Thanks Bob.

Been messing about making a silver birch to go in the foreground of that picture and also a stone wall, it also gave me chance to try out my new static grass applicator :lol: pictures to follow.

Phil

 




 




 

(Click to enlarge)

Phil, you have blended the tree and the wall in brilliantly, it all looks so natural.

Love the tree and the additional detailing Phil. The whole scene is so believable now.

It's the attention to detail, the little things such as the broken wall and general crud around the works that add so much to the whole look of the model. Superb.

Very nice Silver Birch (Betula pendula). The silver birch is one stunning looking tree with the smoothish silver/white bark on top and the tesselated black bark underneath. I take it that your model is only a baby as they do become a reasonably large tree ! Being a horticulturalist (fancy name for a glorified gardener !), I notice you have modelled it as roundish in shape rather than a conical shape ??

Apologies if I sound a bit picky…, must be the last 25+ years having an effect !! :oops:

Cheers, Gary.

I'm no expert on trees, we have lots in our garden, some with green leaves ans some with red :lol: As for the birch, i've just taken this picture from my studio, the tree looks like a silver birch to me! It's about 18' high about 30 years old and hangs like a willow? It's round in section, the trunk has a lot of moss on it hiding the colour.

 

Phil

Looks like the birch has had the centre taken out at some stage to get it to open up ! Definately looks to be a birch. Must say though, very nice garden. If I'm ever out your way and you need a gardener… ;-)

Here's a pic I just drew up of the shape I was refering too, more of a conical, but slightly weeping habit. 




Cheers, Gary.

ps, Just listened to your links in 'scratchbuilding', very smooth indeed !

Actually we do need a gardener as the one we have always used had a heart attack. We have tried about ten different ones over the years, they either want too much money and they usually know very little about plants, ie they throw them away thinking they are weeds or they want too much money, do the work as fast as they can, and it shows, or they want too much money and do very little work like the last one…sat behind a bush reading the paper and smoking a joint.

My wife and I are doing it at the momment….it eats into hobby time :roll:

 

Phil

Here's a silver birch in our garden.

Taken last winter one morning when we had a heavy hoare frost. They are often hard pruned when young so you get a triple trunk :

Beautiful colour Peter.

Yes Phil, isn't it. :thumbs

I always find nature does these things so much better than we do - it's just a pity she doesn't do it to order. 

We've had only two or three of these incredibly beautiful hoare frosts over the last 10 years or so but, when they do arrive, they're absolutely breathtaking against the clear blue sky that always accompanies them.

Nature IS a wonderfull thing! Here's what used to be in front of my house, and what it looks like now, my house is the one in shot.

 

Phil

 



 

 

Wow - look at all those trees :shock::shock:

What's the time difference Phil ?

The colliery closed in 1975 partially due to a fire underground and Joe Gormley. After that the ground was moved around a bit and a lake formed where the washery was, a vistors centre was built and a caravan park. By the time we moved in (1989) the park, including the trees were established.

 

Phil

Just trying out my new camera in video mode.

http://youtu.be/0S0WOTV1zbo

 

Phil

Seems to be working very well Phil. Nice sharp image and the low angle gives a very realistic view. What make and model is the new camera ?

It's a Canon 6D with 17-40 Canon lense, I had it set to f22 and changed the focus throughout, too difficult to see on the display even though it's 3", so it was guesswork!

Not as sharp as stills though!

 

Phil

Niiice. Very nice.  :thumbs

Toot toot... One of the drawbacks of N Scale... There is no way I am ever going to be able to get sound in my 57xx. Sigh.