Scratchbuilt birch trees

[daviis]

Hi!

I have not posted for a while on the forums, but I'm back now

I thought, I'd share my scratchbuilt birch trees and the build process. Any helpful comments are welcome.

[daviis]

Start with a few twigs:



and a bag of seafoam:

[daviis]

Then spray painted them white and added the black bark pattern with a black pen.
Then I drilled small holes in the trunk and glued the seafoam on it:

[daviis]

The whole tree was spray painted brown:

[daviis]

And finally spray glued and noch leaves sprinkled on it:

[daviis]

I also made a video of the build process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wk5TTWvyGY

[Lofty]

Very good, I enjoy seeing how others tackle various subjects within the hobby.

[Phred]

Beautiful work. Enjoyed the video too.

[ChrisGreaves]

Start with a few twigs:

and make things of great beauty!
I used to say that the toughest job in the world was (stage) set construction, making trees out of wood, but I have revised my thoughts.

One question: You sprayed the trunks white (and I thought they looked just great as winter-time trees at that point), but then painted everything brown. Did you mask the trunks, or did you decide "the heck with it; all brown"?
Thanks for making me feel inferior
Cheers, Chris

[captrees]

Very good work.

I've never heard of seafoam trees before, so I checked and see I can get on ebay via Spain. Postage to Aus would kill that, methinks. But I have found inspiration on local beaches with various seaweeds and grasses. Most of these are too fragile when dried out, but using a latex spray paint helps.

[daviis]

You can grow them easily from seeds, that's what I will do this season.
If I manage to do it, I will definitely send you some

[daviis]

Start with a few twigs:

and make things of great beauty!
I used to say that the toughest job in the world was (stage) set construction, making trees out of wood, but I have revised my thoughts.

One question: You sprayed the trunks white (and I thought they looked just great as winter-time trees at that point), but then painted everything brown. Did you mask the trunks, or did you decide "the heck with it; all brown"?
Thanks for making me feel inferior
Cheers, Chris

I was just very careful and sprayed from the inside towards the outside.
In a few places I just repainted the trunk manually white again.
I find it easier to re-paint it white later, but next time i will paint the seafoam brown first

[daviis]

Start with a few twigs:

and make things of great beauty!
I used to say that the toughest job in the world was (stage) set construction, making trees out of wood, but I have revised my thoughts.

My next two trees (still in construction) are also made from a large trunk (from a bush) and drilling holes, adding smaller
bush branches and then the seafoam.
If you want, I can show you some photos of the finished trees, maybe after the weekend

[ChrisGreaves]

If you want, I can show you some photos of the finished trees, maybe after the weekend

Rather not (HUGE grin).

I imagine that the next trees and images will be even more impressive, and I'm still recovering at my depressive two years assembling a PUG 0-4-0!

As a teenager I made trees from twigs of a fig-tree in our yard in Perth. From (fading) memory they were quite good. At any rate, not bad for a teenager.

You are using a micro-drill, a hobby drill for drilling are you?
Cheers, Chris

[daviis]

I use a hand mini-drill or a precision knife if i misplace the drill