Any chance of some more cacti?

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Greetings,

I'm busy working on Tunisia and one thing that I'm struggling on is representing prickly pear cactus. It was prevalent in some areas and a serious barrier. Anyone have any suggestions? I've seen the plastic cactus kits but they're too big and have too many varied types.

Martin: any chance you would do a pack for scenery? They would be easy to vary with clipping and bending/positioning and I would merrily buy 10 packs to start with to make some useful patches (I know that wouldn't fund anything and you're very busy - apologies I'm still stuck in my home due to the interesting times and we all know how those hobby ideas can needle at you, especially when you're staring at the PP website and planning your Christmas list).

Thank you for you time

Andrew

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

I've also been racking my brains to see how I can make ubiquitous prickly pear for MexRev.

I echo Andrew's sentiments. The only strategy I've thought of to possibly make the stuff myself is to model a number of branches in green stuff onto a thin wire. A time consuming process for something you'd need a fair bit of. Casting a number of different branches in metal and then arranging them together in clumps, with some bits clipped, some bent etc. might be a solution. I'd be happy to pitch in for a fair number for scenic effect, bu I'm not sure just the two of us would give Martin a return on his investment in time and effort... perhaps there's a wider cacti appreciation society out there among the forumites?

However, I'm not sure if metal, particularly the high quality recipe Martin uses, would be the best material. It doesn't lend itself to bending that well, unlike that used by some other 15mm companies... and it might be too fiddly to model well in resin

Anyone else have any ideas?
Neil

[Moggy]

could try https://www.modelscenerysupplies.co.uk/brands/woodland-Scenics/TR3600

About the best I could find  At least its HO scale


OOO, just stumbled on this

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/811532728/cactus-plant-8-pc-resin-set-28-32mm?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_uk_en_gb_e-toys_and_games-games_and_puzzles-other&utm_custom1=_k_CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthBXLzQxQJBHmq0iQ_8VUfL_1MhgG8HdByufL451wAZqDFPb4y6kiVhoC5KoQAvD_BwE_k_&utm_content=go_12603394295_125447604408_508814568638_aud-1183050946216:pla-314262775107_c__811532728engb_469723409&utm_custom2=12603394295&gclid=CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthBXLzQxQJBHmq0iQ_8VUfL_1MhgG8HdByufL451wAZqDFPb4y6kiVhoC5KoQAvD_BwE

derek

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Thanks for the shout out. They're a bit too stylised and generic for my taste... the prickly pear should range between anything from small 'ouch what on earth did I just tread on?' to waist high forests of the stuff!

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Neil I'm glad it's not just me (I've stared at the HO offerings but they're not really suitable). I've made a wire/procreate version and one from plastic waste as prototypes but they were fiddly and I wasn't 100% happy with them (and I'd need lots). I shall have to try and perfect my own version and cast them/get my friend to cast them for me or find a way around it as the cactus patches are important to playing the theatre.

Thank you for all help and ideas,

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[martin goddard]

I will certainly have a look at it and report back


martin

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

The Opuntia was so widespread in Mexico that it was used as forage for animals - chopped up and singed, as well as a crop for humans...

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Thank you Martin, your time/effort/consideration is appreciated even if it isn't financially viable in the end.

Thanks all

Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Amen to that!
Even if you think of a way to do it but it isn't a viable route for PP to produce, I'd be interested to hear your ideas on how you might go about modelling it, Martin

Although mostly confined to the Americas where it would be a good scenic scatter addition for Western/MexRev/ACW, it is also to be found in N Africa (hence Andrew's Tunisia query) and in Middle Eastern theatres.

[Panzer21]

Although mostly confined to the Americas where it would be a good scenic scatter addition for Western/MexRev/ACW, it is also to be found in N Africa (hence Andrew's Tunisia query) and in Middle Eastern theatres.

Indeed. When reading about the 1967 fighting in the Gaza strip, reference is made to "cactus hedges"; photos show what looks like prickly pear.

I was aware of Tunisia as well. My vague plan was to use green Fimo / Sculpy "blobs" onto wire with some attempt at  spines by pulling out a bit with cocktail stick or similar.

Neil

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

I was considering a light cross-hatching or scoring onto green stuff blobs mounted on florist wire. In 1:100 any projections would be out of scale (possibly flowers though?)...

We'll have to have a prickly pear 'sculpt off' to trial all the different techniques!

Neil

[Smoking gun]

When I was on holiday in Tunisa I noticed the "cactus hedges" a formidable obstacle to man and beast. They are very dense and would require a lot of modelling material and effort to reproduce on the table.

I'll have to look for some photos.

Best wishes,
Martin Buck

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

I just had a notion about making this stuff en masse... blobs of modelling material/putty of various sizes squeezed onto a wire armature that you can then flatten out between two surfaces before it cures/dries. Then you can cut the wire into lengths and twist the flattened blobs into more random orientations. 'Plant' said wire lengths in clumps to achieve that natural look... 

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Julian if I start down that avenue I'll end up like this



And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, my garden would be perfect for this, I even have an occasional spring that makes a beautiful little stream (description of it in its current controlled state and doesn't include the panic the first time it happened and the day spent up to my knees in freezing water and filling sandbags!) at times when the water table is high. But my darling wife, who loves her cottage garden, may have different opinions. And I've wouldn't want to scale up which means I'd have to buy even more PP minis as I'm sure I'd lose some (a well camouflaged WW2 German sniper was misplaced during one of our games and turned up in some woods three games later).

Andrew

[martin goddard]

Neil. That woudl work.
I am still considering the item as I have lots of other things on the go at the present.


martin