Up   Home   Historic Sites   Models   Heraldry   Puzzles   Garden   Links

Removable Hay Pile (Click thumbnails for larger images)

Materials & Tools:

Hay Cart Model

Polystyrene Foam

Snap-off Knife / Box Cutter

Sharp Scissors

Old Household Paintbrush (with natural fibre bristles)

PVA

Elastic Bands or Bag-Tie Wire

Brown Paint

Stage 1

Cut the bristles off the paintbrush about 19mm / 3/4" from the end using a sharp pair of scissors. This brush had been previously used to apply fence paint.

Stage 2

Measure the cart, and cut a piece of polystyrene foam to fit inside, leaving a gap of a few millimetres all around. Round off the upper edges to leave a slight dome on the top. A snap-off knife is a good tool to use, for those of us without hot-wire cutters.

Stage 3

Test fit the foam former piece and once you are satisfied with the size and shape, undercoat the foam with a mid-brown paint. Leave to dry.

Stage 4

Apply a generous coat of PVA glue to one side of the foam. Starting at the lower edge, add bundles of the paintbrush fibres, pressing them firmly to ensure they adhere. Once dry, repeat the process on the other side and the back face.

Stage 5

Once this is dry, apply PVA to the front and back of the upper face, and add bundles of fibres. I used elastic bands and wire bag-ties to hold things in position whilst they dried.

Stage 6

Apply PVA to the remainder of the top face, add bundles of fibres, and secure them as before.

Stage 7

This is the finished pile of hay once it had been left overnight to dry. If you have a lot of loose fibres, you can spray the model with a watered-down PVA mix - about 20-25% PVA works well.

Stage 8

If you wish, you can permanently attach the hay to the cart using PVA. I left mine as a separate piece to allow for more varied use.

There are absolutely no weapons, gold or Hobbits hidden in this cart. The well-armed guards are merely decorative !

Although, they do serve to show the overall scale of the finished model.

...and here is the cart with the pile of hay removed.