Fred's 2015 Painting Diary

[jambo1]

Very nice, the Jacobite figures are very nice, i have a small band of them still sitting ready for painting, going to be start of a wee rebellion campaign. Your painting hs given me some good ideas.

[fred.]

Thanks chaps.

Jambo, glad it's given you a bit of inspiration to get going with you Jocobites.

They are some nice figures - and the plaids give them a different look to most other forces. And aren't too hard to do. I have gone with a base colour and one colour of stripe. I did try some with a black marker pen, and this went well on fairly flat surfaces but worked less well on more textured surfaces.  

[Subedai]

'...I'm wondering about lightening the wood colours - they are currently very dark brown. I always struggle with the wood bit of weapons, all the stuff you see in museums is really dark wood, but is that just because its old, or would it have been stained at the time for durability?...'

I would go for a lighter colour although dark or aged wood is probably more accurate. Unfortunately  in this scale it just looks dull unless set next to a light colour for a highlight. I use Vallejo Orange Brown -not very accurate but looks good.

[fred.]

Yes I've used Orange Brown on my Mongols (probably from your sugestion )I'm not sure about it for these figures - might try a few. You are right that the dark brown just blends in. I might use Vallejo wood stain, which will dark has a nice orange hue to it.

[fred.]

Over the last few games, I'd noticed that my trees were looking a little the worse for wear. So as rain had stopped real gardening, I got the model trees out and sorted through them - pretty much all the armature and clump foliage ones looked like they could do with some 'spring growth'



and



So after a couple of hours of UHU fumes and Cricket commentary the forests are looking rather more healthy



and



I'm thinking that I will give them a spray with thinned down PVA to try to stop most of the shedding - anyone any ideas on how to do this??

[Techno]

What a damn good question, Forbes.
Would 'ordinary' sprayed matt varnish work ?
I genuinely haven't got a clue, regarding this.
Team ??
Cheers - Phil

[Subedai]

For my trees I dip the whole foliage area in a PVA water mix that has the consistency of thick soup and then dip them into my flock colour of choice. While they are still in the flock I squeeze the foliage bits a little to spread the PVA and enhance adhesion. After that I give them a good spray of thinned PVA from one of the garden spray bottles to really seal the surface. Worked a treat on my boards as well.

If I use clump foliage on its own then after gluing the clumps to whatever form of armature I am using at the time with contact adhesive, I then dip them into watered down PVA and hang them upside down to dry. The whole thing sets rock hard. 

[fred.]

If I use clump foliage on its own then after gluing the clumps to whatever form of armature I am using at the time with contact adhesive, I then dip them into watered down PVA and hang them upside down to dry. The whole thing sets rock hard. 

I would never of thought of dipping in thinned PVA - doesn't this change the look of the trees?

Various sites talk about spraying in 50/50 PVA water to seal both flock and clump foliage.

[petercooman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUCuFz-SKoQ

or

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/S191/page/1

[Subedai]

I would never of thought of dipping in thinned PVA - doesn't this change the look of the trees?

Various sites talk about spraying in 50/50 PVA water to seal both flock and clump foliage.

Not really. if the mix is thin enough most of it just runs straight out. Another alternative for more precise coverage is to use an eye dropper or a soft brush to get the PVA mix directly onto and into the clump. The only trouble with this is that the brush picks up bits of foliage as you dab the clump. 

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

People have suggested hair spray, and varnish will work..

IanS

[Hertsblue]

I've tried everything on my Woodland Scenics trees to keep the foliage in place - including UHU, PVA (thinned and full body), and low melt glue gun (needs care on plastic). I've sprayed them with hair lacquer and thinned down PVA - all to no avail. Admittedly, my trees get transported about a lot, but the rate of foliage shedding is frightening.

Best I've come across so far is Deluxe Materials' Scenic Spray Glue, made for model railway layouts. It's expensive but it comes in its own spray bottle.

https://www.deluxematerials.co.uk/en/scale-plastics/48-scenic-spray-5060243900326.html

One thing I would advise if you use it - cover the bases of your trees before spraying, otherwise you will find your bases firmly glued to the work-surface! I found this out from bitter experience. 

[fred.]

Thanks for all the suggestions chaps.

I went with the spray of diluted PVA - after investing in a spray bottle (79p from Home Bargains). I went about 70:30 water to PVA with a few drops of Future to break surface tension. I struggled to get a mist like spray of the mixture, but could get an OK jet. I gave the trees a good covering from above and the sides. Then later on, sprayed each one on the underside.

It has dried well - nice and matt, and seems to have harden up the foliage (which was glued on with UHU). I have also spread the trees out into a second tin - which should help with handling the trees when getting them out and putting them away. I suppose only time will tell how long these last for. I have a photo from Jan 2012 of the first time a lot of these trees were based up - but some may pre-date that. So they have survived 3 years of playing - probably twice a month on average.

Continuing the tree theme, I made up some spooky trees using some plain Woodlands scenics armatures. Sprayed these black with a light overspray of grey. I'm going to string some UHU between branches to look like webs or similar.

Also based up some Pendraken Palm trees and some of the green deciduous ones - hot glue works very well to attach these to coins, to give a bit of weight to the tree.

[fred.]

This weekend I have been building some of the new Perry 28mm WoTR Light Cav ( a friend picked me up a box at Salute)



They go together very nicely - I have made 5 mounted archers, and 5 mounted crossbows. Along with a couple of hobliars to go along with several I already have.

But I expect that another box to make more Hobliars is pretty likely.

I also finished off some MAA that I had started a couple of weeks ago - this is only about half a box of heavily armoured troops with two-handed can-openers

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice Fred.