North African Build

[scottie3158]

Richard,
This is superb mate and very educational I have picked up some good tips.

 

[minitnkr]

Outstanding. Always loved dates & figs. PaulE

 

[GerryW]

They're looking good enough to eat (are they ripe yet?)

 

[rtfoe]

Those date bunches are very good indeed.
Jim

Thanks Jim...I'm quite surprised myself.

Hi Richard,
Was wondering how you would tackle the dates and you’ve not disappointed...excellent result

Hi Si, was quite apprehensive of the final result coming out but not out of the woods yet...have to cross check with the scale.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[rtfoe]

Outstanding. Always loved dates & figs. PaulE

Thanks Paul, both are my favorite snacks too especially fig biscuits.

Richard,
This is superb mate and very educational I have picked up some good tips.

Thanks Scottie, glad you could save the tips for your next builds.

They're looking good enough to eat (are they ripe yet?)

Thank you Gerry, these bits are quite hard and can get stuck in your teeth but I'll paint them just about to ripen.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Fantastic job Richard! I KNEW you could do it

 

[minitnkr]

Fig Newtons rule. PaulE

 

[rtfoe]

Fantastic job Richard! I KNEW you could do it

Thanks Neil for the confidence, there is always a spot of doubt every time I make something new.

Fig Newtons rule. PaulE

Paul, yes by Nabisco I think....yum yum.

Today I spent an hour painting the dates after soaking the bunch in Future so they hold together. I started with the what's that new word they use for an old technique...ah yes Modulation...spraying a base of dark orange on the upper surfaces of the dates facing front...then deep yellow and in the end Gerry, I had to individually highlight each date with flat yellow mixed with a little white using a paint brush. I had to go over twice for the Vallejo paint highlight to show.



I will dilute some Future and semi-gloss the dates.

Anyone watched the recent All England Badminton Championship men's single finals... it was a scorcher of a match with long rally's of deaf touches, explosive smashes and great defence from the two players. What a distraction from my hobby.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Graeme C.]

Your dates are looking very good Richard, the palm tree is a build all on it's own.

 

[GerryW]

Painstaking work then - I doubt that I'd have the patience! Mind you, the result looks stunningly realistic, so worth the effort

 

[JR]

Pure brilliance Richard, so realistic.

 

[rtfoe]

Your dates are looking very good Richard, the palm tree is a build all on it's own.

Thanks Graeme, if Woodland Scenics had them in 1/35 I'd have bought. Saves a lot of time.

Painstaking work then - I doubt that I'd have the patience! Mind you, the result looks stunningly realistic, so worth the effort

Gerry, had no choice, couldn't get one off the shelf. I don't mind doing just one. It would be fantastic to have a clump of them as they do from a single base.

Pure brilliance Richard, so realistic.

John, can't say if its brilliant or luck that the searched items were just the right scale plus or minus a percentage or two. They helped a lot.

Cheers,
Richard

 

[Jim R]

Hi Richard
The dates look perfect. Lots of skill and patience.
Jim

 

[GerryW]

Even my wife is impressed and that takes some doing, as she's got no interest at all in modelling (or as she calls it 'Airfix')! She views modelling as something that keeps me from under her feet
She did ask what they were made of, I could answer about the seeds, but not the stems.

 

[minitnkr]

"....seeds & stems....", sounds familiar. PaulE

 

[rtfoe]

Thank you Gents,

Hi Richard
The dates look perfect. Lots of skill and patience.
Jim

Jimbo, experience making the coconut has made this more enjoyable.

Even my wife is impressed and that takes some doing, as she's got no interest at all in modelling (or as she calls it 'Airfix')! She views modelling as something that keeps me from under her feet
She did ask what they were made of, I could answer about the seeds, but not the stems.

Gerry, the stems were the mating of dried roots and thin wire sandwiched with masking tape. As for the trunk it was a twig heavily coated with two part putty and string twined in a zig zag fashion like a pineapple then streaked and shaped with a hacksaw blade. You can see my first experiment for a coconut trunk here. Click here.

"....seeds & stems....", sounds familiar. PaulE

So are fig biscuits Paul.

Took some shots of the dates on the palm. They were attached with Uhu and CA glues.



I sprayed some Tamiya Deep Green XF-26, Flat Green XF-5 and Light Green X-15 over the earlier light olive green base of the leaves.



The trunk was dry brushed with the old faithful Humbrol enamels of tan, buff and light grey.



Cheers,
Richard

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Brilliant!

 

[JR]

Following a meeting here at Race Towers Awards Committee its been decided to award the Dogs even before the dio is complete.

Congratulations Richard.

 

[scottie3158]

Richard,
That is outstanding mate.

 

[rtfoe]

Thanks Neil, John and Scottie,

My cats aren't going to like that award sitting on the mantle.

Cheers,
Richard