Right as I am not at work and have been ordered by the doctor to relax I have done a bit on HOOGY, I have started the orchard.

I have slapped some sand texture gel around the bases of the tree stands, this is so that they do not look as raised.
Any bit that is a bit sticky-outy I will paint as roots.

I have painted the trunks brown and the leaves green but am pondering how best to flock the trees as I want them to look less like lead so they fit in with the trees in my woods and the 3 trees on the HOOGY farm base itself.

(the trees are resting on something unrelated to project HOOGY)

I have a good feeling these 2 weeks off will see HOOGY finished!!  Huzzah!!

More to come.

Got distracted by the ornamental gardens…

Have painted the exterior walls, again brick by brick making them mostly the one colour but picking out a few in slightly different shades (so slightly different that you can not see them all in the images)

Then decided to paint the pathways in the garden, they are a gravel style.
Now whilst a lot of posh gardens have chalky paths to look pretty I have decided that for a farmhouse where they clearly have lots of grey stone around I will do them in light grey.

I also carefully removed ny homemade balsa walls and replaced them with some walls by Irregular Miniatures, much nicer.

Painted some brown on the trees too.

WALLS

GARDEN

WHOLE THING

taking shape now.

Just a small update as I have been busy doing customer orders. sheesh!!

I have decided to do the Irregular lead trees by flocking them.
Here is the first coat of 2 colours, the next one will be lighter and a different texture.

I have dabbed the recessed areas with green paint and dipped the wet trees in a flock box.
Once dry I will dab the protruding areas and apply the lighter flock.

The orchard base has been painted brown and washed and highlighted, I have tried to avoid painting the tree roots yet as these will be finished in the same colour as the actual tree trunks.

Hope to get some more work done tomorrow.

have done some work on the orchard, some brown flock near the roots. Tufts in between the trunks where the grass gets trodden on less. (these tufts are the same as the ones used on the main house - silflor) I have added 2 shades of woodland scenics green to the grouns as a base covering.

Next will be adding some of the short strand seasonal grass as sold on the website.

The trees are also flocked in the 3 tone scheme, images will follow soon.

Cheers!

It is a labour of love no doubt.

The orchard floor is done, I have added Hay and Summer flock from the AB website as well as a bit more brown hornby flock.

I was inspired by 6milphils orchards and wanted to copy that trodden down path look between the trees:

http://6milphil.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/dont-sit-under-the-apple-tree-with-anyone-else-but-me/

Here is my take on it:

Just the trees themselves next…

It is just big enough for a company in line formation to fit behind it. It is also a big piece so has been split into 3 sections.

Regards

Brushen
Surendettement

Done some more to it, at last.

The trees have been covered in a dark green scatter.
On top of this I applied a lighter shade of the same scatter to the raised areas of the trees trying to create a highlighted effect.

This was sealed with pva mixture.

Once dry the trunks were painted a wood brown and stuck to the base.

The trees then needed that fruity appeal, they are an orchard after all.

Some of the light green scatter was mixed with a small amount of red scatter. This was then lightly applied to the trees and has hopefully created a nice fruit tree look.

Here it is:

(it is still a bit wet but this is a WIP after all)

To finish I need to paint the trunks and branches some more and then the roots and apply small touch ups to areas of the flock.

Gardens next!!

Finished the orchard now, added some extra long grasses of various colours and added more flock to the trees to make them a bit more irregular (no pun intended)

A few different angles and a close up.

Right back to the gardens now:

I have decided that as all 3 pieces are meant to be able to be used as stand alone pieces that the gardens will be slightly different from the actual historical ones.

To that end I have enclosed the gardens in a wall. Tall around most of the garden but with a low more garden-esque wall at the rear as you look at it.

I have used windsor & newton gel to make muddy patches and have also used it to cover up the joints in the walls. These joint covers will be painted as ivy etc.

Here is the gel:

and the painted gel/mud:

On a side note, it is bloomin’ cold here.