Gauge Neutral foliage compact dark green / 28 x 14 cm

HEKI compact foliage mat, dark green, 28 by 14 cm

A foliage mat from the German maker HEKI of a size of twenty-eight by fourteen centimeters. The thin fabric with foliage flakes glued on can be stretched and shaped into a crown, a bush or growth on a wall. Dark green is the most saturated shade of this line and on a model it works as shadow. Where lighter green flattens volume, the dark one creates the impression of a deep crown the sun does not reach into.

Use

• the lower and inner parts of the crowns of deciduous trees
• dark bushes, thickets and untended field edges
• greenery on the north side of buildings and in shaded ravines
• a base onto which lighter foliage flakes are scattered on top

How to work with the mat

Tear a piece of the mat off and stretch it until irregular gaps come about in it, then lay it on the armature and fix it with drops of cyanoacrylate or white glue. Do not use the dark shade on a whole tree on its own, for the crown then merges into a dark lump. The best result comes from layering: the dark one inside and low down, the lighter one on the ends of the branches turned toward the light. With bushes, by contrast, the dark variant stands up on its own as well.

Who the mat is for

For builders of layouts and dioramas who work with light and shadow in growth, and for modelers who want to lend depth to crowns. This is a modeling material, not a toy. The maker marks its landscaping goods as not suitable for children under fifteen years of age.