Wildlife.

[HST.]

I'm ready to add a few of the finer details to my layout, in particular...Wildlife!   I'm thinking Cranes, Herons etc for my water feature and maybe Fox, Deer etc.   Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where I can find these items, if they exist, that is.

 

 Dave.

[Bernard]

Dave - take a look at Preiser and Woodlandscenic figures, here are a few I've found:

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/N-Scale-Figures-s/1443.htm?searching=Y&sort=7&cat=1443&show=40&page=1&search=%20animals

[HST.]

  Thanks Bernard, had a look, interesting, then had a look on Ebay and found a couple of things, mainly Deer by Noch and Faller.  I think it will be the Birds that I will struggle to get, already got 4 Swans and 4 Ducks, but a Crane or Heron would be superb!  I don't want it to end up looking like a Zoo, just a few dotted round the layout as points of interest.

Dave.

[cteno4]

Dave,

 

ok i thought i would take up the challenge to see how hard a heron/crane might be to make. actually was pretty easy. this is just a quickie first test. this guy stands about 6-7mm tall or about 3.6" high.

 

i used 24g wire to make the body/neck/head. i goofed on the tail end, came out more like a duck rear end than a heron or crane! also needs more neck as well. but at 1' away it looks like a crane or heron! i think next time i would use a tad finer wire and then some puddy for the body. i then wrapped 34g beading wire in a V to the bottom of the body to make the legs and glued the whole body up with gel ac cement. then painted with craft acrylics.

 

spent about 30 minutes total. i think next time i could probably turn a dozen out in an hour or two, so not horrible. smaller birds would be much harder! could do a crane or heron in flight as well by using paper for the wings and wire for the body and attaching a vertical thin wire on the bottom to support it in flight. may try that next.

 

btw Langley does make a set of sea gulls in flight and standing.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Kamiyacho]

Jeff - Really cool.  Perhaps you can make some dancing cranes for everyone modelling Hokaido.

[HST.]

Hi Jeff,  Have to say, it never even crossed my mind to have a go at making my own Heron/Crane!  Amazing what you have achieved in just a half hour, can i put an order in for the Dancing Cranes please...LOL.  I have got 4 Swans and 4 ducks by Langley which I have just installed in my water feature and they are pretty good!  I'll post a couple of pics when the water sets, it's covered at the moment to keep dust from settling.

 

Dave.

[scott]

Jeff--can you make me a winter wren. ;-) 

[cteno4]

 

Jeff--can you make me a winter wren. ;-)   

 

scott, sure! done! here is a picture of it >>>> [ . ]

 

also made a flock of them migrating!

        .  .    . .

      .      . . .    .  . ..

    . .  . .    .    .  .   

  .  ..  .  .. ...    .

 

did you notice i did the winter plumage?

 

wise ass! i think a winter wren is about the size of a crane turd... what next a bee humming bird!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Ok decided to fiddle a little this evening and try some cranes. came out ok. learning a process to do them and just trying some ideas out and practicing painting, going to start painting scooters!

 

tried a couple just standing there, a couple courting, and one flying. the courting pair came out the best i think. flying one pretty good as well. the pair just standing there are pretty boring...

 

dave ill send you the courting pair for your wetland if you want.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[HST.]

Hi Jeff,  How on Earth did you manage to make them, they are superb, you must have great eyesight and even better dexterity!!!!  When I look at the size of my Swans and Ducks, and the fumbling I did just to cut them off the sprues, it's nothing short of a miracle!  I would love to give them "Pride of Place" on my layout, just let me know any costs, Postage etc, and I will sort it out by Paypal if that's ok.

 

Regards...Dave.

[Kamiyacho]

Simply fantastic.

[scott]

what next a bee humming bird!

 

Sure--could you do one for my T-scale layout of Cuban sugar-cane trains? 

 

I love the flock!

[HST.]

A few pics of my water feature with Swans and Ducks.  The water is Vallejo Still Water, £6.00 for 200ml bottle, just pour on from bottle and let it set, took a lot longer than the 24hrs stated, but great results for a first attempt, it was something I wasn't looking forward to doing !

 

Dave.

[Bernard]

Between the work that Dave and Jeff do...I think I'll find a different hobby. 

Both of you do outstanding work! Incredible attention to details.

[Martijn Meerts]

Between the work that Dave and Jeff do...I think I'll find a different hobby. 

Both of you do outstanding work! Incredible attention to details.

 

No matter which hobby, you'll always find someone who's better at it ;)

[scott]

Those cranes look great, Jeff--really nicely done!

 

going to start painting scooters!

 

Scooters or scoters? 

[ShinCanadaSen]

Wow Jeff and Dave, very nice work. The cranes are awesome and so is the bridge scene.

[Tenorikuma]

Agreed. Please post more pictures, preferably non-blurry ones this time. 

[cteno4]

Thanks very much for the kudos (blush). These really are not that hard to do, i think it just scares folks that things are tiny, but really just some practice and patience and a good magnifying lamp!

 

One of the reasons i tried this as i thought it might be something the most folks could do easily and i think it is.

 

These started out as small pins. used them this time to get the pointed beak. first bent the neck then the pin continues down the chest and folds back at the tail and finishes the back. just need a pair of fine needle nosed and round tipped pliers to do this.

 

then i bent a V of fine wire (like 0.007" stock i got from amazon last month) over the wire body at the bottom of the abdomen for the legs and glued them in place with AC glue. made the legs long at first so i can hold them by the legs in little clamps.

 

then made the body with a bit of wall spackle (nice and fast drying and files and carves well)

 

for the ones with wings i just cut these out of paper and did some small nips in to create the look of flight feathers and glued them in place with CA glue

 

Painted them up then with cheap craft acrylic paint. one of the reasons also i made these was to test out the new inexpensive chinese nail brushes i have been experimenting with (see http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,4199.0.html). used the little heat gun to speed up drying so i could just keep painting one after another. I built up some paint where the head should be and also on the wings to give them thicker leading edges.

 

All and all a couple of hours with fiddling and most of that was experimenting some.

 

they came out maybe 10-20% larger than they probably should be, but if no people are right next to them you wont know. this was limited by the pin size i had. i need to find some really fine pins, i use to have a box, but have lost them and all the sewing and craft stores seem to see the same couple of sizes. with smaller diameter pins i could do some smaller birds as well probably.

 

I find the tiny stuff is just practice. I probably have the largest hands on the forum (XL gloves look tiny on me) and if my huge fingers can do this i think most can, just takes some fiddling time. just looked up a bunch of pictures on google images of japanese cranes for models. im not a great artist at all, but following some basic shapes already done i can get by, so again i think any of us can do these.

 

also the magnifying lamp really really helps. the new one i have with the 7" lens really helps as you have a large sweet spot and lotsa light.

 

try some yourself, i think you will be surprised what you can do!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Hi Jeff,   How on Earth did you manage to make them, they are superb, you must have great eyesight and even better dexterity!!!!   When I look at the size of my Swans and Ducks, and the fumbling I did just to cut them off the sprues, it's nothing short of a miracle!  I would love to give them "Pride of Place" on my layout, just let me know any costs, Postage etc, and I will sort it out by Paypal if that's ok.

 

Regards...Dave.

 

Dave,

 

just pm me your mailing address. the cost was probably 3 cents in supplies! shipping will probably be 80 cents. you can buy me a beer sometime! Happy they will find a nice home to live in! your water came out great! the ducks are really a nice touch. maybe a little marsh area in a back corner would work for the cranes.

 

it is a cheat though as the courtship is usually in winter in the snow! but hey maybe its late fall and these guys are just oversexed!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[keitaro]

they look great however a nit out of scale :p being the size of a person hahahah

 

when i get to my lake on my layout i will post my wildlife pictures. which will be also out of scale heh :)

[cteno4]

they look great however a nit out of scale :p being the size of a person hahahah

 

actually japanese cranes can be up to 5' tall! so as tall as some people! they are one of the largest cranes. a winter wren they aint! these are 10-12mm tall so the robust end of the size bell curve! some godzilla poop washed into their marsh when chicks so they got a little boost.

 

jeff

[keitaro]

haha yeah wan't so much reffering to the cranes more the ducks but yeah understandable as you couldn't do a duck to scale and be able to see it properly hah!

[cteno4]

Actually the langley ducks, swans, and sea gulls are pretty good scale.

 

ducks about 2.5mm long, 2mm high

 

swans 5mm long and 4.5mm high

 

sea gulls 3.5mm long and 3mm high

 

since they are british they may be 1/148

 

cheers

 

jeff