My layout is staged on the southern Oregon coast, so that dictates that among the various greeneries I have to choose from for scenery, one is not an option. It is a must! Blackberries. They grow wherever they can take root. They can take over hillsides, engulf abandoned automobiles, barns, fences, open areas, banks, even wooded areas too if they can get enough light.
I have one area that needs a transition from the hillside to the wall. This will be part of a little farm scene:
I made an experimental strip of blackberry bushes and stuck 'em along what would be a fenceline, but overtaken by them. I’ve seen this a great many times, and battled it a few.
They’ll be all over that truck if it doesn’t get moved. Adding more leaves is easy, and I see I need to in some of the less flocked areas. And I’ll pick out those stick looking bits too. The bushes will look more natural when I get grass on that soil. This scene will be viewed from about 2 1/2 feet away at the closest.
My only question is what are you going to do on the backdrop? I would suggest that, if you are going to do any additional painting or install backdrop scenes, it might be easier to do those things without the bushes in place. You have probably already thought about that but I just thought I would mention it.
Dave, Your suggestions are well taken. That whole section is removable, partly to access staging tracks below, and also to make working on the scene easier at workbench level. When in the room this scene is actually higher than eye level to most viewers, they’re looking up at it, so the bushes on the horizon don’t look that bad.
I added in a few more leaves on the still removable srtip of bushes…
Then laid some Silflor on the area, not attached, for how it looks with grass.
This grass is greener than I’d like for a late summer look. Someone gave it to me. But this is about the bushes for now. Dan
Hi Southgate 2. Excellent work. You have captured the ‘fifty shades of green’ with the bushes. Well done.
To change the color of the grass. Have a look at what you want to achieve. See what you see and not what you think you see. Get that right gives your layout a little extra; from ordinary to extraordinary.
I would use a mixture of different colors of green scatter and a little yellow and red scatter. To have patches of earth I use dried tea leaves. The tiniest of stones you can find, place in the ‘earth’ giving the impression of large stones that are just ‘peeping above the surface’.
Oh yeah, that’s correct. We lived in the south Seattle area for a few years, and yes blackberries are definately regarded by many there as a noxious weed. But a neighbor of ours found the solution!
So, If you want to add some variety to your scenery, fence off a barren patch of ground and populate it with goats.
Blackberries grow on brambles rather than bushes. They can grow in a clump but they actually grow out with thorn covered runners, each “branch” grows out of the ground. They would be difficult to model accurately at 1/87.
Plus, blackberries grow in a number of varieties, even “wild”. I think NW North American brambles are an imported invasive species. Edit: Wikipedia says not. Related to roses and widespread with many species.
Great job of modeling them. I can sense the thorns. This past weekend I was cutting some blackberry patches in our fields and along our fence lines. I’ve got tons ofscrathes through denim overalls - they are nasty buggers.
Very true, every word. I simply reverted to childhood memory of calling them bushes. The clumps can be loose and airy, just a few runners, to really tight and dense. Like so many things we do, I’m shooting for the overall effect. There will be more on the layout.
The grass mat I temporarily put in there is too perfect for a little hillside cowfield. I have the static grass in more summery shades and varying lengts. Gotta make an applicator.
I still have the long handle blackberry whacking tool I used to use when I lived on the coast. I could level down a good size patch in short order wearing short sleeves and shorts, no scratches!
Probably the best way to model blackberry thicket is as a component of a hedgerow. Real life wild brambles commonly grow as part of thickets of other bushes and frequently are all over the surface. They look like bushes.
The modelling shown in this thread is an excellent representation of a very challenging prototype scenery. For example, when you enlarge the photos you can even see single strands of blackberry bramble “waving” about, just like the real thing. Very convincing.
Heres a rundown on how I’m making the blackberry patches. Having been in the floor maintenance biz for years, I needed a pair of green scrubber pads for my floor scrubber. (color dictates coarseness) The ones they had were too big so I cut an inch off the outer edge, saving it away cuz it looked like it could be useful for something like this.
I pulled away at it to expand and open up the fibers much looser. You can see the start of that here. This stuff is really tough, so it itself won’t be easily damaged later by handling.
I imagine if you went to your local janitorial supply, tell them you need the smallest size “green pad” (3M) or simular grade fiber they have on hand, you’ll have enough for a life time. It would make great hedges too
You can tease it out a lot further, as in this shot. Sorry its blurry but you get the idea. This is also after I spray painted it brown. Leaving it green looked horrible even after flocking which I’ll get to. Note also the can of spray adhesive.
The leaves are dried cilantro I got at in the bulk food at Winco. One of the cheapest scenic materials that wasn’t free! Here, it’s sitting in a metal car speaker grill. They’re way to huge as pictured.
I smush them around and around with my fingers to grind them to the right size for HO and separate them at the same time over a bowl thusly:
