Wryneck - Johan Scherft

[JohnM]

Typical Johan ... Even the bit of wood it sits on is a minor work of art in itself.

Yes, I am watching and enjoying your build Kevin. Just a bit jealous that I cannot join in right now. An excellent build so far and a well illustrated and explained instructional too. Johan should nick this into a pdf and tack it on to the download. It will certainly be tucked into my archive.

[Kevin WS]

The actual base for the branch is next.

This does need reinforcing - I used a cornflake packet to do this - Weetabix has nice thick cardboard.

• First, fold the base and dry fit.
• For the reinforcing, then cut out each piece one at a time.
• Dry fit the reinforcing, folding the sides to ensure that the cardboard inserts do not cause splitting when the base is made up.

Picture 1 - The base folded and the fit of the first insert being checked.

Picture 2 - Four of the six inserts in place. Note there is a small gap between each - this prevents the sides splitting when the base is folded up. Making each insert individually is the easiest way to achieve these small gaps.

Pictures 3 and 4 - The completed base with the branch.

Using lots of glue, attach the branch to the base - to align the branch on the base, line up the two holes for the legs in the branch so they are basically parallel to the front edge pf the base (see Picture 6).

Pictures 5 to 8 - The finished mount for the bird.

Still a bit fo work left on the branch - this now has to be prepared for mounting the wryneck.

[SCEtoAUX]

Good job on the base.
Those holes are there to allow you to reach up inside and apply pressure to the tabs when attaching the branch to the base, correct?

[Kevin WS]

100 % correct Doug!

Before I glued the branch in place I actually enlarged both of the holes to make them quite a bit bigger...

• The top hole needed to be bigger so I could bend my finger to easily apply pressure to the tabs
• The bottom hole I wanted bigger so I could later put a couple of coins inside to weigh down the base if this was needed. The coins I may use were too big for the hole as it was.

[Don Boose]

Makes a very realistic wood holler root.

Don

[gotham]

Quality work, and it's (only) the base. Definitely art.

[JohnM]

Kevin ... Your PM file is full up and not accepting messages.
There's a .rar file in our Drive file.

[Kevin WS]

Thank you very much John. Appreciated.

Tied up with work for the next week...

[Kevin WS]

PART 1

After a bit of a break from modelling (work and holiday) back to the Wryneck!

Last time the base was finished - we now have to prepare the branch so we can mount the bird.

Picture 1 - This shows the seven parts we will add to the base (4 claws, a piece of bark and 2 skewers for legs).

Picture 2 - As the piece of bark will project after being attached, and the inside is just visible from certain angles, I quickly painted the inside of this piece of bark with watercolours.

• Choose some nice close-grained skewers for the legs. I use bamboo ones - these are the only ones available here!
• Johan suggests cutting them to 6.4 cm (2 1/2 inches).
• Since they have to go right through the branch, and also through the bird, it is important to dry fit them - I therefore cut them a bit longer to start off, so I had room for adjustment.
• Dry fit the skewers in the branch, and then attach the bird and try to estimate visually what looks correct when the bird is in position.
• Keep trimming until the stance of the bird looks right.
• Glue the legs into place on the branch - they should just project a fraction through the two locating holes in the branch.
• After the legs had dried, I painted them lightly with some watercolours - just to break up the evenness of the colour and textures of the skewers.

Picture 3 - The legs glued in place. You can see them projecting slightly, as well the slot for the covering piece of bark. Note the angle of the legs.

Picture 4 - Another view. The bark piece has been attached and is just visible on the left.

PART 2 below is a continuation of this section of the build.

[Kevin WS]

PART 2

Picture 5 - The view from the top. this clearly shows the bark piece and the legs JUST projecting through the branch. As I suspected, the view inside the branch is also quite prominent, and the legs inside are visible as well as some of the tabs.

This is easily fixed though...

Picture 6 - I moistened some toilet paper with some of the white glue I use when making my models. I then crumpled it a birt and stuffed it into the hole, so it sat on the skewers. I then added some glue and left it to dry.

Picture 7 - The paper was then painted brown with watercolour.

Picture 8 - Finally I then "dry brushed" with the same colour to which black had been added, to break up the paper and add a bit of depth.

Done!

Next step will be to make up the claws.