If you go down to the woods today …
I’ve been upgrading my wargames trees, to add to my existing rather shonky stock of greenery.
My old homemade trees can be seen in the background of the photo below, the new ones in various stages of basing at the front.
I bought these trees off eBay from China, at ridiculously low prices. Even the shipping from China to New Zealand cost less than if I were to post a standard letter to the next city. How this company makes money, I don’t know – but I’m not complaining!
These trees come without bases, so I bought some large square metal washers, and with liberal use of hot glue, liquid nails, and my usual sand-and-PVA-glue mix, they seem to have attached well. I also added some sprigs of plastic Christmas decorative bracken to some of the bases.
Whilst most of these trees came in perfectly OK shades of green, there were a few that were a little bit too vivid for my taste. But with some dark green clothes dye, it was a simple and satisfying process to fix them.
Some of the trees are conifers, as in the above picture. Others (as seen in the pictures further up this page) are deciduous tree.
As you can see, all in all they make a perfectly idyllic grove for my 18th century couples to frolic together!
Here’s the eBay page page where I found these trees. I bought mine from several of the dealers listed, but they are much the same. You can scroll down each listing to find the details of size – they range quite a bit in height, so you need to select ones that’ll suit your scale.
They really do look excellent, I shall have to investigate further..
Thanks. They are certainly worth a look …
your trees look wonderful. The leaves so real… together with the figurines remind me 18th centuty paintings
I must admit I was pleased how those pics turned out, too. I just shot them on our old iPad.
Looking good, would you mind sharing the link to the retailer of the trees?
Hi Doug – I’ve added the link to the bottom of the article.
Tree look great. Also Aliexpress (http://www.aliexpress.com) has a lot of model trees on it site, many very cheap and post free. The ones on your Ebay link look similar to ones I have seen on Aliexpress. I have used poker chips (‘$2’ Shop) for the bases and an spray of Hair Spray to keep the green flock from falling off.
Thanks – I wasn’t aware of the Aliexpress ones – I’ll have to take a look.I might also try the hairspray idea!
Your new trees look great, Roly. The presentation of your games is always superb.
Thanks for that, Vince. I do try!
Hi Arteis ,
Nice trees .
I was going to make some trees for my Battle of Crete Diorama –
using small pieces of Hydrangea flower heads- dried – out -with the flower petals removed – then have dyed /painted bits of sponge [blitzed in an old blender – acquired from my wife ] – I wanted to make olive trees -but what is small enough to represent olives in 1/72nd scale . Any ideas ?
Also could you give us /me … the email address /website for the Chinese trees please . Sounds very promising .
My email address is :- papafam@xtra.co.nz [Would you kindly send me a personal reply -plus put on your blog -the email/web-site/link for the trees please] .
Thank you.
Nick Papadopoulos.
Here’s the eBay page page where I found these trees. I bought mine from several of the dealers listed, but they are much the same. You can scroll down each listing to find the details of size – they range quite a bit in height, so you need to select ones that’ll suit your scale. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xmodel+trees.TRS0&_nkw=model+trees&_sacat=0
Wonderful job Roly, I have some that are awaiting my attention this summer, they are really hard to fault given the cost.
I agree about the cost. And once you have a system of basing sorted, they are quick to get ready and look great.
Hi Roly. I have seen these but was never quite sure of them. This may convince me – and way cheaper than the Woodland Scenics trees that I have in various stages of construction – or is that growth.
Yep, definitely easier than the Woodland Scenics, even with the issue of having to base them. And at that price, who can resist …
I can just never quite figure out the size of what I might be ordering. Just my luck I will get a bag of trees suitable for 10mm troops.
Try adding 1:50 or 1/50 to your model tree search on ebay, that way you are more likely to get the big uns.
You do have to watch for that. I look for the biggest trees. The size is usually indicated on the listing (you normally have to scroll down to get the product details).