Hi Terri

many thanks for your comment. Of course the whole green will get a treatment with the airbrush to make it better in colour and less uniform; then some washing and drybrushing, picking out some details and adding the tufts ... but I have to do one step after the other ... at least i try ( ... I started another project today ).

The path and the Flak stand also do need a lot of work! But first I want to make the flak fit, thus I cannot do the sand bags now (which would be the next step IMO)

all the best

Steffen

Hi Jean-Luc

you are right, the green looks pretty different in the pix. Still as this will also be a base for taking photos I will try to improve the grassy areas as described above. I think about buying some model railroad daisies (I have seen some similar to the tufts) ..to add some points of interest in that large green area.

BTW I will add some bushwork around the shelter and I try to get some kind of blackberrybush for the rocky place.

Well, I would not call my working "speed" fast .. some people can do what I did in some days and not weeks like me... I just do a little work every day.

all the best

Steffen

o.k. I used the better part of the afternoon for airbrushing. I accented some areas and did some drybrushing. To my eye it looks quite good now ..



I did not alter the picture, just removed visible parts of my flat

cheers

Steffen

hai Steffen,

I just discovered this subject.

This is excellent!!!

Thanks Drabslab!

I was having a tuft time today .. tedious but somehow fun too. Maybe I glued on a bit too much of them, but I will have another look tomorrow. The first pic was shot with flash and the 2nd without using a photo lamp. Both pix had to be altered a bit and both do not really capture how it looks




comments and advises welcome

all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Really nice work! It's definitely inspired me to try doing bases for my '190s. I got some grass tufts and other scenic stuff about this time last year, which I've still never used, so it's about time I did so!

All the best

Rowan

Hi again Steffen

I think I'll have to get something like the grass fibres you're using - the stuff I have (by Mini-Natur) is supplied as a mat and doesn't seem nearly as useful for irregular terrain.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

many thanks for your kind comment.

If I could get the fibres to work as the should (standing upright due to the static electrification in the applicator bottle) it would be even better .. I am just too dumb or ham-fisted for that. Be aware that this is a dirty application method.

The matting come handy if you have long gras to attach. Those with the paper on the backside have to be wet to be applied on rough surface.

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Hunting around on the internet, I was a bit shocked to find a specialist grass applicator on sale in the UK for almost £100! I'm not sure quite how it works - and at that price, it's not the sort of thing you buy just to see if it makes a difference! I'd have to be building dioramas full-time to make that cost-effective...

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan




Is that for model purposes or for rolled sod or plates (1/1)?

cheers

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Models! A packet of grass seed would cost about 50p!

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

modelers are just crazy ....

I took a few pix with more natural lighting today.
Level 1: about 90% done,
Level 2: about 70%
Level 3: 0%





cheers

Steffen

That looks fantastic Steffen! I'd be well happy if I could do something like that.

Howard

P.S I did read what you put about the He 219 but didn't want to clutter your thread too much Thanks again,

Hello Howard




Thanks for the compliments, but honestly this is no magic or art but just handcraft .. if I can do it everybody can, really! Just have a try, it is much easier than you think.

Maybe start with a concrete base for your great Dornier. Cut proper sized rectangles from cardboard, lay out a runway/taxiway with them until you are satisfied. Glue them on a board (they cut the stuff for you to the size you want .. 2 40x50cm MDF plates cost me 5 euro .. the last time they had some leftovers of a useable size for nothing).

Spread some white glue over the plates and rake it off with a piece of cardbord. It will leave an slightly irregular "concrete" look on the tiles .. fill empty areas of the board with static grass. Then some colour and there you are .. you can do this in a week with 10 or 20 minutes work every evening.

and this here is not different except that I am a slow builder and it takes me longer ...

BTW If you want to see art have a look over at JBAs Galilee dio or the large Clervaux (surely spelled wrong) dioramas (the castle and the village done ... In progress is Annexes)) from Claude.

all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen

Really nice! Going back to what was said earlier about the colour of the grass, I think it might be worth toning it down a bit so as to focus attention on the aircraft - at the moment it dominates the scene a little.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

Thank you for your comment!

BUT I will wait for Jean-Lucs comment when he sees it in person. I am satisfied with the grass colour in general. Remember this shall be a spring environment. I have too much dead grass bases already. The only thing I am still thinking about are those bright yellow-green gras tufts .. they shall stand out, but maybe it is a bit too much at the moment. I already gave them some washthis morning (after photos were taken) to get the lower parts a bit darker and maybe I will tone them down with Tamiya smoke ... but as I wrote I would like someone to see this directly as photos tend to alter the whole appearance.

all the best

Steffen
P.S you feel the green already suppreses the model ... wait till I have the bushwork done ! ... Also I do not build this to get a display that focuses on the aircraft but on a whole scene. I like it when you can find interesting spots bit by bit ... I told you I am no diorama builder!

Hi Steffen

I'm not questioning the accuracy of the colours (grass certainly can be quite vivid after plenty of rain), but more the artistic balance. Looking at all the model grass I've bought, I think it's too bright straight out of the packet and needs to take a step back to support the subject and focus the viewer's attention, not distract it.

You're right - it was particularly some of the tufts that caught my eye in your scene. But they're far superior to many of the railway scenics available in the UK - some of which look almost radioactive!

All the best

Rowan

Hi Rowan

somehow I do net get your point.

The grass is already completely resprayed! I mainly used Tamiya XF-4 and 5 plus black to tone it down and yellow for some lighter spots. The tufts are OOB at the moment. I am not sure what you are referring to.

For artistic discussions I am surely the wrong person.

grass oob


resprayed


with tufts


Also note that the overhead photos are pretty different to the level shots

I am not saying you are wrong!!! I just do not get what you do not like about the colour

Thanks and

all the best

Steffen

Either way Steffen I believe you are doing a fantastic job on this . Far better then I would ever produce ! Now if this is based in the spring time , will some mill dew on the grass in the shade work ?

Hi interested modelers

Seems I am exceptionally stupid today

@Terri: I am sorry, but I do not understand what you want me to do?! If you think about white frost (rime) .. I rather think of a day scene with some of the guys at the Flak sunbathing ... I have another project that will need a frosty base ...

@ Rowan & Terri: maybe I could not make myself clear so far. This is not lonely a/c sitting at a coner of the base. The theme is rather maintenance shelter -- Feldwerkstatt. I want this to be a busy spot .. even if it will lack some figures first.

I took a pic with a possible layout and some of the stuff that could occupy the place (I have much more and one or another vehicle will be added too. that belongs all to Layer/Level 3 that I have not started yet. This includes bushes (lots of them), the Flak and a/c plus scenery. I am not sure yet if I will add posts and wires for camouflage netting.

(sun is going down and photography becomes harder)



all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen,

Wow! It looks like it will be a busy diorama when it will be finished...

I won't comment on the color of the grass but I think that the tufts are too identical. What I mean is that some should be smaller, some bigger etc... You could try to cut some into small pieces, maybe this could help to make the whole look more natural.

But overall, you really made a great job!

Jean-Luc

Hi Jean-Luc

I think you are right, sadly I did not get the tufts from Mininatur which is much better than this stuff. The problem was, that the tufts are attached to "small" circular plastic discs. I tried to cut a few and used them along the walls, but that kind of treatment did not work in the free field. I used some groups of them to slghtly hide the problem. Maybe I try to cut some of them back with scissors.

A second problem that nobody mentioned yet is the randomness.... I tried hard to get a "natural pattern" but it still looks artificial (I do not mean the colour here, Rowan )

As I wrote this place will be populated with many different stuff (depending on the subject displayed) and of course I will not use all of the stuff and I have some more bits not displayed. BTW the drop tank cart is a western front item despite its rural look.

Thanks for all comments even though I do not understand all

all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen

I think you've succeeded in getting quite a nice random pattern the way wild grass would grow. I suppose a third issue to bear in mind would be where the grass would be most likely to get trampled down by ground-crew etc., so maybe the tufts at the base of the walls would be most likely to survive undisturbed.

It's great to have someone else do all the hard work so we have the luxury of analysing it from the comfort of our armchairs! If I ever manage to build a base that looks half as good, I'll be delighted!

All the best

Rowan

Hi again Rowan




Yes, in my opinion this falls into the failure cat. J-L mentioned. This is a problem I was aware when using the Noch tufts, but decided it would work without much adjustment. I have used approx. 1 and 1/3 of the Noch packages .. each has 105 tufts ... understand my motivation not to cut every bit? (I cut about 10 or 20 (which doubled the parts to attach)

I think cutting down some of the tufts might help to get a less uniform appearance. The washes also worked quite good IMO. Will take another picture tomorrow to check .. and then I will have to move/delete some pix to get some space on my kitmaker photo account .. hard to believe I filled the whole 10 MB with stuff

Another word: please keep up to criticize! Even if I mayappear to be pi.. errr angry or very defensive it is mostly not the case. These discussions can only make my work better (except I do not understand what you want) ...

all the best

Steffen

Hi Steffen

I think we're all learning a lot from our grandstand view of your build! It's certainly allowing me to look at issues I'd never considered properly. Of course, the acid test will be to see how much I actually remember when I finally get round to building a base of my own... after my comments about colour, I'd better show any photos in B&W only!

Keep with it - it's magic stuff!

Rowan