"REALISTIC DIY Pine Trees ... With A Twist" Topic

These first two examples might only work for dioramas, and not for wargaming:

YouTube link

But, WHAT IF …

Instead of using preserved natural foliage, one used plastic leaves from ARTIFICIAL asparagus ferns. The kind sold online and at your local craft and floral stores.

A) Has anyone ever given that a try using plastic branches?
B) If so, how did that turn out?

Thoughts?

Dan
PS. Of course, if you don't want to glue on any individual branches at all (natural or plastic), there is always this alternative method:
YouTube link

Interesting!

I had never thought about using the shape of plastic floral stuff for pine trees. But now that you point out the shape of the asparagus ferns, I think that would work very well!

Baranovich

And if you don't like the look of the plastic leaf, I guess you could give them a wash, and then use spray adhesive and sprinkle some green foam flock material over the top side of it. :)

Dan

Yes, I have done it. I works OK with they type of Pine trees that only have a couple of branches on them.

But for those types, I prefer to use balsa dowels and Seafoam branches, which look much more realistic.

I use a hand rasp to whittle the balsa down, which gives a great rough look to the trunks. I throw them into a container filled with water so that they warp. 24 hours does the trick.

I then stain them with a mixture of Iso Alcohol and India ink. Drybrush some gray over that.

I use a push pin to make holes in the trunk and insert Seaafom branches and affix them with super glue.

The drawback to plastic is that it is heavier than Seafoam. Adding spray adhesive and flock only increases the weight. My experience is that the plastic then becomes too heavy to stay affixed to the trunk and the branches fall off in droves. That's why I switched to the lighter Seafoam.

You may have a different experience.

Hmm. Did those seafoam branches fall off or snap all the time, when handled during games?

If they do fall off or break easily, they don't look like they are so cheap that one could keep replacing that often. At least not in my neck of the woods.

I'm trying to figure out how to get some of those same awesome diorama effects but using more rugged gaming-friendly materials.

Da

Hmm … how about another hybrid construction idea?

A) Use a dowel to make the trunk. Taper and score with wire brush.

B) However, instead of drilling holes into the dowel, how about using twisted rings/loops of wire to create groups of branch "stumps", to use for attaching the plastic (or natural preserved) "fronds" to the tree? The exposed wire could be lightly textured with gesso or something else, to make it look like a natural part of the tree.

Thoughts?

Dan

Dan,

As it happens, I have used the first method with plastic branches using dowel and wire brush to score the trunk.
I drilled holes into the trunk to insert the plastic foliage.

I was reasonably pleased with the results.

I have plans to give the second method shown a go in the not too distant future.

Barry

Barry: "I was reasonably pleased with the results."

Reasonably pleased is good, in my book. Almost as good as pleasantly surprised. :)

I'd love to see a picture or two of how they look.

Dan

It actually will depend on what type of dowel that you use.
Balsa is too weak, but Basswood, or a similar hardwood might hold up.
Try using a hardwood dowel.

Rasp it until you start see "bark" appear on it.

Use a power drill to drill holes all the way through the trunk. This is where the branches will go.

Strip the plastic off the fake ferns down to the wire.
Now thread the wire all the way through the hole on the trunk.

You could wrap the excess wire around the trunk and then super glue it or smear wood putty over it.

I think that this might be the way to go for you, CC.
They should be durable and stand up to what you need them for.

Excellent suggestions!

Let me see what I can come up with in the next few days then. Hopefully something worthy of sharing. :)

Thanks

Dan

Keep me posted. I would like to see how that works out.

Thinking about it, you could use real sticks and skip the a couple of steps. I'm not sure what type of sticks are strong enough to take drilling, but someone here will know.