Fun with trees

[Guest]

Hi all Iam in the process of building the components for a diorama and I have to say that I have had a few hours of fun building my own trees. I have only built the frames so far and it is sooo much more enjoyable and satisfying building my own as opposed to trying to buy them at exorbitant costs, I have used the 1.2mm thick garden wire that you can by from Wickes or any garden centre; it comes in rolls of 100m and 200m enough for a few trees especially if you work in smaller scale.


scott

[spanner570]

Any chance of some pictures of the whole build progression, or is it a final reveal? I'm sure the trees will be an excellent job.


You are right about the exorbitant costs of the ready made, false ones - and they don't look too clever anyway.


I must confess to taking the lazy route...I pluck mine ready made from mother nature.


Are you able to make Cosford this year?

[Guest]

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[Guest]

There you go Ron this is where I am up to at the moment


scott

[Guest]

Any chance of some pictures of the whole build progression, or is it a final reveal? I'm sure the trees will be an excellent job.
You are right about the exorbitant costs of the ready made, false ones - and they don't look too clever anyway.


I must confess to taking the lazy route...I pluck mine ready made from mother nature.


Are you able to make Cosford this year?

I am aiming to be there.


scott

[Ian M]

They look ruddy good mate! Are you going to clip the loops at the ends of the roots....


Also I have always wondered, do you just paint them or do you dip them first...I fancy a good at this my self so I am fishing for tips..


Ian M

[Guest]

If you download the free magazines think it is Mig ones that John advised a couple of days ago there is a section some where of making your own trees.


Only gave it a cursory glance as i am not really a diorama expert but it looked very worth while. ops:


Laurie

[spanner570]

There you go Ron this is where I am up to at the moment
scott

Very nice...er, I hope you are producing these at home and not idling your time elsewhere waiting for customers !!

[Guest]

They look ruddy good mate! Are you going to clip the loops at the ends of the roots....
Also I have always wondered, do you just paint them or do you dip them first...I fancy a good at this my self so I am fishing for tips..


Ian M

The loops have been clipped the next stage is covering them in powdered wall filler which is mixed with water then painted on.


scott

[grumpa]

Must admit they do look good , though a bit labor intensive I'd imagine. Just a thought - I have found that if one went out to the garden and grabbed hold of the nastiest looking weed you can find and plucked it out by the root, clipped off the root and gave it a good rinse under the hose you would see the most intricate network of "limbs and branches" suitably trimmed to your purpose in mind with added bits of "foliage" I like HO scale foam "grass" and bits of dried moss from any wooded area to work nicely. Almost totally costless and Mom Nature did most of the work ! Cheers Jim

[Guest]

Must admit they do look good , though a bit labor intensive I'd imagine. Just a thought - I have found that if one went out to the garden and grabbed hold of the nastiest looking weed you can find and plucked it out by the root, clipped off the root and gave it a good rinse under the hose you would see the most intricate network of "limbs and branches" suitably trimmed to your purpose in mind with added bits of "foliage" I like HO scale foam "grass" and bits of dried moss from any wooded area to work nicely. Almost totally costless and Mom Nature did most of the work ! Cheers Jim

I have never done this before today and I did one in about 15-20 min.


Scott

[grumpa]

I have never done this before today and I did one in about 15-20 min.
Scott

Really? Wow, they look like they might have taken much longer, though I may be biasly judging by my progressively arthritic fingers. good eye for shaping also. can't wait to see how you finish them ! maybe this old dog can learn some new tricks ! Cheers Jim

[Guest]

You should give it a try, it really isn't that difficult try it out on smaller trees first till you get the hang of it. The ones in the picture are 1.2mm garden wire, each length of wire was cut at 30in long and there were 18 lengths. When they are folded in half it gives you 36 lengths. This is the book I am using.


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[monica]

they do look good Scott,


the thing that gets me is i do wont to try that,one day,


but its the stating of them ,and how you are twisting the wire to get the branches


do you just start with a trunk that is from think to thin then add in the branches,


all very interesting and will look forward to seeing the progress, ,

[Guest]

they do look good Scott,
the thing that gets me is i do wont to try that,one day,


but its the stating of them ,and how you are twisting the wire to get the branches


do you just start with a trunk that is from think to thin then add in the branches,


all very interesting and will continue ard to seeing the progress, ,

Hi Monica just for you here is the run down, I used 18 strips of wire; each strip is 30 inches long. I folded all 18 strips in half this gives you 36 lengths now, hold the wires at the bend and twist all the strands together making a loop at the bottom to fit 3-4 fingers, this will for the base.


Twist all 36 strands togetheContinue art formingthe trunk; the length depends upon how many twists you make. Divide the base into 3 groups of 6 strands to make 3 loops; twist each loop and bend to right angles, younow have the base. If you want surface roots seperate out indiviual loops and twist then to form roots. Now we continue with making the trunk. continue up with this until you have the length of the trunk; seperate out 8 wires and twist them together till you get the branch length that you want. Now seperate 4 wires and twist them about 1to 1 and a half inches; do the same with the other 4. Now seperate 2 strands and do the same then the other strands 2 at a time,the first branch is complete. Continue with the trunk twist the remaning 28 wires for another 1 inch to 1 and a half inches, then seperate off another 8 wires and reapeat the same process you did to make the first branch. Again twist the remaining 20 wires for a further 1 and a half inches, then seperate out 8 more wires to create another branch. Continue with this until you have no wires left.


scott