Good afternoon all!
In today's news ... the church is done!
Today has mostly been about tree bases, as the second new lot of trees arrived, but more about that later.
I added paving stones to the paths on the church, painted the doors in a dark umber/black mix I happened to have lying around, and added some clump foliage and turf to the model. Once the greens were glued in place, I fixed them by dripping superglue onto them. This really secures them and makes them less susceptible to damage during handling -
just remember to do it somewhere with good ventilation, them fumes is nasty!
It's hard to imagine a country church today that has bushes growing up against it, due to the diligent efforts of the vergers and worshippers. But the ECW was a different time, churches weren't seen by some as places of reverential worship, more like places to keep the rain off you while you were listening to that day's endless sermon. (Plus there weren't any lawn mowers with edge trimming devices)
Ivy has taken hold on the sunny south side of the tower and climbed up the corner wall and over the roof.
The main part of today's work has been the tree bases.
A lot of tree bases.
In an effort to get the drop on the 60 models due to arrive in the post from China, I pre-drilled the wooden bases.
And that was the mistake that prompted a change in approach.
I had assumed that the larger models I ordered with have a peg in line with the previous batch of large trees I bought.
No. They were actually the same as the small ones I had bought. Putting the pegs into the holes I had drilled, was - to coin a phrase - like waving it about in a cathedral.
So rather than waste 33 discs, I started by buttering them with pre-mixed filler paste. And while they were drying they looked like nothing other than some form of biscuit. While they were still soft, I dabbed the surface with a sponge to even it out and add a touch of texture. Adding filler to the bases gives them a little more weight because otherwise you only have to look at them and they scatter all over the place. I won't go back and do the others, but this is the way to go from now on.
Once they were dry I used a smaller bit to drill out holes for the tree models and began the painting.
I used a mix of craft paint Dark Umber,
Vallejo Black and some
Vallejo Matt Varnish (I have noticed that the craft paint has a habit of drying with a satin sheen)
The matt varnish, plus the porous surface of the filler meant that the paint dried quite quickly - long enough for me to finish the church off.
Once I had been over the bases and touched up the dark coloured paint - tiny spots of white showing through, I used
Vallejo Green-Brown, and Olive Green to add some tone to the bases, before giving them a very light dry-brush of Yellow Ochre.
Last of all - for now - I sprinkled finely chopped, dried basil and mint, as leaf scatter on to tacky glue, and once that had set up, I sealed that with matt varnish.
I left it there and will go back and add some clump foliage, tufts, turf scatter, bits of twig and get everything set up before I add the trees. Doing it this way allows me to process everything more easily.
Thanks for looking in, hope you all have a lovely day.