Plants: Sakura part 3 - Final

Well, it was tedious and labourious but I have completed adding the cherry blossom to the tree.  It's not massively endowed but I like to think of it as a relatively young tree.
It stands around 5" tall and, to me anyway, looks like a cherry tree.  I've started on another couple of trees but as the process is the same I'll leave them for another time.

The tree:

Next time I will continue working on a car model... which is after all meant to be the focus of my blog hahaha.

Mata atode.

Plants: Sakura part 2

I made up a second cherry tree and then painted them both a dark brown.  Here is one of them:

The flash makes is seem lighter.
I then added the blossom and leaves to one of the trees.  I have only completed one branch so far.  I need to add more detail to blossom stems, I should have done that before I added them... oops!

I have some Copic markers on the way and these should allow me to colour the leaves and stems without them looking too flat and lifeless.
I also made up a small shrub and added the 'Brush' leaves to that as an experiment.  It looks pretty good and once added to a display base with other trees and diorama models it should add some extra level of detail.

I like it.

Next update will have the completed cherry tree.  After that I will start work on the first base for the Japanese cars.

Plants part 2: Sakura

Well, much to my pleasure the Kamizukuri plant kits came today, and I was overjoyed.

As mentioned in my last post I ordered 2 sets of cherry blossom, a set of generic leaves and a set of weeds.
Here are the weeds and tree leaves:

 They are on nice quality paper, with the weeds being semi-translucent.  The blue and black you are seeing are the backing cards to keep them flat.  They are just like etched metal, only laser-etched paper.

The Sakura is a step up from these.  The packaging is better and seems to be a special product.  I know that cherry blossom is important in Japan, I just never thought it would extend to model blossom.  It's a nice touch.

Like the others the petals and leaves come on a laser-etched sheet, and are very very well defined, as you can see.

Unlike the generic tree leaves here you get a tree!  Well, this:

It is a bunch of paper-coated thin wire with a wrapped base representing the trunk.  Following the instructions (which are all in Japanese, but illustrated) I twisted and manipulated the strands until I got this:

I should point out that this is the very first tree I have ever made!  So if I can do it I suspect that anyone can.
You snip the overlong branches off and, using small sections, bend into Vs and glue these on as additional branches.  I have done a few, but I don't want to overdo it.

Next time I will cover the twisted wire and start to paint it.  Good references of Japanese cherry trees will be invaluable in getting the colours right.

These are beautifully produced kits and certainly give a good scale appearance of a tree and foliage.

Mata atode.

Plants!

I recently discovered a Japanese company producing plants in 1/32-1/35 scales from etched paper.  They are called Kamizukuri and their selection are at this link to their homepage.  It's in Japanese but the pictures speak for themselves:
http://www.kamizukuri.jp/diorama/index.html

I ordered a few sets from Accurate Armour here in Scotland: Sakura blossom, weeds and generic tree leaves.  The Sakura are beautiful, and will add an extra dimension to my Japanese car bases.

The petals and leaves come on s sheet of paper which has been etched with a laser in a similar way to etched brass frets.  In some cases they need to be painted for added realism, but some are printed on coloured paper.

I will post pics of my efforts when I try a set out.

For readers in the UK you can get them here: http://www.accurate-armour.com/showarmdistproducts.cfm?manufacturer=42&cat=93&subcat=272
They aren't cheap, but they do look special and are far better than using sponge or flocking for leaves in this scale.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well, here we are in 2012... Olympic year.  Woo-hoo... Sick of hearing about it already haha.
Anyway, Happy New Year.

In much of the Far East this is the Year of the Dragon, not the ferocious fire breathing monsters we have in the west, but the elegant sinewy long monsters with whiskers and balls in their claws.

This year I plan to get most of my stash of cars built and photographed at long last.  I also fully intend to get a driving licence at long last... about time I actually had a car of my own and not just small plastic ones haha.

Well, good luck for the new year and let's hope it's a goody!