Well hello there dearest guys. Being away from this section for some time and preparing my next dio , i decided to check and run some different techniques for making a big tree.

The tree i finished just yesterday is 15 inches high and about 8 inches wide .








I used mixed techniques and i dont know if my way was always "orthodox" buy i finally ended to what i had in my mind.
The lighting is not as good as i need to shoot , but ...from next week 2 new lights will be installed and i ll be in better condition shooting .

I also had some step by step pictures of the making but the memory card of my digi camera died with the pictures in it ..so i lost them all...but i ll be happy to explain anything u might like to know about it.

The time i needed for that was 3 evenings with 3 hours work every evening

Costas
I hope u like it

I am one who loves to look at trees on dioramas. And this is one impressive tree. What kind of foliage did you use. Is this something natural or is it bought from a store?
Looks superb.
Mary (++)

fantastic my friend. I really wish I had some of your talent when it comes to doing this type of work.

Looks greta Costas, keep the new pieces coming mate!
cheers

That is one good looking tree. The bark is absolutly awesome.
Is there anything I would like to know about the making of this, well yes, EVERYTHING.

Hello Costas, How we doing these day. Great. The tree is fantastic. It's nice to see your back at the modeling table. Is this going into anything special? and how many more are planned

fantastic work brother. i think it is time for you to write a SBS article on making trees or other foliage for dioramas. very good to see you are back in action

that is a really excellent tree, you really should write a feature article on how you did it, especially the trunk of the tree, the texture is superb.

Well this one is the only tree that will be planted for the specific dio . But i am experimenting with other kinds of trees also , as i have done with pine trees in the past .

The basic make up of it its like that .

1) u decide the height and get a thick balsa dowelalmost the size u need the final tree

2) u get thinner balsa sticks (cylindrical always ) in smaller diameters of the main trunk and cut them in different lengths .

3) u glue with CA glue and pin(with paper cliper pieces) the same time the branches on the main trunk in different angles. adding the thicker ones lower and the thinner upper

4) because the balsa branches will end some stiff straight and a bit thick, drill them to the end if u want and insert some thick wire parts twisted in different and random angles .

5) on the upper body of the tree, use some branches made of 4-7 pieces of twisted wire that will split half and half as the go to the end and give u 2 or possibly more open ends .

6.)After basic armature of the tree with balsa and wire branches is ok add 3-4 trianle shaped pieces of balsa on the base of the tree to shape the feet of it , as u can see it on my pictures.

After all this is finished u have to decide with what u will do the coverage of the armature. Some kind of modelling clay as epoxy putty can be expensive enough for all this to cover.

I used DAS white modelling clay . I t hardens slow with air and that is letting u to do many many modeifications for more than a days time

7) U start covering the treee surrounding the trunk from down to upwards . Keep trying to have a thinner formation as u go upon the trunk and the branches also .

8)After all tree is covered good and u re satisfied with thickness and shape u let 4-5 hours the clay to get a bit more steady density. Then u start carving the bark with a fresh x acto bladeu have to observe some real tree pictures to get an impression of the way that is carved . Then u have to make deep enough lines with the cutter to achieve the impression of the trunk .

When u re done with that u leave it dry for good . 2-3 days to be sure that all clay has discarded the humidity and its ready for paintin

9)i painted a burned umber - black mix as the base one and make it good and thin to run in all trunk's cuts cause these u want to be shown really dark.
after its dry completely u start dry brushing lighter colours . I used some plain broun, some ochre and finally i dry brushed with a light gray mixture. Important to me is that the dry brushing layers do not cover the previous ones completely and there is harmonically mix of the different colours in it .

When is all done. leave it to dry enough.

10) The smaller branches and folliage part is now .
i have found out in the country many small thorny bushes that cun be cut in parts and be used as the smaller branches .

11)u cat them in different sizes and lengths. Then u make a mix of crushed in small pieces of 3 woodland scenics coarse turf in 3 different colours and some lichen in dark green colour u brake it also in small pieces and make a nice blend mix of this

12)u put it in a bowl (make enough of this ) then u spray the small branches with 3m spray mount or anything similiar and u dip the branch inthe bowl rotating it to get covered all around. Dont make it too thick or too transparent.

13)U leave them dry some , then u prepare a mix of kitchen spices, like oregano, mint , parcel, and basilic, that all are dried and crushed .

14)u spray again the branches foliage lighter this time and u sprinkle the mix allover them from above and on the sides so u get some 50 % coverage of the previous foliage step.

Ur branches are ready .

15)u leave them for some hours to dry completely . then u have to drill the thick tree branches and insert the throny smaller branches with foliage in random but logical places using thick CA glue.

16)Rotate and arrange them so u have a nice look of the tree not too symmetric but not thick on one side and empty on the other .

After u finish that , u leave to dry and stabilise the whole build.

17)Then with some brown paint u dry brush the joining points of the branches where attached to the tree.
u also leave t o dry and then 2 light passes with a hairspray to stabilise the whole build. Thats it u re ready. Pin the base of the tree with a thick piece of wire and use it on your dio .

I hope i gave u some help.

Excellent help on this making is the book " Terrain modelling " by Osprey .

Costas

Thats ur Step by Step . When u ask u have it !!!!!!!
If some member of staff likes to do it on some feature i would be happy to see it

Costas

Wow! Costas another "Costas Original" complete with the usual excellent details. The branching is fantastic and very realistic. I reckon the only thing that's going to outshine your tree in your dio will be whatever figures you put in it.

Thank you very much Costas
You have been very helpfull.

Thanks a lot Beachbum , i hope i helped some people after all these hours of reading , imagining, planning, and experimenting .

Happy to present some more soon !!!

Great looking tree.... nice write up also.

Brother,
thats a very good and helpful article. IMO you should add some progress photos and this should be moved to the features section.... now we all are waiting for a pine tree SBS article with lots of photos you know ardennes campaing approaching and we all need pine trees
do you add anything to DAS clay to prevent cracks?
best regards

Thanks for your good words. Unfortunately as i said to the initial post my digi cam burned the memory card and lost the in progress pictures so i dont have any . thats why i tried to explain in detail the build .

I used DAS with nothin else just treated it with some water on my hands and i didnt rushed it to dry , didnt exposed it to high temp left it in room temp to dry normaly . So i hope it doesnt crack !!!! hasnt so far !!!!!!

WOW that tree is awesome!

siti aisyah

Hi Bro, very good treee you have there. It looks real cool and I see you follow good concept to make it. Shows very good results. I only have one word of warning for you. On my first diorama I finished about one year ago my tree also had parsley flakes for the leaves, they looked very good green and I coated them also with hairspray but now the leaves have changed to a yellow-olive color. so maybe a stronger setting solutions should be used like matt varnish or something. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this? Again great work Cheers Kevin

Kevin, herbs will generally turn olive or brownish after a while on prolonged exposure to air. The hairspray may not have been the cause. I use herbs regularly without the hairspray and they will turn brownish after some time. Any matt coat would only delay the inevitable as you can't fight oxidation.

I usually paint most of them but leave some unpainted to get the mottled affect of leaves at different stages of decomposition. In reality, most canopies will be a combo of a darker shade of green (productive leaves), lighter green (new shoots and shaded leaves) and yellow to brownish leaves (decaying leaves). The only exception being conifers (i.e.pines) which are mainly evergreens. Hope that helps.

Thanksa lot Kevin on your warning . I have already used acrylic matt varnish over the hairspray . The reason that i used some intense green material as internal foliage below the parsley and mint flakes was this one , that on the time they turn brownish yellow olive there will be a green layer under them to keep the general colour of the tree. But this is also an experiment for me to see how thgs will go . On my next projects i ll run also different methods of foliage and try maybe some other colour preservation method.

Thanks guys

Good morning brother,
Your big tree and your pine tree are excellent. I hope that the tree I plan to place in my dio will look so realistic as yours. Conserning parcel leaves they indeed turned brownish after some days. I made some little bushes for experemental reasons. I sprayed them with hair spray and within 10 days they became brown. I tried oregano and they are still green. I believe that painting with acrilics is the better way to prevent the changing of the colour.

well IGI i hope your next tree will be as good as u image it will be !!!! Glad to s u back and hope that soon well see some project running

Nice Tree Goose. You got more leaf density that I got so far (Features-Dioramas-"Supertree or Supernuts?").

Next time, I'll substitute air drying clay instead of the epoxy which set up too fast. I found air drying clay shrinks, and if it is wrapped around a stable form like wood. it will crack. In the same feature (above), yo can see my thatched roof that drove me nuts with air-drying clay. I finally had to go to bakable clay with wire screen in it to hold the shape while it baked. What do you think?

Sealhead

Hey-how do you get things done when you had a fire and I didn't and I can't get anything done?