Some old and new stuff from a new member.

[nk]

That is remarkable, especially as everything had been primed grey. its a very evocative scene.

[Alexandre]

Thank you and Hello everyone.

Moss : There's two different techniques on the scene. First one is just classic moss for scenery from Mininature, glued in patches and stained with green and more natural colors.
The other is different and can't talk about yet because the scene is done for an article about vegetation in the next, next (issue#6) The Weathering Mag from AKinteractive.

It's not too far from what I wanted, just dispointed to not having been able to use the bas-relief I spent so many time working on. I've messed with the painting of that part and had to find another layout and results last minute. Don't like that.

But yes, I'm satisfied with the look of the moss and ground cover.

I'm working the last and more difficult part of the scene right now. Birch trees and Pine trees SBS.

[Alexandre]

In progress, I might (and should) add some detail texture here and there, but at least, that's the start of it.
There are not so much things in groundwork/diorama/nature modelling I dislike doing as much as scale trees.

Thanks to Gordon for his tips/help/support during the building process of these.

[Gordon Ferguson]

Hey Alex all I did was send one sentence and a couple of pics, your the one who did the work and turned into very nice scale birch tree!

Not so sure of the fir tree, branches and needles are impressive it's just the top of it that some how does not look right .... Don't really know what it is? ....... Maybe if you removed one of the two top branches sticking out from the trunk ??

[finescalerr]

If that is a coin in the foreground, why is it not polished? After all, this is a very formal website. -- Russ

[Chuck Doan]

The bar for groundwork is getting pretty high around here.

[marc_reusser]

Dude, you are really "harshing my mellow.

[Alexandre]

Thank you guys.
Yes, what's wrong with this pine tree? I can see it is wrong but can't say what it is.
Damn I hate doing trees so hard my brain is bleeding.

Russ, it's a 2.6134 USD coin.   Somebody please send me a nickel so I can have an US forum compatible scale tool.

Chuck, thank you very much.

Marc, that's enough slang for today. thanks for the lesson

So as today this is how it looks.
I need to add the trees above, the ones here are only for mass-effect and background, so I did not go crazy on detailing them.
Sooner or later I'll have to paint the metal pole too. I'm also thinking of adding a puddle.
Plus some minor details here and there and can we call this done?

[finescalerr]

My impressions of what may be wrong with the trees: The trees without leaves look like twigs rather than trees. Maybe you will add detail and that will change. Either way, the way the branches point and the lack of dozens of smaller branches disturb me.

Similarly, the tree with the leaves appears artificial, as though oversize conifer needles attach to a twig with the same shortcomings as above. It looks unnatural.

The rest of the diorama is so outstanding that, to my eye, the trees detract.

I find the idea of building trees as tedious as you so, when I needed them, I bought some decent ones. Maybe you could modify a commercial product if one is suitable. Or else drill holes in a twig with appropriate shape and texture, add branches (guys usually use stranded electrical wire for deciduous trees), and literally scratchbuild what you need...if you can tolerate it.

Russ

[Alexandre]

Thanks for the input Russ, I can't agree more, these trees aren't up to the rest of the diorama.
I've searched for commercial ones, but the rare that may look convincing are very often under scaled. Good for H0, not really for 1/20.
Unfortunately, this is the best I can do with the time I had. I've first tried the wire way, but it didn't turn as great as I've seen by others, and it has really broken my nerves while doing it so I didn't try again.

These are my main ref. pictures for the tree part.





I feel I'm close enough, not in a good replica of the pictures but in a good "atmosphere" even if of course I'd have love to have more time to care more of the trees.
This is a close up on how it looks now. I'm making the final set of pictures to be sent to the editor tomorrow, so except some really small details, it will not change for a while, because I have a new project to start right now.



PS : the screw may seem strange and off topic. It is. It's a tribute to Tarkovski's 1979 movie "Stalker". People visiting the Zone have to move with an artifact (a screw actually) before walking deeper and deeper in the center of the Zone.
Thanks goodness I'm a Science fiction modeler so can throw a screw in my scene without searching a logical reason to justify it.
 

[Marc988]

I cannot see the pictures. Is it me or do others have the same problem ?

[Barney]

can not see a thing - and the dogs spooked the TV losing channels and all over the place -my laptop batteries are giving up - The DVD recorder box thing will not switch on -FOTKI tells me its getting hot and try again later and IKEA had a power cut and did not tell any one - is it just me or is it world wide -and its to Hot got no socks on!!
Barney
running hot and not digital -bring back steam power and wind up windows

[finescalerr]

I guess I should repeat this for the tenth time: Please upload actual jpegs. Do not upload links to other site. If you do, you now can see what will happen. -- Russ

[Gordon Ferguson]

Know your right Russ, but in this instance think the removal was deliberate by Alex due to publication issues ?

[marc_reusser]

Yeah...Alex unfortunately had to remove them. I don't think he was so much intending to remove them from here (as we are a different crowd) but he had them on another place or two also.....so it was probably easier to take them down from the hosting page/PhotoBucket, rather than the sites individually.