Modelling Grassland and Landscape Details

Publisher: Wild Swan Publications
Author: Gordon Gravett
Cover: Softback, A4 format, 108 pages
ISBN: 987-1-08763-06-8
Price around £24.95 GBP (June 2014)
Review by Bill Curtis

Get this excellent book here

Initial assessment

If you have read the books on the Modelling of Trees Part 1 (broadleaf) and Part 2 (conifers) in SMN, this volume tells one how to produce the actual groundwork which includes:

• Preparing the Ground
• Grass
• Weeds and Flowers
• Hedges
• Roads and Pavements
• Wet areas from puddles to rivers
• Five Bar Gates and Stiles
• Colours and Suppliers.

The first chapter is as the rest of the book aimed at railway modelling whereby it deals with building a base board and terrain features.

Grass is a major feature of this volume and the various item covered are static fibres, puffer bottles, electronic applicators, laying grass over scatter and over ground cover. The problem of hiding glued edges is dealt with as is making of longer grass with field tufts and strips of grass on an infrequently used road. The way windswept grass is made is then followed by the use of Field grass fibres.

The next chapter takes the path of weeds and flowers making items such as nettles, Rosebay and Willow Herb which I think will work great up to 1:48 scale but I am not sure it will hold up in 1:35 and larger scales. I will be trying this out on my next diorama and may have to eat my words!

The next chapters deal with hedges and then the construction of roads and pavements. In this section is a description of a country lane which I found very interesting. Wet areas again are interesting, with one in particular for the interaction between the hard surfaces, mud, puddles and grass to bring about a realistic gateway leading off a country road. Also dealt with are waterways using from paint and varnish to acrylic sheets.

The chapter showing a 5-barred gate and stile show drawings of both that can be scaled to any size.

The colour section shows the colours for concrete and the effects of talc on the hue as well as the effects of other mediums such as wood ash, Chinchilla Dust and sand for a gritty surface.

The last item is a list of suppliers for the products used in the book.

Conclusions

This is a book of A4 format with 108 pages of good quality glossy paper and copious colour pictures throughout with well-informed text which shows one how to produce a landscape of some variety; the different items one finds in nature are described and means of producing them.

I think this is a book that everyone interested in modelling nature will find very useful and will be a reference to making the ground work for setting off your models.

Very highly recommended
Bill C.