scenery - modelling hedges

Some people model hedges by using fibrous underlay, pulled around and covered with scatter. In my view, this is far too simplistic.

Hedges may vary from the perfectly trimmed

to the really wild

Traditionally, hedges were often trimmed and woven together during winter to make them stock proof.

These days, they are, of course just tortured with a Bushwacker! This changes their look considerably. Again, study of the real thing has no substitute.

Hedges contain many species, and if they are to look right, you will need to individually plant. Mostly I use bits of sea moss. This is sprayed grey brown and then covered in a wide variety of scatters. I make a small hole in the plaster with a dental pick and glue in the 'plant' with PVA.

the superb trees on the 1:50 scale Pempoul layout; a model of the Reseau Breton
photo Crawley Model Railway Soc

Most of our shrubs and hedges are made using either sea moss or small wire armatures in a similar manner to making the trees. Hedges vary according to the area in Britain. During the 1930s, photographs show that hedges in north Devon and Somerset were somewhat unruly affairs. There were of course no Bushwhackers! Planting individual hedge plants takes a long time, but the effect is well worth it. The one exception on our model is the trimmed hedge in front of the Glenthorne Hotel. This was made using insulation material used under carpets in the car industry. This was trimmed to shape and treated with scatter. Additional scatter was added on the outside of the fence to depict through growth. About 1500 individual plants have made up the hedges on sections 1 and 2.

Some plants in hedges are more vertical in aspect and here I use a different technique.

Using a thin pad of Bluetack, I cover it in about 2mm of gel superglue. Then cut pieces of 'plant stems' from Greenscenes, are stuck in as required. I then blast the base with accelerator.

The base is sprayed green and the plant stems sprayed with Modelmates moss green dye. They can then be sprayed with spray mount and the foliage applied.