Building an AWESOME Tree

​Trees are a vital part to building a realistic diorama and there are good trees but there are also bad trees! Let’s focus on making the good trees!

This tree is a small clip from an upcoming diorama of a countryside scene with a train passing by. There will be a number of these trees that will populate the front of the diorama.

​In the video above has been condensed down from approximately 1 hour of building into just under 1 minute, a tree like this on average will take approximately 20 to 30 minutes to build. The only reason it took over a hour in the video was so that I could film the stop motion sequence at the same time.

Below is another shorter video showing the tree at each stage.

​There are a couple of techniques used on this tree:
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1. I use a natural branch structure, I’m using dried salt bush in this example but any small branch with a good texture will work, sagebrush is another example of a good fine branch structure with nice texture.
   
   
2. I select an appropriate trunk, it doesn’t matter if it has no small off shoots as we will add those in the next step.
   
   
3. To add smaller branches I select twigs with a fine natural looking structure that will simulate a branch in a larger scale. I use twigs from the same material (Dried Salt Bush) and trim them to an appropriate size, to attach them to the trunk I use super glue gel and baking soda.
   
   The superglue gel holds its shape and doesn’t immediately soak into the twigs, with a small blob of gel on the end of the twig I hold it up against the trunk and then sprinkle a small amount of baking soda over the glue. This acts as an activator for the glue and causes it to set almost immediately.
   
   
4. Next with all the main branch structure complete I attach small pieces of sea foam to the ends of the branches using the same method with super glue gel and baking soda.
   
   
   
5. To blend the colors I spray the sea foam portions with a light beige/grey color until they blend in seamlessly with the rest for the branches and trunk.
   
   
6. To apply the foliage I first spray the canopy with spray adhesive and the sparingly apply the Woodland Scenics medium green course turf. Depending on your desired coverage you may need to repeat this step a couple of times.
   
   
7. To add the leaf texture I use Noch medium green leaves applied in the same manner as the course turf.
   
   
8. Finally to seal it in place and help remove the tackiness from the spray adhesive I go over the entire tree with Matte Varnish.

 
This style of tree is quite time consuming but the end result is fantastic, having a few of these trees at the front of the layout where they will be seen more readily is ideal and you can fill up the background with cheaper less time consuming trees.