Scalefour Forum

On photographs of Llanfyllin the hedging behind the signal box along the back of part of the layout appears to be a newly laid hedge.

On the model it will be about 12" in length.

I've been wondering how to model it, and one idea I had was Thyme stalks dried out and stripped of their leaves (kitchen for the use of)

Has anyone any other ideas about this, I am not sure if I have seen it modelled before, as it will have to be built from nothing onsite and I want to be able to see through it.

Whilst we age on the subject of strange requests, has anyone modelled a half relief greenhouse, if so how? My only thoughts are evergreen strip and clear polystyrene

Not sure about making one, but having just had our real one done, remember "fair face to the field, and lay up the hill". Or did hedging styles vary across the country, this was in Northants.

I would suggest looking at lots of pictures and also the right hedge for the area - frightening number of different ones and construction!!

This sight might help direction.

http://www.hedgelaying.org.uk/styles.htm
Andy

I managed to buy a couple of packets of fresh thyme and am amazed at the amount of stalks involved, I should be able to model the hedge and use it for bushes and undergrowth.

TEZBEDZ wrote:I managed to buy a couple of packets of fresh thyme and am amazed at the amount of stalks involved, I should be able to model the hedge and use it for bushes and undergrowth.

And, if you have a wife like mine, be able to make a pretty decent amount of raspberry and thyme jam from the bits that you don't need for railway modelling...

http://www.inkyann.com/goodies/

Lower part of the page. Ours is a house that never goes hungry...

HTH
Flymo

This YouTube video shows hedges being laid back in the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoprVhpOKIk

I had not realised how neat and tidy some hedges were kept then. I guess cheap labour helped.

HTH

Bill

My Grandfather used to do this a lot when I was a boy, William is quite right about laying towards the slope, or if level, with the prevailing wind. They look lovely when done well.

You will have to make yourself a miniature billhook tho...

Steve

Hello,
I have an old billhook I use for chopping kindling for the fire. Glad i isn't as sharp as his though as I could do serious damage to myself.
trustytrev.

Some 15 years ago I did a weeklong course in Herefordshire on hedge laying, great fun.
A year later and some hedges under my belt I entered a local Somerset competition.

The judges laughed at my foreign style.

I had complements from the Herefordshire tutor on my acheivements but they dont travel across even one county boundary!

Well, the link to Northamptonshire methods looked pretty close to what I remember watching as a lad (have bike, will travel any byway) in my part of Buckinghamshire - but we were the wrong end of the county, so although we spoke much better than them furriners, Norff Ants wasn't that far away. At the time there were still a couple of old codgers working on 'edgin and ditchin for local farmers, and even though I was a town lad they were always willing to pause for a chat and to pronounce on weather prospects if I pulled up alongside. It wasn't such an imposition, since most of their day seemed to be spent sharpening axes and billhooks rather than actually cutting or laying, and of course there had to be frequent stops for lukewarm tea from an old flask (it was always offered, but I stuck to my 'pop' carried in my saddlebag). Worth bearing in mind for modelling, though, that the whole point of the process is to produce a living, stock-proof barrier, so unless your layout is permanently set in late autumn/early winter (the ditches are too full for the work much after Christmas) there should be signs of the hedge 'growin through', and by the following summer it should be a solid, green field boundary, showing little sign of the work, albeit still a bit neater and less straggly than neighbours that were treated longer ago.

This is a really useful resource
http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/

Particularly this document drawn from a DVD they produced on management options.

http://www.hedgelink.org.uk/cms/cms_con ... flet_7.pdf

2 factors to take into account are:
Geography - the setting of your layout will determine which style was adopted.
History - hedgelaying was widely undertaken in the 19th century and diminished as UK agriculture slowly declined in the early 20th. Postwar demands for increased food production lead to an enormous number of hedges being ripped out and those that remained were managed by cutting by machine or neglected. There is a renaissance of laying over the last 30 years or so.

I first saw a hedge being laid opposite Manton Colliery Worksop Notts some 40 years ago. It was very rare then. It is still done and is far better than those grass cutters attachments on diggers. Southwell (pronounced Suthull by true Nottinghamshire people) had it's ploughing competition near the A614 this year and a hedge was laid there this summer. Very neat it looks. You will find evidence of hedge laying in all old hedges from thick horizontal branches near the ground.

Wales, Nottinghamshire, North Yorkshire. Not in any particular order.

Last week, I was surprised to see a fairly recently laid hedge in the London Borough of Richmond, not out in the sticks (pardon the pun) but in the middle of Richmond itself. So modern image urban modellers take note!

With regard to the question of greenhouses and glazing in general, you might wish to consider using clear acetate as it isn't (I think) affected by solvent. It does mean making the framework functional! Or you could use clear plastic once the framework is built. This is not my idea but I can confirm it has been done in the past.