About Me

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London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
A mythical beast - a female wargamer! I got back into wargaming in the summer of 2011 after a very, very long break and haven't looked back since. I must admit that I seem to be more of a painter/collector than a gamer, but do hope to correct that at some point in the near future. My gaming interests span the ages, from the "Biblical" era all the way through to the far future. I enjoy games of all sizes, from a handful of figures up to major battles (see my megalomaniacally sized Choson Korean and Russian Seven Years War armies).

Friday 5 July 2019

Hedging My Betes

No, that's not a typo in the title. These hedges have been my Bêtes noire for the past week. The initial flocking glue took longer than expected to dry. Then the sealing coat of PVA mixed with matte medium took even longer to dry, mostly because so much got absorbed by the foam flock and into the spaces in the underlying scourer; some which were done on Wednesday morning only dried out this evening. I think part of the problem with the amount of sealant used on each one was that I applied it by pipette as my spray bottles just didn't want to work with it.

All that time they have been taking up all the space on my workbench, so I haven't been able to work on anything else. Well, not quite - I have prepped the extra Artizan and Crusader Paras and prep the bases for the SYW Russians.

But they're done now. Well, the first batch - I've got a similar quantity still to do. I guess you want some pics.

41.5 feet of hedges

28mm figures

15mm figures

15mm figures behind one of the taller sections

OK, so they're not prize-winning, super-realistic hedges. But they are good enough for club terrain which will see a lot of use and abuse. Tomorrow I'll have to buy some storage for them.


Making these has been a useful experience and has made me think about how I can improve the process. These are my initial thoughts:
* precoat the scourers with a mix of PVA and brown paint before cutting the strips
* "untidy" the scourer strips before sticking them onto the tongue depressors
* add the texture mix to the tongue depressors before sticking down the scourer strips
* stick the scourer strips down using brown caulk while the texture mix is still wet
* use the PVA/paint mix to stick the flock - might need to lighten the flock mix as the paint could darken it
* find a spray bottle that will work with the PVA/matte medium mix



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10 comments:

  1. Russet Captain5 July 2019 at 22:23

    These look amazing! Will put these on the terrain to do list.

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  2. Pete5 July 2019 at 23:37

    Forty-one and a half feet of hedging outweighs any supposed lack of realism - I'd be proud to have them in my terrain library - I've seen mention of the technique before, but never executed en masse with such exquisite execution. Very nicely done.

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  3. Millsy6 July 2019 at 08:07

    Really neat work Tamsin. What product did you use to coat the scourers? It's spot on.

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  4. Herkybird6 July 2019 at 08:28

    Yes, A-Maze-ing is what came to my mind too! - well worth the patience and care you took doing them!

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  5. Michael Awdry6 July 2019 at 08:29

    Well worth the wait and the hot weather must have helped?

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  6. Dave Stone6 July 2019 at 11:06

    Very effective looking hedges Tamsin

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  7. DaveD6 July 2019 at 20:19

    Looking good in the end.. but yes some useful learning.. as the main rule is you always , always need more hedges!

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  8. DaveD6 July 2019 at 20:21

    Oh and quick top tip.. give em a hit with cheap extra hard hold hair spray .. won’t do any harm

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  9. TamsinP6 July 2019 at 22:58

    @ Russet Captain - thanks! You should :)

    @ PanzerschreckDS - cheers! Well, they do say that quantity has a quality all of its own :)

    @ Millsy - thanks! The scourers were sprayed with Army Painter Leather Brown then coated with a mix of fine texture foam from 4D Modelshop [Dark, Mid and Light Green in a roughly 2:5:3 ratio] :)

    @ Herkybird - *groan*. Hmmmmm, now I have an idea for another photo to take of them...
    Cheers! :)

    @ Michael A - thanks! I'm just glad it's summer as they'd probably still be drying now if it was winter :)

    @ Dave Stone - cheers! :)

    @ DaveD - thanks! I've got about another 40 foot to do for the club, but they'll have to wait until my SYW Russians are finished. I did give them a final spray coat of matte varnish as I had a large can knocking around, but hairspray is probably a cheaper option :)

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  10. BigLee12 July 2019 at 14:07

    Excellent. I love mass production of scenery. My only problem is storage, but if you have the space then go for it. The more the merrier, as they say.

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