. Paint was then touched up, luckily I found the remains of the exact blue used on the front of the board. A white car primer aerosol was then used to lightly coat the front of the board as the blue was both a little too bright and a little too satin in finish. The board was then screwed in position.

The board's main function is really to protect the tree, both in storage and when on display. Of course I have nowhere to stand this on a regular basis but it will hopefully appear in public alongside 'Odsock Corner' later in the year. It isn't really much use for photography as the tree casts internal shadows on the backscene, ironically it works better without the backscene and with my white reflective sheet behind at a slight distance. The shadows on the sky can just be seen to the top left of this (cropped) trial shot.

Having said I am about finished, there may be one more addition, possibly as a removable feature. It would need a couple of blocks of wood to raise it off the rails, but would pick up on the "abandoned miniatures" theme that this scene started out with as a micro diorama...

Colin

A Scenic Sprint (To The End)

Confession time... I have not really been taking many photos of progress of the expansion of my 'To The End' diorama. I've fallen out with my bridge camera and my phone camera doesn't always get the result I'm after. Therefore there is a jump from the last post to the next image, and then we'll find that this is really the last proper "work in progress" shot... 

By this time I had added two more layers to the basic groundwork, one a layer (in some places two) of Amazon packing paper used with dilute PVA in a sort of papier mache to add a consistent surface over the card and DAS clay, then a layer of my usual paint/PVA/tile grout mix, with Woodland Scenics fine turf sieved over whilst wet. In between these layers the track was ballasted and whilst looking for materials to match the original mixture, I actually found that very mixture, result!

The concrete area was extended from the small area on the micro-diorama. I had the original Green Scene tub with this material in, but opened it to find that it had dried out. Originally this paint had some sort of powder in it, with a liquid carrier, and the dried out lumps were still powdery... could I grind it back down to a powder in a pestle and mortar, and reactivate it? Adding the powder to Hobbycraft Matt Medium I soon had a paste that resembled the original product and I could use it on the new area to extend the scene. Despite the plan being to use static grass for the new grass work, I then opted to further blend old and new by adding some hanging basket liner in around the edges of the trackwork and concrete areas to help everything blend in. 

At this early stage I was experimenting with groupings of scenic items, in an attempt to add interest to the scene, and hopefully use up some items that have been awaiting their day for a while, such as these Ravenglass & Eskdale inspired fencing panels. These were actually glued in place during the static grass work and from that point on, things just grew organically, or so it seems...

I cannot possibly describe everything in detail, but to summarise, I have:

• added further leaf litter around the track to match that on the micro diorama,
• added static grass in a mixture of colours, aiming for variation but keeping it subtle,
• created bushes/hedges from teased rubberised horsehair, with static grass fibres added a la Gravett, then foliage, and avoiding foliage matts to get a better effect,
• reinstated the fence, with a new section running into the hedge that was originally created for Odsock Corner,
• added detail/texture to the grass using MiniNatur flowers, Martin Welberg weeds and some recently acquired products.

The tree is the half-relief one completed in 2022 when attempting the Avalon Brickworks style layout. I had to remove about 2cm from it's height so it will fit in the Really Useful Box, and re-create the flare/roots at the base (then hide them in the undergrowth!)

On the micro diorama the front corner was occupied by a wheelset and a crate with a lamp inside. For the expanded scene they are joined by a bucket, keg, pallet, paving slabs and a saddletank that was originally for a model of 'Badger' but has again been painted up for some time and waiting in the wings for use in a scene. It has just been explored by a rabbit, who is looking over towards a bush from Green Stuff World from a pack I bought in a wargames shop in Bridlington on holiday last year.

More soon...

Colin