Making a tree for Sweethome

[Jon Grant 4472]

A few folks have asked about how I make my trees for sweethome Alabama, so I thought I'd show the process in photographs. I use the method shown here for adding foliake to trees made from either plastic, metal, or twisted-wire 'skeletons', but the process could be used with actual vegetation, such as the WS 'Forest Canopy'.

I started this tree with a moulded plastic trunk and branches, twisted and shaped from a flat moulding. The first job was to drill out the base of the trunk and fit a length of thick wire, to aid handling and eventually planting into the scenery.




I usually make my trees away from the layout, so I push the tree skeleton into a foam or polystyrene block, so it stands upright while I work on it.




The finer branches are made from WS poly-fibre, teased out as finely as possible (mucky fingers go with the territory).




The Poly-fibre is then fixed to the tree, branch by branch. Sometimes I glue it in place, but if the branches have pointed ends, I often just attach the poly-fibre without gluing - the paint and lacquer will hold it in place.




Continued......


Jon