Materials required
Gaugemaster Seafoam tree pack.
Oily paint dye
Tesco/Sainsburys, any Supermarket cheap hair spray
Static grass
Dark green scatter eg. Gaugemaster etc
Polystyrene foam to 'plant' trees whilst spraying
Silver foil made into a 'basin' to stop the scatter from flying everywhere.
This is a subject that causes more frustration than most as realism can be suspect at best.
However we can take comfort from our model railway friends for a very simple cost effective solution that produces results every time.
Firstly purchase a box of seafoam trees from Gaugemaster. Each box will make potentially thirty to forty trees and the scraps can be used for bushes.
Select your trees from the box and after trimming off any of the large leaves place them gently into the polystyrene base in an upright position. The box instructions give extra ideas if you want to model specific types.
Spray the trees with the oily paint dye and allow to dry.
Mix the static grass with the darker scatter to the required shade in the silver foil ' basin'.
Then select a tree and give a generous spray with the hair spray. You can dip the tree in the scatter mix, but I would recommend that you sprinkle the scatter on to the tree for best results.
Then spray again to seal. You can build up layers to taste but I would suggest that less is more here as the seafoam branches look great. If you apply too much scatter you can end up with an ice cream effect, which defeats the effort.
Return the tree to the polystyrene and allow to dry before positioning on your landscape. Remember that trees in woods grow close together so a little internet research will give a you a good idea of how to position your trees for maximum realism.
Happy modelling,
Chris
tackles a pair of lionesses.
