"Making conifer trees in 28mm - quick and cheap" Topic

I thought I would share how I created a whole forest's worth of conifer trees for my winter gaming table. Making the trees was quite a simple terrain project and also really cost-effective way of filling out lots of the table with great terrain.

link

I've also created some other blogs describing the build of the gaming table. I hope you enjoy!

Pretty neat!

Excellent tutorial
Now… deciduous Trees!

Dragon6- +4

Great idea and tutorial!

Would you consider exporting some gutter brush…? Prices here in Canada are the equivalent of 10 GBP per metre, unlike your local price of 3 GBP per metre!

Great tutorial – just ordered some "Gutter Brush". Simple but realistic – well done.

Kind of reminds me of the GHQ tree making kit. They make palm trees and others from chenille.
Unfortunately, the hedgehog stuff isn't available in the US and the UK seller won't ship to the US. (sigh)
US Amazon only has metal gutter brush.

Nice project – thanks for sharing. I have always said – there has to be a gaming application to lots of stuff I buy.

Unfortunately, the hedgehog stuff isn't available in the US… US Amazon only has metal gutter brush.

I found gutter brush on Amazon in the US.

link

From the manufacturers website –

"Constructed from durable UV protected polypropylene bristles and a heavy-gauge galvanized steel wire core."

Definitely going to give this a try.

nice tutorial

Ah, it looked like metal bristles. However, at 59 dollars for 4 feet, I think that hobby shop trees may be cheaper…
thanks, I really wanted to try this.

However, at 59 dollars for 4 feet, I think that hobby shop trees may be cheaper…

Check again. That link was for 12 feet, and that was with just the first 10 seconds of searching.

I've since seen it for even less than that per foot.

Home Depot has it listed. just go to their site and enter Gutter Brush. They have 3 or 4 sizes in a couple lengths

Very cool!

Please forgive my slowness. Yes, that was for 12 feet. I tried to convert to yards and missed.
Home Depot has Guardian Fall Protection 4-1/4 in. x 12 ft. Standard Gutter Brush Model# 5IN12FT (12) for $43.63 USD. That would be $1.82 USD per 6 inches. Plus you have to get flock and glue and stuff.
Woodland Scenics has TR1581 – Conifer Colors – 24/pkg – 4" – 6" (10.1 cm – 15.2 cm) – $35.99 USD or $1.50 USD each and these are already made.
I'm just not seeing the advantage here. And please understand, I really like this idea. But if cost is the issue, then I'm just not there.
thanks.

I found this with a quick search on Amazon.com (rather than co.uk): link

It appears to be priced reasonably at ~$25 for 6 feet.

It depends on the look you want. In real life, trees are often huge. As gamers we want to scale things down a bit so 4 to 6 inch trees work to represent trees in a 28mm game, but to get closer to scale we need really big trees. Some of the trees Parttimegamer made were 12 inches tall. Pre-made trees of that size get pretty expensive so Parttimegamer's tutorial is perfect for those of us who prefer the larger trees on the board but don't want spend $15 USD+ per tree.

The advantage is the size of them.

Trees are usually at least 3X as tall as they are in diameter, and as mention, 12" tall trees are very, very costly.

It's almost twice that price from amazon.ca !

link

I have added a few more photos to my blog showing the scale of store-bought trees versus home-made:

I think that Rdfraf described it best: for me, it's about being able to put lots of trees of varying sizes onto the gaming table…at a reasonable cost.

If you're the other side of the Atlantic, then it looks like Amazon.ca is your best source of the gutter brush. ;-)