How to make outdoor ornamental plants and pots for stations, gardens and building fronts.
My OO gauge station platform was looking a bit sparse so I’ve added a few pot plants.
Making a plant pot
Initially, I tried making the plant pot from air drying clay but it was too small to work in clay. I also tried Green Stuff. This worked well and if it wasn’t for a chance discovery it’s what I’d still be using.
It was while waiting for the Greenstuff and I was tidying up that I found a better, much quicker, alternative.
I was tidying up the cables for the assorted power tools I have (the Dremel, hot glue gun, soldering iron etc) and held them in place with a nylon cable tie.
While fastening one I noticed the little latching cube that you push the other end of the cable tie through.
Hmmm. I cut it off and checked the size. By complete chance it was just right for the flower pot on a station platform.
A bit of filing to clean it up and then painted red to match the downpipe of the station building and I had a perfect little flower pot.
For garden plant pots, I’d still go with making them from Greenstuff but for this particular use the cabletie lock is ideal and by far the quickest to make.
Making the plant
The plant itself is some the tip of some Seaform painted brown. Like I used the same technique as used when foliage for making model roses. Dip the plant into some PVA glue and then into some dark green static grass, 1 or 2mm. Any clumps that are too large were pulled off.
The flowers were fine scatter, dropped in some paint, and then individually glued around the plant with Superglue. I wanted yellow flowers and used Citadel Averland Sunset.
Finally, I filled the inside of the cable tie grip with Uhu and gently pushed my delicate little plant into it and left it to dry. Once dry, the Uhu was painted a dark brown to look like soil.
And that’s it.
My plant and its pot now sit on the station platform and I’m pleased with the look. It adds a homely touch to station and makes the it look lived in.
I’m now making some to go around buildings on my other layouts such as this one next to the door of a goods office I’m working on for an 009 layout.
> A final, personal, note: I spend a huge amount of time testing, photographing, writing and researching techniques for these articles and pay for all the running costs of MRE out of my own pocket. If you found this article useful you can support me by making a donation on my fund-raising page. Thanks and happy modelling, Andy.
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