Happy Hedgerows

[CommanderBaker]

So I need help finding a way to create cheap but effective looking Hedgerows for Bolt action. Ive used the pan scourer technique but they look way to well kept. I just need them to look realistic and be affordable to make. I use a GW grass mat as my play space and make all most of my terrain. Please help with ideas, websites, guides, and pictures!

Thanks as usual,
CB

[Cubster]

Attack your scourers with needle-nose pliers! That'll mess them up a bit. The odd tree of shrub does no harm either.

[CommanderBaker]

Okay and what about clump foilage, lichen and things like steel wool with flock?

[Comte Michel]

What I did for my bocage was to build up a small bank down the centre of various 40mm wide bases (straights, corners, 'Ts' etc). I used cork tiles so a narrow bit of cork down the middle was pretty easy to do. Then I filled it out with polyfilla etc, added small rocks and stuff down the centre, covered the rest in sand and let it dry. Painted it in the usual way (earth colour, dark wash and drybrush).

Then I used hot melt glue to stick lengths of appropriately cut rubberised horsehair along the middle. Once this had set I coated the horsehair in slightly thinned white glue with a big brush then scattered Noch leaves over it (I used a mix of light and dark). Even though I say so myself I think they look pretty good. Unfortunately I can't post any photos immediately because they are all over at my buddy's house

Oh I forgot to mention I embedded the occasional Woodland Scenics tree armature base in some of them so I can stick a few trees in here and there.

I should also mention thet the Noch leaves look a lot more 'leafy' than any other kind of flock. Way better than the Woodland Scenics. The bushes you can see in this thread

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=4841

were done in the same way.

[Cubster]

Okay and what about clump foilage, lichen and things like steel wool with flock?

Never tried steel wool, but yes, I would imagine the others do the job nicely.

[CommanderBaker]

The reason i say steel wool is because i cannot find rubberized horsehair in the US. The course steel wool kind of achieves the same effect but it is hell on the hands. Could You post a link to the Noch leaves comte?
When you can pics would be great, and could you explain the polyfill?

[Comte Michel]

These are the Noch leaves :

http://www.howardscenicsupplies.co.uk/c ... ge/Leaves/

Here's a close up showing what they look like :

http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/noch ... n-50g.html

Noch are a big supplier of model railway scenics, so try railway modelling shops.

For rubberised horsehair try old fashioned upholstery shops or places that supply old vehicle restorers. Try also rubberised coconut matting. The stuff isn't exactly easy to find here either, I got a big sheet from an upholstery supplier locally. This guy :

http://www.bourneupholstery.co.uk/

He does mail order but I don't know if he supplies outside the UK.

Polyfilla is a brand name for stuff we use here to fill cracks in walls. It's cheap and easy to get hold of, any such product would do. I think you guys call it spackle

[Comte Michel]

Here are a couple of photos. Bocage at the back with some lower hedges in the foreground.

bocage.jpg (104.63 KiB) Viewed 834 times

More of a close up so you can see how pretty the leaves look

bocage2.jpg (111.54 KiB) Viewed 834 times

Vehicles are FoW 15mm, and the hedge sections are 40mm wide x 80mm or 120mm long. For BA you would probably want them no more than 50-60mm wide with the lengths in proportion.

[CommanderBaker]

Wow those look really nice! I actually just managed to find a supplier of free rubberized horsehair like a block from my house in the US, i was happily surprised. Is there anyway you could explain more how you made the buildup in the hedgerows? and what color do you use for your dirt and such? I use Vallejo terra earth or something like that and it appears more brownish than yours. And does anyone know of a good US Noch supplier??

thanks again,
CB

[Comte Michel]

Building up the bank is quite straightforward really. The terrain bases are made of 1/8 inch cork tiles. I added an extra strip of cork tile down the centre of each base to raise the level slightly, then covered the whole thing with spackle building the middle up still higher and giving the rough appearance of a dirt bank.

Then I added a layer of stones to the centre part (Woodland Scenics 'Talus', the smallish stuff) with white glue. After that had had time to dry I covered the rest of the base in white glue and sprinkled Woodland Scenics 'Ballast' and fine sand all over it to texture it.

To paint it I used the same method I use for all my bases. I use Crafter's Acrylic mostly rather than GW or Vallejo paints for these - it's cheaper . I give them a basecoat of GW Graveyard Earth (that's the old GW colour, I actually use Crafter's Country Maple with a little bit of Forest Green mixed into it). Once that has thoroughly dried I wash it with GW Devlan Mud (or equivalent, again I use a home made brew for cheapness). Then I drybrush the whole thing with Crafter's Sandstone and finish up with a very light drybrush with GW Bleached Bone. Or Crafter's Antique White. The drybrushing stages are the crucial ones. It gives a sort of chalky soil effect that looks very much like the ground we have around here in the Purbecks.

Lastly I add static grass etc and that's all there is to it :p

I guess Crafter's Acrylics are easy to get in the US, since they are made there..... http://www.decoart.com. Here I get them from Hobbycraft.

One last thing, you really need to use hot melt glue to hold the rubberised horsehair on to the bases. I don't think anything else would be strong enough. Take care if you use it, I lost count of the number of times I burnt my fingers pressing the horsehair into the hot glue.