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Today I are mostly building trees


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Being a parsimonious pensioner, I would rather my pitiful amount of left-over income went to the Wine Society rather than Woodland Scenics.

So I set to and managed to create the small copse pictured below at the approximate cost of 5p per tree.

 

(all I have to do now is create a layout to plant them in...)

 

If there is any interest, I can do a quick illustrated walk-through.

 

ATB

Shaun.

 

Tutorial added further down the line...

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OK - not too sure if I should post my 'tutorial' here or somewhere else on the forum, so apologies if I'm doing things wrong!

I've rescaled the pics to 800 x 600 to cut down load time.

 

 

 

I start my trees by using heather stalks or twigs gathered during a dog walk - cost nothing and I get the benefit of exercise as well.

 

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quick spray with grey primer from a car-boot rattle can (25p)

 

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Liberally cover the branches of your embroyo trees with a 50/50 mix of PVA and water. (10ml PVA from a half gallon - cost, 10p?)

 

 

Household management recently renewed some pillows - one of the old ones yielded more polyfibre than you could shake a stick at.

I pulled out a small quantity, and teased it out as fine as possible (cost - nothing)

 

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Wrap spiders webs of poly-fibre around your sticky heather branches and put aside to dry.

 

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When they were dry, I lightly sprayed each tree one at a time with green paint from another car-boot rattle can (British racing green, not that it matters) (25p).

While still wet and sticky with the paint, I liberally sprinkled the tree with a load of different types and colours (browns, greens, yellows) of scatter - some are proprietry, most are home made from old sponge, PVA, and acrylic paint all thrown into an unwanted food blender (that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean). I digress.

Shake off the loose scatter, put aside to dry and move on to the next one.

 

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When all the trees are complete, I give them another spraying, this time with Dulux matt varnish from a large aerosol can that I got from the local 99p store (cost...)

before the varnish is dry a sprinkle of brown scatter for dry leaves, or yellow/red for blossom or fruit - choice is yours really.

There you have it. They don't stand up to close scrutiny, but from 3 - 4 foot away they pass muster.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Shaun.

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Your post has come at just the right time as my son and I need to make a large number of trees to 'bulk out' a small wood.

Good point. The OP modestly suggests his products may not bear too much close scrutiny, but as the basis for a patch of woodland, maybe with a few premium trees in the foreground, they are just admirable. The eye will take in the detailed trees and "assume" the rest are the same. Great idea!

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Hi Shaun

 

Thanks for posting the photo of your watermill in the Scalescenes thread; a very natural looking scene. I love the well-worn path to the mill from the far side of the bridge.

 

Since I first saw this thread I've been walking around mainly looking at the ground - I've turned up some nice looking bits of cotoneaster which are safely stashed in the bits box. Now to find an 'old' pillow; hmmm... :secret_mini:

 

Cheers

 

Phil

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