Forest update

Slow but steady progress on the forest front, the top picture shows two of the CD size bases I'm using for my sedum tree stands, made from foam board on CD's with holes cut in for the trees to slot into. The base on the left has had filler and PVA and sand added to smooth out the contours of the foam board.

The other three pictures show progress with the mod-rock base which fits over the top of the soft hill. I hot glued the twigs into position for tree trunks and then small pebbles and rocks to create the look of broken ground. The first picture shows the expanded polystyrene in position to create the tops of the trees, this will be covered with green sponge flock. I've undercoated it with black acrylic paint to make any gaps in the flock less visible.

I had a good trip to the WMMS show at Alumwell last weekend, picked up some pre-ordered kit from pendraken (FIW & WW1), splashed some cash with Mr Pig as usual, four Zevezda models for £2.50p each, 3 Russian trucks which will stand in as Japanese for my Pacific set up, and a PzII, and some bargains on the book front. Most amusing sight, chap with a small bag of sand and gravel. Lots of great demonstration games to look at, a great WW1 trench set up and lots of others.

TTFN

Airhead

Free trees 3

Good progress on the sedum trees, I've started to make the 3 CD size bases the trees will go on. 4-5 of the Sedum trees per base with some smaller trees and shrubs as well. The bases are made from foam core board with sand PVA and small stones, I'm trying to make the bases terrain features in their own rights with the ground work consisting of small hills and gullies on the bases. I'm trying to re-create the type of terrain that I remember from watching the Last of The Mohicans film. Lots of running up and down terrain as I remember it?

The trees have now been spray painted with grey matt primer spray and the tops with matt black, this all helps to make the sedum's more robust. Then they have been dry brushed on the tops with a combination of green acrylic paints.The thing that makes the most impact regarding durability is the combination of PVA and sand applied to the branches of the stem, I have done this up to 3 times over the same parts to increase the strength of the branches. They will never be the most robust of terrain items but with sensible handling they should have a reasonable life span on the table top.

The top picture shows how the top leafy part of the trees look after the PVA and sawdust has been applied and spray painted.

Right of to pre-order some 10mm Indians and Rogers ranger from Pendraken to pick up at the WMMS show on Sunday.

All the best

Airhead

Trees for free!

A great idea I came across about 3 years ago on the Gentlemen's Wargames Parlour forum. Posted by a member going under the name of "jaeger". Trees made from a plant named Sedum Telephium. Which we have growing on the estate. This year I finally got around to harvesting the dead sedums before the weather totally trashed them. Just got to them before the snow arrived, I did keep the link to the post on GWP but the pictures have gone, with just the dreaded photo bucket icon in their place.

The harvest has been gathered in and is currently in storage drying out. The very rough outline of the technique involves using 2-3 stems glued together, or in my version bound together with masking tape and covered in PVA and sand. I think I'll then spray them with a water and PVA mixture all over to strengthen them some more, and then I'll experiment with saw dust and PVA past applied to the seed pods at the top to create the leaf cover of the trees.

These trees will be a key part of my French India Wars skirmish project in 10mm scale, and the idea is to produce a board with lots of tree cover, the sedum trees being the biggest, but also involving some pine trees based on this great tutorial from the invaluable Matakishi's Tea House. One of the best gaming resources out there. Finally a big thanks to Jaeger for posting the original idea.

More trees

Trees for my 10/15mm DBA armies with a Mediterranean feel to them, green pan scrubber was used, pushed onto cocktail sticks then hot glued onto 1/2p coins for bases. Sprayed mat black before painting. Based on an original idea from Steve Deans forum.