Queensland Miners Cottage 1:24

[JohnTolcher]

Thanks for the feedback, cheers!

I had a few ideas about using sprue to make gum branches, which I decided to play with. One thing lead to another,  now I have a (fairly thin sick looking) tree. Which I guess is in keeping with the theme of an abandoned and somewhat spooky house and yard.

The leaves were cut from 0.13mm Styrene sheet (.005"), and glued to stretched sprue.

[JohnTolcher]

The stems were bent and glued to branches.

[JohnTolcher]

Here's a small branch. Repeat another 20 or 30 times....

[JohnTolcher]

The branches were made from sprue, heated, bent and or stretched.

[JohnTolcher]

Put it together.

[JohnTolcher]

I've started painting the gum tree, here it is with one of the walls and leaf litter as props for the photo. I can't really go much further with it until the rest of the scene is more advanced.

Cheers
John

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Wow, really nice!

[nk]

not a bad looking ghost gum at all. Are you going to add some eucalyptus oil for some scale smell?

[JohnTolcher]

Thanks guys. NK that would be nice, so far it just smells of lacquer paint! 

Here's another shot of the gum with the rusty Ford I intend to park underneath. With fallen branches and leaves made using the same techniques outlined before.

[JohnTolcher]

Here is progress so far on the side wall of the cottage. The peeling paint has been done using the hairspray technique, which entails spraying hairspray from the can followed by Tamiya flat white. When dry the paint is wetted and can be removed in chips and peels, using a paint brush, toothpick or various other tools.

You can clearly see how inspired I am by Chuck's amazing work, though I used a different technique. And there aren't actually loose flakes, something I can live with at this scale.

Cheers
John

[lab-dad]

Good looking paint. Er ah...well you know what I mean.
The car adds a nice contrast too.
No you need some cobwebs   
Marty

[finescalerr]

That is shaping up into a very adequate diorama. The car doesn't hurt it. -- Russ

[Bill Gill]

John, That's a neat car, by gum!

[Ray Dunakin]

Great job on the peeled paint!