Thursday 29 March 2012

Only God can make a tree

As I mentioned before, one of my other hobbies is woodwork, and I occasionaly pick up old Hobbies model and toy plans for my collection (going back,in some cases, to the early 1900s). Among a batch that I received recently was a toy farm, and on the sheet was a silhouette drawing of a tree. A light bulb moment. I shall be needing trees for my battlefields. Accordingly I scanned the design and printed it out at twice size, then fixed it to a piece of spare 1/4 inch poplar I had laying about. It's not just kit bits that go in the spares box!

Then threequarters of an hour with the hand fretsaw, a bit of work on a base,






Apologies for the lighting, but I think it shows the shape nicely. A quick undercoat, a coat of humbrol brown and green, gives us a tree,


The chap under the tree is  Tradition 30mm Stadden figure, (I think it's the Duke of Cumberland) and he will be C-in-C of my Minden British troops eventually.

That, for the next 10 days, is that. Julia is insisting that I now go and help pack the caravan, as tomorrow we are of to the Loire Valley until Easter. If I can get fuel for the journey, that is. Isn't our government wonderful, possibly a tanker drivers strike, so they tell everyone not to panic buy, with the inevitable result of massive quese and garages running out! But I musn't start to rant.

See you in two weeks.

7 comments:

  1. What a lovely tree! I have been starting to ponder the possibilities of flat scenery on small tables. I hadn't considered scratch building them.

    btw I also enjoyed your report on the view from your side of Brian's Big Wars battle. Sounds like a good way to get back into things.

    -Ross

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  2. Thank you for the kind comments.
    Bought trees are too expensive, I wanted something reasonably toy-like but realistic, and overall I should say it took about two hours, spread over a couple of days (waiting for glue and paint to dry). Sometime I will have to make quite a few more.

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  3. I admire your woodworking skills a very nice tree indeed !.

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  4. Nice alternative Joppy! Looks good ... I have a scroll saw so maybe some background flats for my terrain board could become a future project. Thanks for posting ... Jeff

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  5. An utterly glorious tree! Have an excellent holiday and perhaps a chance to plan the next hobby developments...

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  6. What a nice tree. I think you've hit the mark with the "toy/classic' effect. Hand sawn and all, I'm impressed.

    Don

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  7. A very nice piece of work and a unique item for your collection! Have a safe journey and a good holiday.

    Best wishes, Brian

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