NEWS 2023

 

 

 

[top]

 

December 2023

WOODLAND SCENICS PLASTER PRODUCTS

 

This month we have introduced a range of plaster products from Woodland Scenics.

They can be used with our existing range of landscaping items to create rocky terrain features including strata lines, erosion, outcroppings and boulders on your landscape model or diorama.

For casting features using rock moulds, Super Strength Plaster can be used if you need it to be robust. If weight is an issue, you can cast using Lightweight Hydrocal Plaster.

For more bespoke features, cover screwed up newspaper, shaper sheet, foam or wire mesh with Plaster Cloth or Plaster Sheets. Then build up areas using Carving Plaster and Plaster Brush which can then be scored and carved to form rock faces, bridge abutments, piers and other custom terrain and structure formations.

Once dry, these features can be coloured liquid pigments then dressed with textures, flock, clump foliage and briar patch.

 

 

 

[top]

 

November 2023

BESPOKE MODEL PALM TREES

 

In addition to our standard selection of palm trees, our Scenics Team undergo bespoke palm tree builds to our customers specific requirements.

The team really enjoy the challenge of getting the frond size & shape as accurate as possible.

They also experiment with the ways to get the trunk texture correct for the species of palm tree.

 

We were blown away with a batch of Date Palms they recently produced for a top architectural practice.

Date Palms are a common species found in Middle Eastern countries, so we imagine they’ll be going on an impressive architectural model for a development there.

 

If you need a bespoke model palm tree, or tree of any species, contact our Scenics Team, who will be happy to help.

 

 

 

[top]

 

October 2023

MODELMAKING 101

 

Over the past couple of years we have been working on a number of secondary school modelmaking projects.

After talking to many school and further education teachers, we have identified a need for basic modelmaking technique information.

We have adding 'Modelmaking 101' videos to our Modelmaking Guides page.

The guides show you how to safely cut & glue commonly used model making materials such as card, Finnboard, foamboard and balsa wood.

These guides will also be useful for first year architecture undergraduates with no previous knowledge of model making.

Once familiar with these basic techniques, the maker can expand their skill set by exploring our general guides.

 

 

 

[top]

 

September 2023

ALL GAME TERRAIN

 

All Game Terrain is a new line of products from Woodland Scenics aimed at the gaming world.

 

'All Game Terrain ignites gamers’ imaginations and makes their tabletop terrain fantasies come to life'

 

Many of the lines are taken from their existing range of scenic products for model railway, architectural model making and dioramas, these include Clump Foliage, Field Grass and Static Grass.

Other lines are very similar to our historic landscaping items, Grass, Grass Tufts, Lichen and Flock.

 

We have therefore initially introduced 3 lines to compliment these existing products:

• Flowers - add realistic highlights, texture and dimension to your terrain, perfect for pops of colour on trees, grasses, bushes and vines.
• Natural Stone - represents medium to large sized rocks on your miniature base or gaming mat while showing scale for your miniatures.
• Dead Fall - used to replicate fallen tree limbs and other forest debris. They can also be used to build barricades for your miniatures on battlefields.

 

Look out for more All Game Terrain lines in the near future!

 

 

 

[top]

 

August 2023

VINYL CUTTING

 

We've been making signs using precisely layered vinyl stickers for a while now using the same high levels of accuracy needed for etchings, transfers and laser cutting.

The layered colours have very sharp edges, leading to a very neat finish.

Beyond signs, our vinyl cutting have been used for making stencils, tee shirt decals, guitar headstock covers and even decals for scale police cars (image courtesy of Rob Buxton).

Our stock colours usually includes black, white, red, blue, yellow, green, silver & gold; specific colours can be ordered in.

All our stock sheets are adhesive backed, and jobs are quoted with the release/transfer tape with negatives removed, unless requested to be remained in the sheet.

 

 

 

[top]

 

July 2023

BESPOKE PLANTS

 

As well as making our range of standard and bespoke model trees, our Scenics Workshop can also create a range of bespoke items including textures, hedges and, more increasingly, plants.

We are have produces house plants, ferns, vines, reeds, palms, bushes and hanging plants.

The plants can then be coloured to your exact specifications, whether a pantone matched single coloured finish, multi-coloured finish or even a paint & texture/flock combination finish.

So whether you are working on an architectural presentation model, high end dolls house or model railway layout, we are more than happy to work with you on your planting scheme.

 

 

 

[top]

 

June 2023

PENDON MUSEUM

 

Pendon Museum, found near Didcot in Oxfordshire, is a museum that displays scale models depicting idyllic rural life from the 1920s and 30s.

It was founded by Roye England in the 1950's and has been in continuous development ever since.

There are a number of models on display, but the largest, the Vale Scene (inspired by the Vale of White Horse region in Oxfordshire), is modelled at 1:76 scale and one of the biggest dioramas found anywhere.

The scene is centred on the imaginary village of Pendon Parva, with a railway running through the surrounding landscape that features models of real buildings that were found in the Vale at that time.

The museum is run by a group of volunteers with their modelling team constructing on the first Sunday of each month, a good time for fellow model makers to visit.

They also have a very comprehensive programme of model making workshops covering a variety of topics to help modellers to acquire and develop skills.

These include junior drop-in sessions during school holidays, a great way to introduce children to the world of model making.

 

See the Pendon Museum website for opening times and event dates.

 

UPDATE: The Pendon Museum will be at the New Blades Show with a couple of their models.

 

 

 

[top]

 

May 2023

WORBLA'S KOBRACAST ART

 

Worbla’s Kobracast Art is a very versatile, stretchable, heat activated material, that can be shaped by hand, in a mould or vacuum formed.

It is an exceptionally lightweight material that can be used to make props, hats, masks and much more.

The mask below was created by placing a single piece of Worbla's KobraCast Art over a plaster former, then heated.

The warmed areas are then worked into the contours, first with wet fingers, then with wetted tools to trace the finer detailing.

A soldering iron was also used to heat smaller areas of fine detail.

The finished mask is not only very light, but also flexible. The surface maintains a texture similar to a fine medical gauze which can be painted directly or primed to smooth out the surface.

We think this product will be of great interest to prop makers, milliners, costume designers & cosplayers.

 

 

 

[top]

 

April 2023

ART SCHOOL PLUS

 

Art School Plus is a non profit, social enterprise based in the St Pancras area of London that supports exceptional and underserved early career artists through training and support programmes.

They help the artists by giving them access to a network of artists and institutions that includes Antony Gormley, Butler Hegarty Architects, Delfina Foundation and Shape Arts.

Artists can gain access to commissioning opportunities, peer networks, training, support and guidance.

Commissioners gain access a pool of bright young talent.

Budding artists and anyone interested in becoming a commissioner can find further information at www.artsp.org

 

 

[top]

 

March 2023

ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION VISITING SCHOOL

 

Architectural Association Visiting School courses, competitions and workshops are built around agenda driven project briefs that are pursued and shaped by participants working intensively in small groups, and are led by AA tutors and other international experts.

Central to each is the idea that experimental, new and provocative forms of architecture are best learned by doing.

The school promotes, tests and challenges contemporary global interests and issues in architectural learning and exchange by embedding a diverse group of creative participants and tutors in an array of unique rural, urban, international and online contexts.

 

Examples of courses:

• AA Summer School - Londons Belly (London)
• Urban Phoenix Berlin - Rethinking Abandoned Metropolitan Masterworks (Berlin)
• Ceramic Prints (Barcelona)
• Moonshot - Architectural Design in the Second Space Age (London/Houston)
• Urban Futures (New York)
• Unreal Worlds - A film production course to design worlds for architecture and entertainment (London)
• The Self Observing Landscape - A digital twin of everything (Remote/Orobic Alps)
• Nanotourism (Austria)
• AA-ITB BambooLab - Advanced design studio for full-culm bamboo (Brunei)

 

Places on each course are limited, and anybody who would like to further their architectural knowledge and skills can apply.

 

 

[top]

 

February 2023

DESIGN FUTURE LONDON

 

The Mayor of London and George Clarke (architect and TV presenter) have launched a design challenge for GCSE, A Level and Further/ Higher education students (11- 24+ year olds), focused on Croydon town centre.

 

They are asking students to identify opportunities and then design a solution.

• What do they want to see in our town centres and high streets?
• What are we missing?
• How can we improve facilities?
• How can we design sustainably for the future?
• How can we build a better London for everyone?

 

The purpose of the challenge is to inspire young people about the built environment and into jobs in the built environment, to be creative, be imaginative – wacky ideas are very welcome! There is a full online resource, therefore is you can’t get to Croydon don’t worry.

Anyone involved will benefit from information on careers in the built environment, learn new soft skills essential for moving into the workplace.

 

Proposals can either be digital (free software licences available) or they can make a 3D model using any material, building block or style to demonstrate the design.

• Free software licences are also being provided for digital entries.
• Free 4D modelshop modelmaking packs are available for 3D model entries.

 

The closing date is on Tuesday 25 April 2023.

Get signed up for a free event and start the challenge. There will be a range of prizes announced.

 

 

[top]

 

January 2023

DESKTOP MODELLING

 

If you are an architect, a railway modeller or want to make a model diorama, there is a simple way to create the buildings from card.

 

The process involves:

• Setting out the elevations either by hand or on a computer.
• Spray mounting the paper elevations to the backing card.
• Carefully cutting out the elevations, making sure the cut is a right angles between the top surface and the cut edge (this makes gluing the elevations together with PVA much easier).
• Assembling the elevations.
• Further detail, window frames & stonework, can then be added by following the same process as above.
• This technique can be used with foamboard or even laser cutting the elevations in plywood.

 

Modelmaking Guide available below.

 

 

[top]