Finally the weather was kind to me and I was able to get some shots of the hedge project for the ECW diorama I’m working on. I have seen some great blogs on how to make them but this method is a little different and adapted from TIM’s tree method of using string. I found some coir twine at the local nursery which worked out well. As it is course and rigid, and appropriately coloured so that I did not have to paint it, it suited the job perfectly.
I have posted a few photos of the process I used so I will just briefly run through the process for those interested. Firstly, unravel the string and cut to required lengths (depending on your scale, mine are for 1/72 scale, 24mm).
Next, pump out a line of liquid nails or a similar product onto a piece of paper and then start to press your string in vertically. I make my lines about 6inches /5cm long as this product tends to dry out quickly. If this happens you can dip the pinches of string in some Turps to soften things up.
When dry, peel of the paper and you are ready to add the foliage to the hedge, I have used static grass 1mm -2mm of varying colours. As you can see in the photos it’s you choice for what time of year you want. I spray with an adhesive- some try hair spray but I have had little success and the static grass tends to fall off. After I have applied the static grass I puff some Tuft ground cover, light and dark green just to give it a bit of variation of foliage.
Late in the day I was able to buy some rubberized horse hair and tried experimenting with it as you can see in some photos, really great product that gives the hedge give a bramble effect. If you get hold of some, check out the railway guy who has a great method of using it for his hedges.
Pat's 1:72 Military Diorama's 
imperialrebelork
Brilliant mate
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patmcf
Thanks mate ,looking forward to checking out the real ones in the UK soon !
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justneedsvarnish
Those look excellent Pat! I might just have to try that. Very nice looking country hedges!
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patmcf
Thanks mate ,really simple and easy worth a try !.
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justneedsvarnish
They definitely look like some of the more unruly hedges in the UK at the moment!
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patmcf
That’s good news as it it’s only four weeks before I’m there to observe them ha ha !
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Azazel
They look fantastic! Have you found an effective spray adhesive to seal the static flock down?
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patmcf
Thanks mate ,TIM used hair spray that seemed to work for him on the trees but the stuff I tried was a bit old and cheap so I ended up using Sika bond. Spray fix from Bunning’s which does the trick ,you can see the little can in my hand in the messing around photo the Tech adviser added to my post ,Maybe she should have put in a disclaimer that I don’t gain anything from advertising their product eh! .
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theimperfectmodeller
Great looking hedges Pat, you must be pleased with them. What next I wonder! Have a great trip to the UK, not long now!
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patmcf
Thanks Dave they really turned out ok ,I will try using the rubberized horse hair when I return from the hedge research trip ! . You are right ,only eighteen more days to go not that I’m counting ha ! .
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patmcf
Sorry mate, I trust you and the girls had a good holiday and you have come back all refreshed and ready to get back into it !
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maenoferren22
They look great, apologies for not being here for a while, I haven’t had any notifications that you had posted. I have a bit of catching up to do 👍. I would give the string method a go, but I don’t know whether it would be Wargamer proof. I have some of the rubberised horse hair as well as some coir matting I bought a couple of years ago.
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patmcf
No apologies needed mate ,I’m always late to reply ! ,busy like everyone else ,I’m glad you like it and I feel I have to give credit to the other lads as I have picked up a lot of tips from them that I have put my own twist on. I ‘m not sure about the use in war gamming as I’m a bit ignorant there ,so I don’t know how rough and tumble it gets but the rubberized horse hair seems pretty tough .
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