king derelict

Lovely work with the metal foil. That looks very difficult to get a neat finish alan

I airbrushed the grey primer onto the figures. I am amazed how much detail Pendraken get into their 10mm figures I like the matte medium and sanding dust for the path way. It also makes a good layer to embed the figures into Aedes Ars provided a small bag of fine particles which looked like they might work to add some texture to the path. They look quite good to the eye but teh photo shows them to be far too big for gravel. I may use a bit elsewhere or at the edges of the path. I made up a "sand" colour mix from craft acrylics and painted it on as a base for the path; its a bit pink but I think it will work under the matte medium mix. I also added the shallow steps seen in the drone video of the real thing. TAP Plastic have already shipped the custom cut plexiglass for the display case. Arriving next Monday Thanks for looking in and all the likes and comments Alan

Thank you, I am scared of overdoing it so I think thia will be as far as I go Alan

Can't beat "Won't get Fooled Again" The interior detail is fantastic. Its going to make a superb model Alan

I like the cling film to help make the wheel ruts Alan

Nice job on the aircraft Mike. alan

Not much to report today. I experimented with options for the path to the tower. A mix of matte mod podge and the stone block dust looks very promising. I’m waiting for a test piece to dry. i selected some mounted figures and gave them a shot of Mr Metal Primer. Once that’s dry I will airbrush them with a light coat of Vallejo grey acrylic primer. I find that makes the details easier to see I just ordered the cut sheets of plexiglass for the display case from TAP plastics. They estimate that will weigh about 13 lbs. The $37 shipping from California bites a bit. I’m working with 3/16 inch sheets. I find 1/8 inch is too flexible at this size. I can’t believe this is entering the final stages Thanks for looking in and all the likes and comments Alan

Thank you very much OC. This has been a huge learning experience but I’m happy with the results and I thoroughly enjoyed the work. I would use landscapes in more of the models because they are fun and interesting but it just exacerbates the display / storage problem. alan

I added the vegetation to the other two sides. Then I started adding the trees. The trees are created from Woodland Scenic armatures for pine trees using the smallest sizes. Even then I cut some down and I feel I may be stretching things a bit in terms of scale. They do occupy the space I was aiming at based on the drone video so I am going to call it good. The foliage is created by painting the armature with WS tacky glue. and then dipping the tree in foliage then shaping the foliage to suit. Its wonderfully messy; the foliage much prefers to stick to the tiny residue on your fingers instead of the ample coating on the armature. It then sticks to the tweezers and finally falls off as you install the tree on the model. I initially used the conifer green fine leaf material but later switched to the coarse turf and bushes which are a lighter green which broke up the uniform dark green. In retrospect I should have added an inch onto the baseboard to allow a belt of trees to completely line the one side of the model but at the start I was rather slavishly following the kit and made the baseboard the size of the cardboard base pieces. Which brings me to something that puzzles me with the Aedes Ars kits. The kit provides card bases and the instructions show the model built on these bases but I cannot see how the finished model would be adequately supported. This is now seriously heavy. I toyed with adding trees to the ledge at right but I think it looks better without doing that. It seems that there is a serious issue with deciding when you have done enough. Now I am back off the model with a number of miniature riders to paint and add to the pathway. Then the path can be completed and I can build the display case After working on this I am very much in awe of railway modellers and the various Waterloo and other battle recreators (the superb LHS from @Old Collingwood for example) creating much more complex and larger dioramas. I found this to be fun but it is quite challenging and quite overwhelming at times Thank you all for looking in, the likes and all the support Alan

I was surprised when I measured it. Even in real life it seems to be imposing😄 Alan

I'm looking forward to seeing this take shape. Its going to be a great showcase for the Wimpy. Alan

Thanks OC I think washes will help pull some of the elements together. I'm also thinking that I need to work out when to stop. I see a terrible tendancy to keep piling additional bits on. Alan

Thank you for the reference Jack. He made some beautiful landscapes. And all without the extensive materials and supplies we now have available. I guess in a way most of the commercially available stuff is a convenience and time saving instead of sourcing / making the lanscape materials yourself. I'm gradually getting the hang of the WS products and learning to only work on a very small area at a time. Alan

Building up a really deep gloss. Beautiful alan

I’ve found the Vallejo putty to be not so easy to work with. I squeeze a bit out onto something like an old credit card and pick a small amount up on the point of a cocktail stick and work it into gaps. It limits the spread of the stuff great job on an old kit alan

The boats are lovely work - really crisp detail alan

Thank you very much Andy. This is a whole new world of products and some of the WS foliage and grass variants were a bit of a wrestle to get looking right. I'm pretty much staying with the fine turf, bushes, briars and fine leaf foliage with some foliage clumps and coarse turf acting as low scrub and small bushes. I am amazed at what can be done with a railway layout. Some beautiful work out there. Thanks for the encouragement Alan

I added some of the Woodland Scenics coarse turf and found it difficult to work with. It doesn't seem to shake out onto the model. It seems to need to be sprinkled between fingers and then there is a tendency to ball up. I wonder if it works better on larger scale models. For me it looks like small bushes rather than coarse turf. So I was happy enough with teh small amount that got added but I decided not to use any more and moved onto WS bushes and briars to build up the vegetation on the cliffs and rocks. Its quite fun to do this but I am nervous about overdoing it. This looks about right looking at photos of the real thing. To add the bushes I used full strength white glue and then a coat of the scenic glue once everything was in place The rocks at extreme left look a bit stark so they may get worked over. I moved off the model and started working on trees. The first ten have been made from WS pine armatures and initially dark green foliage clumps but I found them hard to work with to get a conifer shape so I moved onto conifer green fine leaf foliage. Its a bit unpredictable but there are some nice effects and its possible to get bare branches in amongst the foliage. The stands are temporary bases while the glue dries. They will be added to the base by punching a hole into the foam blocks. These will get a coat to scenic glue and then I'll start building up that side of the model Thanks for looking in, all the great comments and help. Alan

The base is 24 x 26 inches and 16 inches high

You are right about the price of plexiglass Craig. I don't trust myself to cut sheets of plexiglass accurately so I get them precut from TAP Plastics (a great resource and very efficient). I went to their website last night to check the price of a set of 3/16 sheets to build a case - $120 roughly! I'm going to do it though. Although my cats are pretty good I have invested too much time in this one to be happy about coming home to find someone has pulled all the foliage off the model. It seems that there are lot of people who can't look at something without using their fingers. Finding a place to display it is going to be interesting. I wandered around with the tape measure earlier and found that the two candidate spots are actually too small. I've seen photos showing display cases built into a thrift store coffee table which is interesting but my woodworing skills are horrible so I'm not sure I can pull that off.. Its getting close to needing an answer though Alan

Thank you EG A lot of the credit goes to all the help I've had from you all. Youtube is a great resource but this is a massive topic with so many ways of making a great landscape that its hard to navigate Many Thanks Alan

Thanks Andrew I'm replacing the stone dust all over the garage with bits of scenic foliage😄 Alan

Thank you OC. Still a lot of detail to work up but I think its getting there. Alan

Thank you Jack Your tips and suggestions help a lot Many Thanks Alan

Thank you very much Andy That is a very helpful tip. I'll try the diluted alcohol spray as I move onto the next layer of turf and weeds. Alan