| Hedged with doubt |
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We tested the "model hedges, dark green" made by NOCH (art.no. 21524)
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Have you ever swept the pavement along accurately cut green hedges? Then you’ll probably know how tiny their leaves usually are. A perfect reproduction in 1/87 scale even
nowadays seems to be impossible. We decided to scrutinise the dark green model hedges made by the German manufacturer NOCH. According to them they are suitable for H0, TT
and N gauges - so they should fit in an 00 scale scenery as well. |
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To be honest, the leaves of this NOCH product are not at all tiny and look rather like miniature lettuce leaves. Our photo gives you quite a good impression of their size. Just
imagine the hedges on an N gauge layout… |
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But let’s keep to our systematic way of scrutinizing modelling accessories and start with having a look at the blister package. It provides all the information you need and allows
you a first glimpse at the hedges. And it protects the product quite well although some green crumbs roll around the hedges. (Don’t discard them; you might need them on your
model pavement…)
After we had removed the blister carefully we realized a strange smell quite similar to what you sense through your nose being in a carpet store. But this first smell vanished soon and, of course,
we will not sniff at our layout all day long.
The two green hedge strips are each about 50 cm long and very flexible; so you should be able to give them almost any shape you want. But putting them in a straight line just on
trial is quite difficult because they’ll always attempt to get back to their ‘embryo-like’ position they had had in their package for a long time. If you are sure, of course,
some drops of glue will force the model hedges to remain in any shape you want them to.
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Referring to H0 gauge the product allows you to ‘plant’ a hedge that would be almost 90 meters long in our real world, its height is 10 mm (87 cm in 1:1 scale) and its width is 6 mm (52 cm). |
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So apart from their oversized leaves the hedges are true to scale. And the first impression you get from the model hedges ‘planted’ on a diorama or a layout is not unnatural because of the mixture of unstructured differently coloured
leave scraps.
But advanced modellers might give them an even more realistic look by imitating a branch base under the green leaf material (e.g. stick the hedges to a narrow brownish polystyrene strip) and putting some soil-like material around the hedges.
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| conclusion |
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All in all NOCH offers an adequate product to reproduce green hedges on your layout. But, as usual, realistic appearance finally depends on the ‘landscape gardener’s’ practical
skills.
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