The Packing Shed

[granitechops]

And as I had done a manhole for the water tank, why not do some not yet in use as props for clutter in sheds & on wagons etc, so used more styrene
Street drain in centre
modern pressed steel inspection cover on left
Cast iron diamond pattern one  on right
these are first efforts if the bug bites I may be tempted to do some more accurate ones dimensional & detail wise

[granitechops]

been experimenting with clay roof tiles, trying for moss clumps, think its a bit coarse a texture

[lab-dad]

I think it looks good!
May be a little thick?
Also needs to "leech" outward, not such an abrupt edge?

What did you use?

-Marty

[granitechops]

I think it looks good!
May be a little thick?
Also needs to "leech" outward, not such an abrupt edge?

What did you use?

-Marty

The moss we get here is quite like pincushions in shape about 1" thick with almost vertical edges
The tiles were made from card tube & I was trying to hide the spiral paper joint, tried first with a squiggle of black paint to confuse the eye, but that did not work



So I next painted a wider area with acrylic dark green & sprinkled dried builders sand
over
BUT as the sand was a red devon sand it dried brown & even a thin green wash would not cover the dark colour

[granitechops]

So I made up a mix of green acrylic paint, white PVA glue, & as I could not find my fine powder filler plaster ( polyfiller in UK ) I used what was to hand, a left over tube of tile grout/fixer, this allowed me to drip it on & get a rounded edge to the moss, it also helped that I had preheated the roof with a hair dryer so that it started to dry fairly quickly without running
must see if I can get a pic of the local moss

[finescalerr]

I would guess the color in the photos might be slightly saturated but, if it is accurate, toning down the colors (including the black wash) and maybe using a slightly less coarse sand would put you just about where you want to be. Even now it looks pretty good. -- Russ

[granitechops]

Thanks for the comments,
Lump of moss photoed this marning in subdued winter light, blackbirds tend to dig it all up this time of year for nest lining, as you can see its a bit brighter than my interpretation, & quite lumpy. 
after thinking about it, I will try using a fine filler in acrylic to try & keep the irregularity in the surface but smooth out the sharpness, if that dont work I will have to find my fine sieve & revert to sand

[granitechops]

Found a decent pic of the moss I wanted to depict at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fudj/66512501/

[granitechops]

While doing the roof tiles I got side tracked by the look & feel of other Terracotta ware, so after a bit of rubber necking, I produced these chimney pots. My favourite is the very old ones that appear to be hand thrown & are slightly beer belly shaped. as opposed to the factory made ones that were spun cast, & thus more even



Also did a few spare roof tiles to use as clutter in the weeds

[marc_reusser]

Don,

I actually like the moss clumps, but I think your color is quite off. I would recommend you try Vallejo #079 "Golden Olive", & #118 "Midlestone", youcould also throw in some GameColor #035 "Dead Flesh"

...then shade and vary by adding in yellow or darker green.

[granitechops]

Don,

I actually like the moss clumps, but I think your color is quite off. I would recommend you try Vallejo #079 "Golden Olive", & #118 "Midlestone", youcould also throw in some GameColor #035 "Dead Flesh"

...then shade and vary by adding in yellow or darker green.

Thanks Marc, couldnt see those colours on Vallejo's site so as to get an idea.
However due to my car packing up & having to be scrapped, & having to finance a replacement ( with wheelchair ramp this time) I am having to use what I have at hand, no expense allowed, so I have used a stone wash I had mixed previously, applied thinly & dabbed off again to leave small mini spots of variation, then did same with a yellow wash.
Not sure think I prefer it as it was previously.
Of course moss changes colour enormously through the year emerald green here in a wet spring, through to brown bordering black in the heat of summer
Mayhap I'll let it bide awhile till I build the support for the roof & see what the whole looks like, Got to look out some bricks thsat I KNOW I have somewhere?

[Ray Dunakin]

I think the moss looks a lot better now. But what are those two large yellow spots?

[granitechops]

I think the moss looks a lot better now. But what are those two large yellow spots?

Ray,
the yellow spots are my attempt at doing these, I believe its a type of lichen that grows that colour when in seagull droppings of which we get quite a lot, in this pic the growths are upto 3-4 inches in diam. Due to the quickly drying surface, glass fibre skin roof, they are quite thin & flat =- pic 1


On the other hand this example in Pic 2 is growing on 1/2 in ply, which stays wet longer, and is where smaller birds poop on the roof of an old bird feeder table/house & is more structured & thicker, the moss here is growing in a crack in the ply that keeps wet for longer

[granitechops]

As you can see there is quite arange of colour difference & in fact when all the content of the "fertiliser" is used up the Lichen looks like it reverts to its normal sage green colour
Got to tone that yellow down a bit though, I think

[artizen]

This model is a fairly large scale? The moss looks like the texture you get with moss rocks used in florist displays.

http://www.save-on-crafts.com/ballmoss.html