Botched-up Scenery

[RobertInOntario]

I recently bought some Woodland Scenics products that an MRR magazine recommended for flowers to a layout. (I can get the product numbers for these later if that helps.)

I wanted to add the effect of fields of heather (or heath) and buttercups to my British layout, which is British 00, similar to our HO.

Well, I was quite pleased with my new purple and yellow areas on my layout & enjoying how they looked, but my wife told me that I had really botched it up !

I think my "problem" was that I had not properly blended the yellow flowers in with the green turf (the same re the purple heather as well). In other words, the layout had sudden areas of all-yellow & sudden patches of all-purple on it.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for properly adding flowers to one's layout, so that their colour blend in correctly with the greens.

I'll try to post some pics tonight of how the layout currently looks!

Thanks in advance,
Rob

[RonP]

I'd say put the product in a large plastic container and mix it up at the desired consistency.

[RobertInOntario]

Originally Posted by RonP

I'd say put the product in a large plastic container and mix it up at the desired consistency.

Thanks, Ron! I could do that to some extant although the material is not loose like green ground scatter. This flower material is actually all one piece where you pull bits or strands off, almost like cotton baton. I guess you could still pull small clumps off and shake it up with green ground scatter in a container.

FYI, the product numbers for these Woodland Scenics products are F176 and F177.

Rob

[RonP]

Yeah mix together very small batches it just mixes them better that way.

Thats what i do because I have fooled myself before too.

[RobertInOntario]

Originally Posted by RonP

Yeah mix together very small batches it just mixes them better that way.

Thats what i do because I have fooled myself before too.

Thanks, Ron! I'm going to try this to correct & improve what I've done. Rob

[RobertInOntario]

Here are some pics of my purple (heather and heath) and yellow (buttercups) scenery attempts. Hopefully the photos adequately show my work. The yellow sections are further into the background while you can see a few of the purple sections in the immediate foreground.

Again, I was pleased with the results but my wife said this looks really bad, nothing like British wild heather or buttercups.

I'm going to try to improve this by shaking (blending some bits of this scenery) with green ground scatter.

Thanks for any suggestions or feedback. Are these scenery attempts really that bad?

Rob
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[60103]

Rob: scenery isn't by best skill, but you need to find pictures of the type of area you're modelling.
Any English (or Scottish) pictorial magazine should do; eventually they'll have a picture of heather and bluebells. Look through back issues of This England and Evergreen. Some of the brochures from British Tourism.

You may have to stretch the scenery material out; don't worry about braking it as you can glue the segments down. Then scatter green over it.
The blue/purple colours should be subtle.

[logicman]

Here in Britain, at least in Kent, buttercups show individual flowers scattered across small areas.

Even when they grow in clumps, the leaves are physically more prominent than the flowers:
Creeping buttercup - Weed information - Organic Weed Management

Try google earth for inspiration!

This Kent jpg shows what I mean, and btw, the yellow crop is most probably rape, grown for its seed to make oil.

No criticism intended, btw, you're doing fine!

[RobertInOntario]

Originally Posted by logicman

Here in Britain, at least in Kent, buttercups show individual flowers scattered across small areas.
Even when they grow in clumps, the leaves are physically more prominent than the flowers:
Creeping buttercup - Weed information - Organic Weed Management
Try google earth for inspiration!
This Kent jpg shows what I mean, and btw, the yellow crop is most probably rape, grown for its seed to make oil.
No criticism intended, btw, you're doing fine!

Thanks for the feedback and JPG !! I'll continue using things like google earth and google images for reference. I'm also going to try to blend the patches of scenery with green ground scatter. This should reduce the "large clumps" effect. Rob

[RobertInOntario]

Originally Posted by 60103

Rob: scenery isn't by best skill, but you need to find pictures of the type of area you're modelling.
Any English (or Scottish) pictorial magazine should do; eventually they'll have a picture of heather and bluebells. Look through back issues of This England and Evergreen. Some of the brochures from British Tourism.
You may have to stretch the scenery material out; don't worry about braking it as you can glue the segments down. Then scatter green over it.
The blue/purple colours should be subtle.

Thanks, David. I'll keep my eyes open for these magazines and try breaking/gluing the patches of colour down, mixed with green as well. Cheers, Rob

[scubadude]

I think it looks fine, it reminds me of the wildflowers and Texas bluebonnets that paint the scenery around the highways here in Texas this time of year....

[logicman]

Robert, looking at pix of horses, I spotted this and thought it may be of some slight interest?

Image:Horse in a field of buttercups English Cotswold countryside in Spring.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

[RobertInOntario]

Originally Posted by scubadude

I think it looks fine, it reminds me of the wildflowers and Texas bluebonnets that paint the scenery around the highways here in Texas this time of year....

Thanks, Richard! Yes, I'm sure the purple could pass for bluebonnets as well. My original idea was that the purple should be heather, but it also could be heath -- both are found on to the area that I'm modeling.

Rob

[RobertInOntario]

Originally Posted by logicman

Robert, looking at pix of horses, I spotted this and thought it may be of some slight interest?

Image:Horse in a field of buttercups English Cotswold countryside in Spring.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

Thanks -- that's a great pic! and pretty much what I'm trying to show on my layout (except I haven't added any horses yet!). That's a great pic to use for reference. Rob