Monday 7 August 2017

Can't see the wood for the trees!

Hi all

just another quick post from me today (seems to be an awful lot of that at the moment!), real life issues with a poorly daughter is quite rightly bumping the hobby down the priority order.  That said I've managed to get a mini project completed in between hospital visits and lucid moments, mostly as a distraction so it may not be up to scratch but I'll consider it complete for now.

So a few weeks ago I hit the 'net looking for all sorts of cheap terrain items and I came across another eBay post for cheap trees from China.  I'm always a little dubious about scale when it comes to trees, particularly off the interwebs, but these were sooooo cheap I felt like I needed to gamble. Listed as 10cm high and £6.41 for 15 with free P&P and flushed with success from my cherry blossom trees from a similar experiment, I rolled the dice and placed the order.  2 weeks later these arrived......


Marvellous!! a little bit garish in the green but not too shabby at all.  Like my cherry trees they were packed flat and need the branches teased out, this causes the loss of some foliage but that was swept up for use to scatter on the bases.  I won't bore you with the ways and hows I put the trees together, suffice to say I used the same methods as my cherry trees which you can find here.  What I did do however is get my other trees (which incidentally cost me £17 from woodland scenics!) and take them off the cardboard bases that had warped and generally looked a bit naff and add those into the mix.  I also used a few big 100mm round mdf bases for clumps of trees.

mixed in you can barely tell the difference

the original woodland scenics
I also found some animals that I'd got from "Warbases" a while ago and rather than add them to the woods I popped them on 20mm rounds so that they are a bit more versatile.

mr Badger

sly old Mr Fox with Bunny in mouth

not quite so happy Mr Fox

lunch - rabbits

an idyllic woodland scene.....


quite a large coverage!

28mm elf models for scale!

Arineal strolls through the forest with his lady friend...

So that's it a mini project complete.
hope you enjoy
dGG

25 comments:

  1. Mini-projects are always fun imho, and this one has really produced the goods, Andy. Nice woodland scenery and fauna too :-)

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    1. Not too bad a way to spend some down time Simon. ;-)

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  2. Smashing stuff Andy, I see what you mean about the green, but I could live with to be honest, and the price is great! I still use my old "Bottle brush" tree's but should really think about moving up top something a bit more realistic TBH. Hope your Daughter is better soon.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Yup I can live with it too mate, especially mixed in with the older trees. She'll be ok thanks, but she has been poorly

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  3. Absolutely superb, you seem to have the Midas touch when it comes to discovering 'cheap' trees on eBay and then turn them into something rather special.

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    1. I definitely struck gold with this find Michael :-)

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  4. They turned out really well dGG! I hope you daughter is up and on her feet soon.

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    1. They came good mate. She'll be ok, just off her feet at present

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  5. Hope your daughter is feeling better soon, worst thing as a parent watching your child in pain.
    The trees look great, if you want to tone down the foliage add some brown wash in patches not all over, one of the flat brushes is best for applying it

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    1. Too true mate, too true.
      I'll give it a go, thanks for the tip :-)

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  6. Definitely a 'win' with the chance purchase (I sometimes gamble as well, so know the thrill of pulling it off). The animals look great - not that the trees look shabby. Hope everything turns out fine for your household.

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    1. Thanks Roy, yes very glad I managed to win out this time ;-)

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  7. When I've bought trees I've always looked at their height and decided 10cm (or 4") would be the smallest I'd want with 28mms. Yours look great btw and I love the woodland critters too.

    I don't know about you but I was really surprised how quickly all my China orders came through too, not one took more than a fortnight.

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    1. I'm very happy with the service Joe, its marvellous the stuff I've been getting for the price I've been getting it for!

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  8. hope shes` better soon Andy.

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    1. I'm sure she'll be back in her feet in a few days Hils, thank you :-)

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  9. Queue the Monty Python song "I Like Chinese"! Amazing how they do it at the price AND free postage bless 'em. The woodland scene is totally impressive.
    Best wishes for a speedy recovery to your daughter, and I know exactly what it's like having to make frequent hospital visits to a family member - the hobby takes a knock, but it's a pleasant distraction.

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    1. Yes the hobby has definitely been a blessing in taking my mind off waiting for results and stuff. I find it harder when it's a member of my family rather than me....

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  10. It was definitely worth taking the risk in purchasing these, Andy. You certainly scored a bargain with them.

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  11. Hope your daughter gets betters soon dude. Trees are looking great. I must pull my finger out and do my own...at some point lol

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    1. She's making slow progress mate, but it is progress....
      TBH I've had the trees for a couple of weeks and was just procrastinating, but manage to put together and finish the whole lot and the rebasing of the old trees in about an hour not including drying time!

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