Flora experiments (Inc. Cactus, Willow, epic trees...)

[DaN]

I wonder if anyone can think of a better way to go about this than the way I am...
(If so, please let me know)

First of all I got my tools together - I decided that it would easiest to sculpt a flat bottomed ball from green stuff to represent the main body or Barrel of the cactus...

For the spines, I thought that some partially splayed lengths of copper flex would be good, but the only flex I could find was quite thick, and the twists wouldn\'t hold together once I cut it short, so I decided to cut the seperate pieces of wire shorter to make individual spines.

I rolled out the ball and let this cure, before rolling out another thin sausage, which would end up over the ball, like...

I then added the spines in groups of 4 along the length of the soft green stuff and let this cure. Once cured I dripped a drop of superglue into the hole to help secure the wire that bit more.

Then it was time to add more half sausages.
For such a small ball, I\'ll aim to have 8 fairly even spaced parts...

In order for it to end up looking ROUGHLY like...

 

[lizcam]

I think I myght have approached it a bit different but I need to know how big the cactus is compared to the mini.

I have only seen these cactus a few times but if memory serves me right they\'re not that big. I think I would have made the vall (flat bottom but slightly flat on top as well because they are a bit flat on top) and let it cure untill it almost hard but still soft enough to cut into. Then I would cut away the grooves with a V shaped sculpting tool, keeping it shallow at the top and bottom of the cuts and deep in the middle. Cure, prime and paint that part.

Then I would have gone to a light colored static grass (i\'ve seen pale gold) and tinny dots of glue for the spines. Let that harden then seal it all to make the grass stiff like the spines. After the sealer dries I would go back and very lightly, with a thinned down paint dry brush the grass on the ends with a bone. Cactus spines aren\'t actually white. The ends can be but the shaft is usually a tan or a green.

By doing this you would allow the spines to look more natural. Might not work tho\'. Never made a cactus before. Might be worth a try.

 

[DaN]

Yeah I originally thought it might be easier to CUT the grooves from the GS, but maybe I didn\'t let it cure enough, as the ball started to malform...

Well, got the first cross done. Will have to see what it looks like with the rest done.

SIZE-wise, the cactus is about knee height on a 40k marine.

 

[airhead]

Dan, for some finer wire, try a computer or phone patch cable. multi strand wire - very fine.

You might be able to cluster bunches of it in a roll of GS?

 

[DaN]

@Airhead - as mentioned, that was EXACTLY what I wanted, but couldn\'t find thin enough flex and couldn\'t really be arsed to search for any thinner as this was really just an experiment in flora...

Has actually turned out pretty well - but I\'ve learned some experience and would do it better next time... Pics to follow and painting etc

(This will also feature in an update of my scenery article)

 

[treide]

Make a slightly flattened ball of GS, and then use a sculpting tool with a V-shaped surface to add the grooves in a radial fashion all the way around.

Monofilament fishing line would probably be easier to work with than wire for the cactus spines, but some barrel cacti have really short, wispy spines. You could probably simulate those with paint.

There are quite a few different types of barrel cactus out there, so there isn\'t really a wrong approach!

 

[DaN]

For an experiment, I don\'t think it ended up looking too bad...

 

[Sand Rat]

Pretty good actually

 

[airhead]

looks great

maybe a bit of white (light grey?) on the spines.

 

[mugen777]

If the small wires are falling out you should (after youve compleatly finished) put a layer of superglue over the whole thing to seal it toghter

 

[DaN]

@Mugen - cheers but I already thought of that - but thanks for reminding me, I forgot to mention it

 

[mugen777]

No prob DaN- happy to help

 

[DaN]

So some people expressed an interest in different types of trees

To begin with, I thought I\'d try some epic-scale as I hadn\'t seen many of those, and a 28mm Willow tree...

So to begin with, I thought some cotton buds would make a good base for the trees - I undercoated them black and did the \"trunks\" brown.

I decided I should make a small and simple hill to base the trees as then I could simply push them into the polystyrene rather than bother with trying to make epic scale roots

After liberally coating the bud tops with PVA, I cut up some cluster foliage (I would have used the finer version, but I don\'t have any - and it\'s basically just the larger one cut up anyway). After the bottom coat of PVA was dry, I covered the tops again to hold the foliage on more securely.

At the moment they are drying, so I\'ll wait to see if there are any gaps or if I need to add any more foliage to them.

 

[DaN]

Well I guess I should do the Willow tree on a separate reply to keep lessen confusion

I got some pieces of fairly thick wire (4 lengths) and twisted them together to provide a framework for the tree and main branches untwisting those at the top and bending them to shape. I also run some superglue into the twists along the \"trunk\" to hold it together better.

I used some off cuts of wire to make some smaller branches and twisted them around the main branches at random - covering the twisted part with a coating of superglue to hold them in place.

Now was the task of experimenting to find a suitable looking way to represent the willows \"Weeping\" foliage... I thought initially of using the plastic insulation that covered the wire and using small snips of cotton, but the insulation is too stiff.

I then thought of simply using some green thread draped down from the branches - with enough of it it might look ok, but I\'ve run out already
Looks like I need to get a few more reels!!

 

[DaN]

No comments on this...? Some ideas on the willow foliage would be helpful

 

[airhead]

Dan, I was thinking of the brass ivy from a wire trunk.

some of this stuff:

from your wire sculpted trunk might work?

 

[DaN]

Hmm... But to do a whole Willow tree in that stuff...? Damn expensive I expect... I\'ll see how it looks with the thread - cos I can always take that off easily enough...

 

[DaN]

Finished (Epic scale) cotton bud trees

So I haven\'t finished the hill

 

[Roger Bunting]

They look good but canb we see a epic scale figure next to them, if you have any.

EDIT: Those etched brass foliage sprues are £4.60 for 70mm X 70mm, from Antenociti\'s Workshop.

EDIT2: I\'ve been trying to think of something for the willow trees but I\'ve not come up with anything yet. Making the leves out of paper like on Nectrotales\' website would take too ling and probably way too fiddly for a willow tree.

 

[DaN]

I don\'t have any epic, but I\'ll shove something appropriate next to them when I compile it into the article.

Remember though - they\'re cotton buds, as shown in earlier photos