Lovely scenery is easy?

[Pashina12]

At the second day of Vancouver Train Expo yesterday I snapped these pics. It would seem that making these scenery elements is (conceptually anyways) pretty straightforward. Of course in N scale it'll be a bit more finicky, but then fungi come in all sizes, especially the ganoderma spp. (bracket fungus). I think a few of those and a mushroom patch here or there could make for a nice, tiny element that can add so much to a scene. I'll be experimenting with these techniques when the time comes.

 

I'll also be looking into how to make convincing cherry trees in full blossom... and how to make a scene look like it just stopped raining a little while ago, with things mostly dried up but still wet and puddly here and there.

[Pashina12]

Mushrooms...

[Pashina12]

Stumps...

[cteno4]

I always envy O and even HO scale with the size you can do detail at! Sadly things like mushrooms and fungus at 1/150 scale would be 1-2mm max in size, so it's down to tiny dots of paint! 

 

Great you got to the expo expo for a couple of days of fun! Always inspiring.

 

jeff

[Pashina12]

I'm a (semi) avid amateur mycologist, and I can assure you that there are ganoderma spp. the size of dinner plates! Amanita muscaria (the red capped ones) that are a foot across happen (around here they average 5" - 8" across, but I have seen ones 12" - 14" on a few occasions), and many other very large species of fungi.

 

As you say, those average sized amanitas would be 1 - 2 mm across the cap - but touching a heat source to the tip of some .010" styrene rod isn't really a precision operation, and it's not like it's a complex paint job, either, easy enough to slap some buff or beige colour onto it, and there you go, generic fungus - A. muscaria though would be a bit harder - overall white first, then red cap, then tiny white dots on the cap... though you could omit the white dots, since the specks do come off, and they'd still be instantly recognisable. Ten thou rod would make for a stem of 3.8 cm across, which would be reasonable for an A. muscaria with a cap of 5" - 6" in diameter. I wouldn't want to make *too* many of these (or any other) mushroom like this, though... but happily it'd be enough to make three or four at the base of a tree that's in a really noticeable spot somewhere in the foreground of a scene... certainly I think this is worthy of an experiment at least!

[cteno4]

another way small flowers are made (and would work as mushroom if close to the ground) is to snip off paint brush hairs and dip the tip into thick craft paint that you have let dry a bit. this way you can get a good little dollop on the end. they can be flattened some then if you wait till almost dry and press onto wax paper. some have also been successful slicing the ball of paint on the end in half and then you get a small dot in the center from the brush hair.

 

another thin element that melts well is monofilament fishing line and you can get it pretty thin.

 

myc away!

 

jeff

[velotrain]

5 hours ago, Pashina12 said:

I'm a (semi) avid amateur mycologist, and I can assure you that there are ganoderma spp. the size of dinner plates! Amanita muscaria (the red capped ones) that are a foot across happen (around here they average 5" - 8" across, but I have seen ones 12" - 14" on a few occasions), and many other very large species of fungi.

 

 

Bracket fungi are also known as shelf fungi, and I have one that is 15" across.  They become quite dense when they dry, and can be carved much like scrimshaw.

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/285978645059315600/?lp=true