Making bushes

Nothing has happened on the layout for a long time, but a few days ago I felt like making a few bushes. Here is how.

I bent the ends of short pieces of wire into a loop (or something almost a loop). I then dabbed the ends in white glue and sprinkled some static grass fibers over them, while gently rotating the wire between my fingers. The wires were then set aside for the glue to set

When the glue had set I sprayed the fibres with hair spray (but any spray adhesive would of course do) and sprinkled on Noch 2.5 mm Scatter Grass. For some bushes I used "Forest Floor" and for others i used "Meadow". Some got a combination of both.

The pictures below shows the procedure .

I then planted the bushes at various locations around the layout.

A larger bush

I have practised some more on making trees and bushes, with varying result. But I thought I should share the process leading to my latest creation - a somewhat larger bush.

I started out with some sisal fibres which I cut in approximately 5-7 cm (2-3 inch) lengths. The fibres where then assembled into a mat like structure using a piece of folded wire. Like this:

To make the fibers stand up straight I folded them along the wire, and clamped them upside down (wire up) in my Work Mate. Only the bottom, folded end, is sticking up.

To make the folding last I soaked the fibres with glue. I used ordinary PVA glue.

Once the glue had set I could remove the bush-to-be from the Work Mate, and now it looked like this, after being turned bottom down.

I then spread the fibres to make the bush wider and give it a more "bushy" form. I also did some trimming to get rid of the longest fibres, I also sprayed the underside a grey color, to make the fibres there look more like stems.

Next step was to add some static grass fibres. They provides more slender branches, and also make a more denser base for the foliage to come. I used 6 mm (1/4 inch) fibres, secured with hair spray.

Finally I added some foliage, namely Noch light green leaves.

Last some picture with this bush planted on the layout, behind the fence. Outside the fence are some smaller bushes I did using the same technique.

A tree and a bush, and with leaves

Today I made an attempt to make a tree and a bush using Noch Leaves. Here is the result.

I think it came out quite good. But I did not arrive at this result at the first attempt. Here is the story, albeit in a somewhat condensed form.

I started out with the small wire tree I did some time back. It just had a few brown leaves, like this.

My first try to add leaves included wads of fiber as a foundation for the leaves to come. The fibers were also spray painted with gray, brown and black colors. At this point, everything looked promising.

On came the leaf material, and although the leaves themselves were OK, the overall impression was not that convincing. It looked as if someone had draped the trunk and the branches in a green coat. It was simply to dense, and did not have that airy look of a real tree.

In my head I had the pictures of the superb trees made by Jos Geurts, and as shown here as well as on other places on the net. So how does he do it?

Turns out he does not use wads of fiber, as I falsely remembered, but loose fibers. First sisal fibers and then static grass fibers. So I ripped the over-coat off the tree, and sat out to try doing it in the same way as Jos.

First I sprayed the bare tree with hair spray and sprinkled on some fibers, which barely shows in the first picture. This is followed by some 2 mm static grass fibers, and last Noch Mid Green leaves (07144).

Much better! Far from Jos' excellent trees, but I'm happy with the result. Looks more airy and lighter than the first tree.

While I was at it, I also made a bush from some wire strands. Here it is, first with the two applications of fibers, and then after adding Noch Olive Green leaves (07140).

And once again, planted on the layout.

Spreading Static Grass

When my wife a few weeks ago asked if I wanted anything in particular for my upcoming birthday, I said "Yes, a Noch Grassmaster". Although that did not immediately ring a bell, with a few hints from yours truly regarding the nature of this thing and possible vendors, she actually bought one. And now I have even tried it out.

I don't think I had the easiest possible layout patch for this first attempt. Only a narrow stretch between the main line and the fascia. I also tried to a few small isolated spots along the drill and team tracks. Here is the result.

Although it eventually turned out alright, nothing is as easy as advertised. I started out using some Woodland Scenics static grass flock. I have had a few jars of that stuff for several years, spreading it by hand. The problem is that over the years, and my handling I suppose, it had started to form clumps. This made it difficult to produce the desired "drizzle" of fibers from the Grassmaster. Instead I got clumps falling out. I tried to resolve the problem by tossing in couple of marbles, assuming that would help breaking up the clumps. That made things better, although not perfect. Vigorous shaking of the Grassmaster was the best approach, but that produced a true downfall of static grass rather than a more controllable drizzle. I think I just need to practise more.

I also figured out that you really need to mix different shades of grass. Otherwise you get a way to uniform look. Fortunately the Grassmaster came with three small bags of Noch grass, of different shades. And no clumps! The green tones were a little to bright, at least for my taste. I think subdued colors give a more realistic appearance. But the Noch grass was alright, as long as used sparingly.