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15mm Trees (part one)

Working with smaller-scale vegetation is very similar to their larger-scale cousins, but with a few interesting differences. It’s all about finding or making suitable armatures and applying flock to them. Some items make great armatures just as they are, while others require some assembly. In this first article we will discuss some methods for assembling your frames.

For the bases and tree trunks we will be using a selection of washers and some small plastic coffee stirrers.

For this example, we will use a common plastic plant that can be found in most craft stores. This method will work with a wide variety of plants so don’t worry if you can’t find this exact one.

 

The plant you select should have as many branching sections as possible, and (hopefully) be easy to disassemble.

Pull the plant apart into its individual sections.

When making plants for 28mm scale we would have used the individual pieces just as they are. However, when working in 15mm scale they would just be too big, so they must first be cut down to size. With four quick clips of the scissors we have now made these a suitable size for 15mm trees.

To make a large bush simply cut one of these in half and glue it to a base. To make a small tree use a section mounted on a short trunk. For the larger tree it took five of them mounted on a taller trunk. Depending on what plant you are actually using you may need to modify this somewhat.

To make the larger trees start by punching a few holes in the side of the coffee stirrer.

The stem of the individual fronds are then stuck into the holes. Make sure that you have enough of a stem inside the stir stick for the glue to hold onto it. You don’t want entire sections of the tree falling off as you are trying to glue the flock on.

The fronds attached to the coffee stirrer through the holes in the sides are initially placed without using any glue. Just before placing the final frond in through the hole in the top, glue is squirted in through the top of the stirrer to cement the fronds in place. The next step is to paint them and add the flock, but that is the subject for the next article.

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