Thatch

[Bezzo]

I have used teddy bear fur myself and can say it is a good option.

I have seen plenty of people (Matakishi take a bow) have used towel with great effect.

Are there other ways of depicting straw roofs  I think miliput or filler is a possibility, car filler (I have used that on bases and it is great though you need to be fast working it). What else? Anything new out there?

[FramFramson]

I use paint-dyed scouring pads.

You can see some examples in my workbench thread here: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=28517.0 (there's a great example halfway down page 2, and several others on page 3, though the picture quality on those is worse).

[Mitch K]

I've tried both towelling a fur fabric. The effects are quite different. If I had one bit of advice, it's to not overdo the PVA glue on whatever you use. I suspect I have been, and you tend to lose the texture.

[max]

I used string, untied and stuck on with wall paper paste. It's the right colour (mine was at least) and if you get one ball that's a lot of string. At a pinch it's works for reeds too.
Hope it helps

[FramFramson]

Fair enough!

I never liked towels myself beacause I didn't like the way the "strips" were so visible and also the coarseness of most towels turned me off.

Fun fur on the other hand tends to be too fine a texture for my taste - you either use too much glue, losing the texture, or you don't use enough resulting in a lot of flyaway hairs and it's still a bit too smooth.  I do have some fun fur I might use for a rough "tribal shack" kind of thatch, all crude and unruly.

I have seen towels done well, using a finer, longer-"haired" towel applied in one layer rather than in strips. Sadly, I can't remember where I've seen that.

[FramFramson]

Oh absolutely!

And thatch does go grey after a while. Most of mine are pretty dully grey (the ones on page 3), but the "nice" cottage has a bit more golden tone to it, because I wanted to make that building look newer and nicer.

[max]

Here you go, not the best thatching ever as it was the first i did 
I did another with yellow painted underneath but it looks bad as the thatch looks very thin, whereas here i left the cardboard as it was.

[CyberAlien312]

I think using towels still is the best way. I used it in my medieval farm:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=42731.msg498532#msg498532 , although I think I brushed too much glue on the roof... 
I also tried covering a roof with flock or static grass, but I never got around to painting that roof, so I can't tell if it works.

[anevilgiraffe]

yep - towelling, with some g/s to tidy it up...

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=38250.0



I also find the fur too fine... and too uneven in the way it lays, with the towel, I could at least get some sense of neatness...

[anevilgiraffe]

cheers, you've prompted me to pull my finger out and thatch the 4ground hovel...

[warterrain.co.uk]

I'm a miniature thatcher and I mean I thatch by hand have a look on my site in the gallary page there you will find two photos of thatched buildings 15mm and 28mm and one done in concrete. Once I'm in my new place I'll upload a how to thatch in miniature and on YouTube                     

[warterrain.co.uk]

Cheers bezzo it took four of us to build in three months 1:200 scale we used 1,500 10mm office people it was built 1987 and is still on display today inside the carrickfurguss castle

[Weesparky]

I have been experimenting with pink insulation foam (extruded polystyrene) scored with a bamboo skewer for my 1:56 samurai terrain. Fast, easy, and looks acceptable (to me).

[Cosmotiger]

I found a Microfiber towel in a Dollar Tree store that I think has potential (haven't used it yet).  It's meant for washing cars, I think.  The texture is finer, without the noticeable loops that you see on some towels.