More popsickle sticks...artillery bunker... (1 Viewer)

[mikemiller1955]

Anybody that follows my posts...knows that I play a lot with popsickle sticks...I have made 4 or 5 buildings with them, a few fences with them, some river bridges with them...a barn with them...and find them cheap and easy to work with...

I'm diabetic...type 2...and one of my favorite desserts are the sugar free banana popsickles......so I have bags of these leftover sticks at the house...if anybody wants to try their hand at this...of course you can buy the sticks at any craft store or Walmart...

while I have gotten better with them from my first to last attempts...I noticed that maybe I have tried to get too "perfect"......

the popsickle planks in the buildings were too symetrical...too straight...too neat...

the planks were "milled" too well...

the corners were too exact (90 degrees) and too clean...

the lack of "knotholes" or "chipped" wood really detracted from it...

the buildings just didn't have the "raw weathered" look I wanted...

I liked my earlier efforts with tree limbs...I just wanted to try a battery with popsickle sticks and thought I would make an effort to not make it "too neat"...

so...I just made a new artillery battery and took extra effort to "weather" the sticks before making it...I'm happy with the results...

I'm expecting a delivery Friday with some additional crew members and some US 1812 guns...right now...all I have for a model picture is a French Indian War 6 pounder...

I'll post some pictures of the battery with the new figures then...for right now...this is all I have to show...

 

[mikemiller1955]

Anyway...here's the pictures of the un-occupied bunker with an effort to "weather" the timber they used to build it...

 

[mikemiller1955]

 

[marco55]

Mike,
It really looks good.Keep us "updated"on your progress.All the best.
Mark

 

[theBaron]

That's a lot of banana pops! Excellent work, Michael!

Prosit!
Brad

 

[thebritfarmer]

Keep on eating those Popsicles Michael!!

Whether neat and tidy or messed up your dios skills are wonderful. Always a pleasure to view your posts and see what you have come up with next.

 

[mestell]

Very nice looking Michael.
Mike

 

[debrito]

Very nice your trenches as always Michael, good job. What about this canon, it is metal? it looks bizarre...

 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Fantastic, Michael! You have really refined the quality of your modelling with popsicle sticks. I can see the gouges and nicks hewn into the wood prior to assembling, and it really adds what I think you were looking for. I found myself examining your dio carefully and analyzing what everything was from the coffee ground mulch to the shrubs. Anyway, the bunker is excellent...can't wait to see it with the 1812 crew and gun.

Don't be surprised to see an increase in popsicle sales this summer...I sure hope there isn't a shortage!

 

[Scott]

Nice Mike. Nice steps and "how to."

 

[GICOP]

Excellent artillery bunker Michael, the "weathered planks" are superb

Cheers

Martyn

 

[mikemiller1955]

Thank you Mark...Brad...Scott...Mike...Rod...Nicholas...Scott and Martyn

 

[nmrocks]

Very nice mike.
Ray

 

[mikemiller1955]

Thank you Ray...

I finally got my delivery yesterday...

I now have a 5 man crew and a new US Army 8 pounder to man this little battery I made...

as promised before...here is the crew and gun...

 

[thebritfarmer]

Looks even better now that the last piece of the puzzle has been added Michael.

 

[rharry]

there are some awesome fine detail work there.....really impressive with your projects....gives me hope I can do half as well........

 

[GICOP]

The icing on the cake, excellent Michael

Cheers

Martyn

 

[Fraxinus]

Gorgeous work and now my question, the grass is what material?

 

[mikemiller1955]

Ken...

the longer grass is called "Super Moss"...

it comes in flat sheets...

you can buy it at Hobby Lobby...

it's about $3.00 a sheet for 80.75 CU IN/1.32 L...

but you can always get it on sale...and they always have 40% off coupons...

it's really approximately...a 1 foot by 1 foot square...

this would work great for your project...

it stretches out to about 1 1/2 foot by 1 1/2 foot when you open it...

it makes nice grass clumps and nice full open coverage too...

I applied mine by painting white glue to the base and pressing it down...

it's very resilient and springs back up...

the downside to it is that Ken Osen told me it would fade in time...

a year or two...

I have not seen any fading on mine yet...but if Ken said it will fade...then it will fade...he knows his stuff...

the upside is...Ken told me that it can be spray painted to avoid fading...

Hobby Lobby also sells at least 7 shades of green paint by a company called Design Master...it is a fabric paint...$5-$6 a can...

now...even if it fades...it would still look good because it will just become a lighter green or a browner brown...

I recommend it as a cheap realistic grass...easy to apply and I have not seen fading on any of mine yet...

this thread has been dead for a while and I never got to thank Scott, Harry and Martyn...

so thank you...

call me Ken...I'll explain the "Super Moss" to you...it would work well for what you're doing...