Post by eBob on Nov 29, 2006 14:08:49 GMT -5
Some more pictures of my trees.
In the pictures you can see quite a few smaller, lighter colour trees which are a guagemaster product.
(www.gaugemaster.co.uk - do a search for seafoam).
The guagemaster trees are great, if a little pricey - but they are based on a natural product (seafoam) and are very delicate indeed - not really suitable for gaming or transporting - but good for photos.
The fallen leaves you see on the ground are a natural product from Antenociti (link on the Ebob Miniatures home page) called 'leaf litter'. Comes in 3 flavors - I don't like the dark green, but brown and light green are great.
The rocks sticking out of the ground are slate - painted and highlighted. the grass itself is simply a grass mat stuck down and spray painted darker in patches.
The taller, darker trees are my own creation - and are fine for gaming purposes.
Making Trees:
I didn't take any pictures on the making of them (I made about 70 trees over 3 days).
I shall have to describe the process. It takes a bit of practice - I wasted the first 3 or 4 - before I made a good one.
You will need:
Some stiff wire
Some masking tape - use the standard half inch wide stuff - not the super wide one.
Some natural/coconut broom hairs (you can obtain them in bundles from a craft shop).
Some spray glue (photo mount)
Some spray paint (car paint, Matt black and red primer)
Some poly fibre (woodland scenics product)
Some flock - I think I used what they call 'rough turf' - dark green.
You'll need a drill and a vice and cup of coffee.
Quite a lot of stuff - but once you've got all that you can make as many trees as you have time on your hands.
OK - you need at least 2 lengths of wire - if the wire isn't very stiff you may find you need 3 or lengths.
Wire needs to be about 12" long.
Get a length of masking tape - a bit longer than the wire - put it down sticky side up and put the wire down on it. Now you spread some broom hairs the length of your tree - obviously at right angles to the wire - leave 2" blank at the bottom for the trunk - and put some half length ones at the top half so the tree gets narrower at the top. Put plenty of hairs in.
Now more tape down over the top.
Stick the top of the tree - tape and wire in the vice.
Put the other end - tape and wire - in the drill chuck.
Spin the drill - pump it in little on-off bursts - the tree will start to form in the classic bottle-brush style - the tape helps form the trunk and the broom hairs will bunch up.
Get it nice and tight without snapping the wire.
Remove from the vice and drill - and trim odd bits with scissors.
Now - it'll look a bit disappointing and spindly - but this is where the magic happens.
Spray the down the trunk black. Then go over lightly with the red.
Take the poly fibre - which is like green candy floss - and put a small amount of it onto the tree branches - you don't need very much. This will bulk up the tree.
Spray the whole thing with spray glue.
Dust on loads of the flock - I used a couple of packets in a washing up bowl.
Shake it off - and you have a tree.
As a finishing touch - I like to hold the tree upside down - and lightly spray the underside of the tree with the red oxide.
With practice you can make a tree in about 10 minutes.
Now - because I always cover my game boards in expanded polystyrene - I simply stab the trees into my game board to get them to stand up.
In the pictures you can see quite a few smaller, lighter colour trees which are a guagemaster product.
(www.gaugemaster.co.uk - do a search for seafoam).
The guagemaster trees are great, if a little pricey - but they are based on a natural product (seafoam) and are very delicate indeed - not really suitable for gaming or transporting - but good for photos.
The fallen leaves you see on the ground are a natural product from Antenociti (link on the Ebob Miniatures home page) called 'leaf litter'. Comes in 3 flavors - I don't like the dark green, but brown and light green are great.
The rocks sticking out of the ground are slate - painted and highlighted. the grass itself is simply a grass mat stuck down and spray painted darker in patches.
The taller, darker trees are my own creation - and are fine for gaming purposes.
Making Trees:
I didn't take any pictures on the making of them (I made about 70 trees over 3 days).
I shall have to describe the process. It takes a bit of practice - I wasted the first 3 or 4 - before I made a good one.
You will need:
Some stiff wire
Some masking tape - use the standard half inch wide stuff - not the super wide one.
Some natural/coconut broom hairs (you can obtain them in bundles from a craft shop).
Some spray glue (photo mount)
Some spray paint (car paint, Matt black and red primer)
Some poly fibre (woodland scenics product)
Some flock - I think I used what they call 'rough turf' - dark green.
You'll need a drill and a vice and cup of coffee.
Quite a lot of stuff - but once you've got all that you can make as many trees as you have time on your hands.
OK - you need at least 2 lengths of wire - if the wire isn't very stiff you may find you need 3 or lengths.
Wire needs to be about 12" long.
Get a length of masking tape - a bit longer than the wire - put it down sticky side up and put the wire down on it. Now you spread some broom hairs the length of your tree - obviously at right angles to the wire - leave 2" blank at the bottom for the trunk - and put some half length ones at the top half so the tree gets narrower at the top. Put plenty of hairs in.
Now more tape down over the top.
Stick the top of the tree - tape and wire in the vice.
Put the other end - tape and wire - in the drill chuck.
Spin the drill - pump it in little on-off bursts - the tree will start to form in the classic bottle-brush style - the tape helps form the trunk and the broom hairs will bunch up.
Get it nice and tight without snapping the wire.
Remove from the vice and drill - and trim odd bits with scissors.
Now - it'll look a bit disappointing and spindly - but this is where the magic happens.
Spray the down the trunk black. Then go over lightly with the red.
Take the poly fibre - which is like green candy floss - and put a small amount of it onto the tree branches - you don't need very much. This will bulk up the tree.
Spray the whole thing with spray glue.
Dust on loads of the flock - I used a couple of packets in a washing up bowl.
Shake it off - and you have a tree.
As a finishing touch - I like to hold the tree upside down - and lightly spray the underside of the tree with the red oxide.
With practice you can make a tree in about 10 minutes.
Now - because I always cover my game boards in expanded polystyrene - I simply stab the trees into my game board to get them to stand up.