Tutorial: How to make low budget cypresses out of firs

Hello,

I decided to post a tutorial, which I made three years ago already in the Sweetwater forum. I wanted to build some Mediterranean vegetation, so I get some scenery which ist suitable for my ancient Greeks and Macedonians. The problem was, that all the vegetation was very expensive, because it's seldomly used on railroads. So, I had to improvise. Luckily, I was inspired by this great table. I found some old trees und began to realise, that firs could look like cypresses, if you change them a bit...

1. First of all, I studied the Wikipedia article about Mediterranean vegetation. Then, I asked Google how a cypress really looks like (you see, always check the basisc before building).

2. Get the raw material: cheap railroad trees - we only need the firs. The tool:  simple scissors (this is a very cheap one).

 

3. I cut the lower branches, to get a crude round form, which is typical for cypresses. I work from bottom to top and hold the scissors crosswise to the tree, beacuse it's easier than lengthwise.

The first result.

4. Now I go on in cutting the upper part, because a cypress is thinner there than a fir. Now the main form of the tree is defined.

Main form, still a bit crude and awry.

5. The finishing steps. The tree gets the final form. Cut the areas where to much material is left, rework the lower curves to make them smoother. In the end you should bend the bole of the tree straight, as it is made out of wire which can deform during the work.

6. If you want to, you can paint the trunk. Now all you need to do is base the tree und you are finished.

It's been a while...

Hi there,

it's been a while since my last post. Many bloggers may know my problem: I finished some smaller stuff and forgot to make pictures. I could complete my Panzer IV, an Autoblinda 41, Panzer II and two crewmen for some Sd.Kfz. 251/1. I also re-painted my table, thanks to Björn again, who offered years of experience in scenery-making. It looks much better now, but that also means that I have to repaint my whole scenery too...

I also bought new models - reenforcements for my Red Army, which suffered a heavy defeat from German Panzers sunday (the pictures I made are bad, so I leave them out), an Italian vehicle, some tents and animals. And a hot-melt gun, a very useful tool. I'll hopefully find some more time in the next weeks to show my new models to you!

Russians, Italians, animals and some tents... much work to do. Again. Damn.

 

On the workbench: a Tiger and two Opel Blitz; the Pz. IV and the two Sd.Kfz. 251/1 are finished.

In the end another important purchase: a tripod! This is particular good for all of us, because now I can (hopefully) take much better pictures. That will also mean, that I'll begin to present my models to you. The first will be my Panzers.