How To Model Sugar Beet

[Sails]

As a kid back in Ireland I always remember very well the goods yard behind my house would have wagons full of sugar beet during sugar beet harvest. I was thinking that having several wagons with a load resembling sugar beet would be a nice reminder to myself. Any ideas what I could use as a replica
load?

8085464-Sugar-beet-pile-at-the-field-after-harvest-Stock-Photo.jpg (49.72 KiB) Viewed 1633 times

[carnehan]

I'm not sure I've ever seen sugar beat in the flesh. How big is it? They look like the size of turnips from that photo. If they are that large the only thing I can think, off the top of my head, is modelling them out of Fimo to get that shape. Laborious but maybe worth the effort.

Paul

[Sails]

I'm not sure I've ever seen sugar beat in the flesh. How big is it? They look like the size of turnips from that photo. If they are that large the only thing I can think, off the top of my head, is modelling them out of Fimo to get that shape. Laborious but maybe worth the effort.

Paul

They are about the same size as a big turnip

[TimberSurf]

If beet is 3 inches in diameter, then 1ft=4mm, they would be 1mm round! Having a pointy tail will be nigh on impossible to make and barely noticeable.
I would source a granular material of 1mm diameter, suitably colour and add some tufts of static grass, probably the nearest you will get!

[Boxcar Willie]

Mustard seeds. What do I win?

[Sails]

Mustard seeds. What do I win?

Brilliant, your prize is either a bag of sugar or a jar of mustard seeds.

[VerdevaleRailway]

Closer to the shape and colour would be black cardamom seeds. Your Indian spice shop should have a large bag of the pods which you'll need to de-seed. They'll be sticky if fresh, but the stickiness will dry out. They are similar size to mustard seeds.

[allan]

I've used seeds for loads before, but the concept of depodding a trainload of black cardomom seeds seems, to me, to be a particularly noisesome form of masochism...

[Forfarian]

Cut the pointed ends off thousands of cocktail sticks !
Forget the green bits as the Harvester cuts the tops off before it lifted them, you could add a little static grass onto the completed load.

If you think shelling a few pods to get seeds is difficult, just think about the guys that used to harvest the beet by hand, they used a special knife with a sharp point at 90 deg to the cutting edge, this was used to stick into the beet and pull it out of the ground then hold in their left hand and chop off the top with the sharp knife in one chop and this was done in cold wet weather! The beet were put in small piles every 2 - 3 yards and were collected with a pitchfork and horse and cart, later a tractor and trailer. They were then put in large heaps to be collected by lorry and taken to the nearest station, a special wide fork was use with knobs on the tines to handle them. later the beet pulp would be delivered back to the station yard and the farmers collected it for cattle feed.

The same applied to Turnips, mangolds and swedes.

[Bigmet]

I feel the seeds suggestion is a step in the right direction. Modern sugar beets are huge things, selective incest and all that to breed them as large as possible. It needs something 'organically shaped' to give the right impression, unless prepared to spend hours with the modelling clay making them individually; collecting small citrus pips comes to mind as one source. It may be there is a dried pulse or legume that comes out looking roughly right, get your knitted yoghurt sweater on and pop down the healthfood store...

[allan]

Coriander seeds might be closer. Leftovers can find their way into the garden, or the curry!

[Peterm]

Cut the pointed ends off thousands of cocktail sticks !
Forget the green bits as the Harvester cuts the tops off before it lifted them, you could add a little static grass onto the completed load.

If you think shelling a few pods to get seeds is difficult, just think about the guys that used to harvest the beet by hand, they used a special knife with a sharp point at 90 deg to the cutting edge, this was used to stick into the beet and pull it out of the ground then hold in their left hand and chop off the top with the sharp knife in one chop and this was done in cold wet weather! The beet were put in small piles every 2 - 3 yards and were collected with a pitchfork and horse and cart, later a tractor and trailer. They were then put in large heaps to be collected by lorry and taken to the nearest station, a special wide fork was use with knobs on the tines to handle them. later the beet pulp would be delivered back to the station yard and the farmers collected it for cattle feed.

The same applied to Turnips, mangolds and swedes.

Aaah, the good old days. I'd really miss doing a lovely job like that.

[End2end]

I just found these. Are they any good? Or perhaps the manufacturer also makes sugar beets?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JUWEELA-25g-P ... XQyY1TWSKA
Hope it helps.
Thanks
End2end