Well hello folks, I have just returned from “The hedge studying tour of the UK “ and I have to say it was a grand success. I started my studies on the train from London to Edinburgh, lots of good hedges an hour out of London and up to York . The rest of the trip in the hire car was a bit more difficult as it was hard to pull over and view them as we whizzed by, not a lot of room to stop when one wishes to, but it went very well and I would just like to thank the drivers of the UK for their patience and forgiving nature as the navigator and I hurtled around again causing mayhem on their roads.
On our return home when I started working on the diorama itself I found that if I put all the hedges I wished to use in place, there would be no room for all the cavalry! So the only answer was to extend the base a few inches.
That That done it was time to put down the static grass, hedges and trees and cement the ruined cottage in place along with a few gate posts and the broken gate. The hedges I feel came up really well (thanks Dave), he gave me the idea to use string on the trees and after that I felt why not use it for the hedges too. It is really great picking up tips from fellow modellers and has certainly improved my work so a big thanks to all you other folk who have shared the ideas with the rest of us.
Well I hope you enjoy the photos of the work in progress and I am itching to put all those little guys I have spent the winter with into their places in history.
Pat's 1:72 Military Diorama's 
Azazel
Looks lovely!
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patmcf
Sorry mate I did reply ,but I have no ideal where it went just call me the Techno pygmy. Thanks mate have now started the fun bit of putting it all together ,should be up on the post by the weekend all going well !.
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theimperfectmodeller
Looking great so far Pat and you haven’t even got the figures on yet! Hedges look very good and I love the old building, a nice looking centre piece, did you make that too? I’m guessing in time the field will be flooded with figures and I’m really looking forward to seeing that. Glad your trip went well. I bet it doesn’t seem possible now that you are back home and at work!
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patmcf
Thanks Dave , I have realised that you happy band of friends love to see more work in progress ,I can see what they mean as I’m always interested in what happening day to day and lets everyone know you hadn’t karked it and there will be more to come . Between you and I Dave I actually did hedge reach ,being the nerd that I am and I really found it interesting ,and get this when I showed a genuine interest in one place an elderly gentleman showed myself and the navigator a local hedge and gave us a rare insight into them .I was so touched ,navigator thought I was going to shed a tear , Bugger that ! a bloody midge, you fool what a top guy ,the last hope of England I said ,no mate you will pick up the banner for sure and your kids to be sure ! .Have pinned all the horses as I told Azazel I was doing this afternoon , tomorrow the fun begins !.
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Paul H
Most excellent. I really like the idea of the burnt out house…another of your ideas I´m going to borrow 🙂
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patmcf
Thanks Paul I got the idea from a painting I saw and thought I would base this one on it but as things do it changed a lot after my trip to the UK and seeing the hedges . I’m glad to be able to give you and others help and ideas , I have picked up few very good tips from Dave (theimperfectmodeller ) and other folk out there , so run with it and let me know if you need any refinements of the things you have picked up on .
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justneedsvarnish
I’m well impressed with that Pat! And pleased you enjoyed your trip to the UK. Glad you got your hedge research done as well – a lot of hedges get trimmed back in Spring and early September, and many of them are quite bare and thinned out now with having lost their leaves as well!
Really looking forward to seeing all the figures in place!
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patmcf
Thanks mate ! you are so right about the trimming of the hedges I was really lucky on the trip on the train to be able to view them early on ,as they seemed to peter out the further we went nothing like seeing the real thing . Had a great time John and really loved staying in the Premier Inn’s ,always reliable and they haven’t changed much since we were their four years ago , great mob and I always recommend them to any of our mob going to your country . We saw a lot of castles in Scotland and in the north of Wales ,a great help as I’m going to have to use the castles my girls gave me five years ago ,that’s when I was supposed to use them but only ended up with the mediaeval village .
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justneedsvarnish
Sounds like you really enjoyed yourselves! Funnily enough, if I’m ever working away I usually stay in a Premier Inn if I can. And it’s been a while since I visited Scotland, but it has some very atmospheric castles!
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Mark A. Morin
Quite nice, looking forward to seeing the complete project!
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patmcf
Thanks Mark , am onto it right now ,it’s just going to take a bit longer than usual as I haven’t had much experience with cavalry an I feel the is important ,we will see how I go ! .
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