Palm trees - Step by step guide. - Aircraft of World War II

muller · 02-11-2009, 04:02 PM

As promised, here's my guide to scratch building a palm tree for a PTO diorama.

Sorry about the quality of the pics, but you'll get the idea!

What you'll need : Wire to base the trunk on, coathanger wire is perfect. Masking tape. PVA glue. CA (super glue) Some newspaper. Fake plant leaves. Suitable colour paints.

1. Cut the coathanger wire to the length of trunk you want. These two are about 9 inches long. (So for a 1/48 scale dio, this tree will be 36 feet high!)

Two wires twisted together.

2. Tape the wires together.

3. Wrap the taped wires in masking tape till it gets to the required thickness you want, make it thicker near the base of the trunk.

4. Get a length of masking tape and twist it to make a long skinny strand of tape with the sticky side out.

5. Wrap this around the trunk in a loose spiral.

6. Wrap another strip of masking tape around the whole trunk, pressing it down between the spiralled tape.

7. Tear some newspaper into thin strips (about an inch across). And run some PVA glue along the length of the strip.

8. Wrap the glued newspaper strips around the trunk, a fair bit of glue is required here, press it down between the spirals.

Now here's something I discovered by accident. As the glue dries, the glue soaked newspaper starts to come away on your fingers, it gives the trunk a rough realistic look and texture.

9. Prime the trunk, I used a grey rattle-can.

10. Paint the whole trunk with a light brown/grey colour.

11. Dry brush the whole thing with a light sandy colour.

12. Dab a dark brown colour on in places with a piece of sponge. (Or dry brush this if you like)

13. Now for the leaves, I bought these fake plant leaves at my local hardware store.

14. The leaves I bought were too big, so I cut them in half and trimmed them into a palm leaf shape, then cut the fronds into the leaf with a blade.

15. Stick about 5 or 6 of the leaves together with superglue.

16. Then stick these to the top of the trunk, and add the additional leaves on top of these. There are about 25 individual leaves on this tree.

Thats it! As I said, not very difficult! This method could quite easily be used for other scales too.

Catch22 · 02-11-2009, 04:07 PM

Thanks Muller!

Airframes · 02-11-2009, 05:01 PM

Great work M! It's a simple guide, well explained and illustrated, and a straightforward method. Thanks mate!

Heinz · 02-11-2009, 09:27 PM

Great stuff mate thanks!

Lucky13 · 02-11-2009, 11:39 PM

Great stuff Muller!

Wildcat · 02-12-2009, 12:41 AM

Excellent Muller! Now your next task is to replicate a diorama of one of these scenes!

rochie · 02-12-2009, 02:23 AM

great stuff Muller

Wayne Little · 02-12-2009, 05:33 AM

Nice work...well done muller!

109ROAMING · 02-12-2009, 05:47 AM

Great Stuff mate!

Nice shots Andy!

Wurger · 02-12-2009, 05:51 AM

With all here.

muller · 02-12-2009, 10:13 AM

Thanks fellas, now i want to see loads of palm trees in the PTO GB.

Nice shots Andy, it'd give me a good excuse to build another P-40

Airframes · 02-12-2009, 11:19 AM

Yeah, but you might have trouble replicating the knock-knees of the guy in the middle on that first pic!

02-11-2009, 04:02 PM	#1
muller Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: The Emerald Isle Posts: 1,501	Palm trees - Step by step guide. As promised, here's my guide to scratch building a palm tree for a PTO diorama. Sorry about the quality of the pics, but you'll get the idea! What you'll need : Wire to base the trunk on, coathanger wire is perfect. Masking tape. PVA glue. CA (super glue) Some newspaper. Fake plant leaves. Suitable colour paints. 1. Cut the coathanger wire to the length of trunk you want. These two are about 9 inches long. (So for a 1/48 scale dio, this tree will be 36 feet high!) Two wires twisted together. 2. Tape the wires together. 3. Wrap the taped wires in masking tape till it gets to the required thickness you want, make it thicker near the base of the trunk. 4. Get a length of masking tape and twist it to make a long skinny strand of tape with the sticky side out. 5. Wrap this around the trunk in a loose spiral. 6. Wrap another strip of masking tape around the whole trunk, pressing it down between the spiralled tape. 7. Tear some newspaper into thin strips (about an inch across). And run some PVA glue along the length of the strip. 8. Wrap the glued newspaper strips around the trunk, a fair bit of glue is required here, press it down between the spirals. Now here's something I discovered by accident. As the glue dries, the glue soaked newspaper starts to come away on your fingers, it gives the trunk a rough realistic look and texture. 9. Prime the trunk, I used a grey rattle-can. 10. Paint the whole trunk with a light brown/grey colour. 11. Dry brush the whole thing with a light sandy colour. 12. Dab a dark brown colour on in places with a piece of sponge. (Or dry brush this if you like) 13. Now for the leaves, I bought these fake plant leaves at my local hardware store. 14. The leaves I bought were too big, so I cut them in half and trimmed them into a palm leaf shape, then cut the fronds into the leaf with a blade. 15. Stick about 5 or 6 of the leaves together with superglue. 16. Then stick these to the top of the trunk, and add the additional leaves on top of these. There are about 25 individual leaves on this tree. Thats it! As I said, not very difficult! This method could quite easily be used for other scales too. __________________

02-11-2009, 04:07 PM	#2
Catch22 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Posts: 4,631	Thanks Muller! __________________

02-11-2009, 05:01 PM	#3
Airframes Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 11,529	Great work M! It's a simple guide, well explained and illustrated, and a straightforward method. Thanks mate! __________________

02-11-2009, 09:27 PM	#4
Heinz Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Victoria Posts: 7,678	Great stuff mate thanks! __________________

02-11-2009, 11:39 PM	#5
Lucky13 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: A Swede living in Glasgow, Scotland Posts: 17,331	Great stuff Muller! __________________ JAN "Felicis Tredecim" "I´m going back to the front to relax" "THE BLACK CATS FLIES TONIGHT" "Find your enemy and shoot him down - everything else is unimportant!" "When you're out of F-8's... You're out of fighters!"

02-12-2009, 02:23 AM	#7
rochie Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: billingham nr middlesbrough uk Posts: 3,629	great stuff Muller __________________

02-12-2009, 05:33 AM	#8
Wayne Little Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Adelaide Sth. Aust. Posts: 14,786	Nice work...well done muller! __________________

02-12-2009, 05:47 AM	#9
109ROAMING Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: New Zealand Posts: 5,869	Great Stuff mate! Nice shots Andy! __________________ RIP Wigram AFB 1916-1995-2009

02-12-2009, 05:51 AM	#10
Wurger Siggy Master Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Poland Posts: 15,980	With all here. __________________

02-12-2009, 10:13 AM	#11
muller Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: The Emerald Isle Posts: 1,501	Thanks fellas, now i want to see loads of palm trees in the PTO GB. Nice shots Andy, it'd give me a good excuse to build another P-40 __________________

02-12-2009, 11:19 AM	#12
Airframes Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 11,529	Yeah, but you might have trouble replicating the knock-knees of the guy in the middle on that first pic! __________________

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