Rooting Around - Turnip28 Spring Clean Challenge
Finishing Touches
With the figures put together, the next step was to fill in some gaps and add various bits of vegetable material indicative of the root infused theme.
Materials used included tile grout, some scrap wiring, a few small patches of tufts and superglue.
The grout was used to gap fill. For this style of kitbash, the rough finish and any overspill just adds more earthy texture.
I used a bunch of small tufts from Tajima1 (a small company based down in Cornwall that do some really nice tufts and patches of mixed flowers and grasses – highly recommended), placed around the sides and top of each figure’s backpack.
For roots, I ended up using stands of wire twisted together into interesting shapes that were superglued in place, mainly towards the bottom of the packs. I experimented with coating some of the wire twists with grout, and with hindsight, I’d probably have done that with all the roots.
I was tempted to try using some natural organic materials for the roots, but was nervous about ensuring that it was preserved properly. I’d be interested if anyone has advice on how to keep locally gathered organic modelling materials like twigs and lichen from breaking down.
Painting next…
It’s a cool project. First time I have seen a hobbyist fill in gaps with grout! It the grout has fine texture, it could easily double as rust and decay.
Yep, that’s exactly the reason for using grout here – lazy way of adding texture, and no need to be very careful either! It’s not something I’d normally use for gap filling, but perfect for this project.