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.

Falling leaves... or not?

Hi there,

today I added static grass to the bases of my trees which I have shown earlier. As gras only would be a bit boring I tried something new. I read the hint to use oregano as dead leaves on the ground and so I tried that on one base. Here's the result (the pictures aren't the best, sorry for that):

So what do you mean: should I add oregano to all bases or should I stay with gras only?

Results of a weekend

I had high ambitions and I soon realized that they were too high to reach them. Let's have a look:

• finish all my wip Wehrmacht vehicles (3 tanks, 2 trucks + 4 tanks and 2 halftracks with minor workload) - only the 4 tanks and 2 halftracks are finished, but the rest is on the way
• finish my Italian Autoblinda 41 (a recon vehicle) - not finished, but almost

A workbench filled with work...

• finish the bases of my trees (that means drybrushing and flocking) - only the flock is missing now, but for a reason: I want to test oregano as leaves on the ground

• start my Ukrainian village - nothing here
• at least prime my Italian infantry - also not yet done
• base the rest of my Wehrmacht infantry - nope
• finish the boxes for my tanks - done! Only some foam is missing, good, that doesn't count as I still have to buy it

Raw material...

...only glue to come...

...some pressure...

...done!

 

Time for a  review. I'm of course a bit disappointed because I only achieved one goal on my list, but there is also something positive. I could push many things on the list much further so it is foreseaable that I can complete them this week. The aims were always in my head while working which motivated me to continue, although I was sometimes halfhearted. As a result, I'm convinced that I accomplished more than I would have without the pressure of my public plan. So, my personal conclusion is that my blog motivated me, but I have to lower my expectations then it comes to plans.

Love and hate - often closely connected

Yesterday, after I wrote my second post here, I returned to my work station to finish my Panzer III (I showed it in my first post). I wanted to try matt varnish on it, so it would be protected from sticky fingers and other things which rub off paint. A friend of mine also used it on his tanks and was satisfied. So I was optimistic and started to apply the varnish. It looked a bit wet even after drying, so I waited a little more. But the wet effect stayed. Now I'm disappointed, because the tank looks darker than before and the dirt I painted lost it's nice dusty look. It's not really a big deal, but if you paint such nice models and they are just the way you wanted them - and than something changes, it can daunt you. In my case it did. 

Before

After

Compared to a similar tank. Note the shiny, wet looking dirt and the slighty darker grey on the left tank

.

So, I decided not to varnish my tanks. Only the decals will get some, so they loose their gloss. My poor Panzer will get some new dirt but not more

But that wasn't all I did. I also finished some markers for Disposables Heroes. Just small stones on a one €-cent coin, painted and varnished. Not much, but necessary for a game and they look good on the table.

Last but not least my trees, or, to be specific, their bases:

I was told to make the bases brighter then I normally do and so i did. I like the result (thanks again Björn!). But that lead me to another decision: I have to pimp my table. 

I built it three years ago and I made a mistake, because I painted it very dark by using a black primer and a dark brown as base colour. I liked it in the beginning and so painted all my scenery bases in the same scheme. Today, I regret my decision, but I was too lazy to change all my stuff. However, I will tackle that in the following months, as I am very optimistic at the moment. I will of course show that project to you!

What I've done today - Trees and thoughts

Back again.

At the end of a day I often ask myself: "what have you done for your hobby today? You had so big plans and still have so many things to do." Today, I worked on some trees which lay for a month in my basement and bought some things. Nothing big.

But it was indeed a good day for me and my hobby, because I did something which keeps the hobby alive just as painting and building does: I met a friend and we talked a lot. We not only made some scenery together, but we shared thoughts (not only about wargaming). That sounds simple and sure, it is. But it's just as important as playing, because I believe that a game is only fun if both parts have the same goal. And that is, for me, to experience a cool scenario, a small story, the thrill about leading inferior forces in a tough situation or to flood the enemy positions with your men - but not to achieve victory. That's also the reason I play historical wargames - the percentage of people sharing my view on how and why to play wargames is much higher than in other areas. Unfortunately there are not so many of 'us' in Kiel. Thats the negative aspect: if you know what you want, you also know what you don't want - and that can result in loosing many potential takers.

Anyway, lets come back to the real stuff. I based many trees today (thanks to Björn), which I bought months ago. I'm pretty shure to finish them until sunday. To make them more durable I always use cheap hair spray, so they loose less flock (and smell like hair instead of glue ;) ).

And some small things. A light bulb (for my work bench), a set of fences (I wanted to buy them since august) and some felt (it will protect my tanks some day).