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Not a Furnace Filter Pine Tree!

23/4/2016

If there was one thing I'd love to be able to buy here in Australia... It would be furnace filter! Some of the best pine trees I've seen modeled have been made with that material. Unfortunately basements and furnaces are few and far between here in Australia, but somehow I knew I'd find a way.

On my quest for a similar product I found myself searching through Bunnings (An Aussie hardware store) and after hours of walking up and down the isles I eventually found myself in the gardening section.
It didn't take long before the gardening mesh caught my attention but then out the corner of my eye I saw this beauty!

'Coconut Fiber Basket Liner'

This stuff is fantastic although it does have its problems, I'll start of with the negative -

It's hard to cut - Due to it being quite thick, it can be difficult to cut initially so you'll probably want to use some heavy duty scissors.
The top surface has a glue that holds the fibers together - The good news is the glue is only on the very to surface and not right through the basket liner, which means the top layer of glue can be peeled away.
The fibers are loose - Once the top layer of glue has been peeled away the rest of the fibers don't have much holding them together especially once you tease them out to become thinner.

That's it really for the negatives, the positives speak for themselves! You can see how good the tree looks in the image.

I'll be making a YouTube tutorial on making this particular tree with these materials but here is a quick breakdown:

Cut the coconut fibers into round circles, starting with the larger circles at approximately 3cm wide and work down to 1cm wide circles. You'll probably need about 9 or 10 circles.
Peel away the top layer of glue and discard, peel the remaining piece into two piece (you should then have two pancake looking pieces of coconut fibers) then tease them out to about double their width whilst maintaining the pancake shape.
Using a skewer, thread the teased out coconut fibers onto the skewer. Start with the larger wider pieces first, leaving about a centimeter between each piece and then work up the skewer until you reach the top where the smallest piece should be placed.

Tip: You might want to first spray glue on the skewer to prevent the coconut pancakes from sliding down the skewer once you pierce them and get them into the right position.
Paint the fibers and skewer your desired color. Black or dark brown usually work the best.
Cover the Coconut fibers in spray glue and sprinkle conifer green course turf over the tree (don't be too concerned about full coverage, 60% or 70% will be OK), shake away the excess then again spray with spray glue and cover the rest of the tree with fine turf weeds (100% coverage).
You can always use the colors you like best, my colors are only a guide.
Using a piece of round balsa wood, carve and shape the trunk then run over the trunk with a wire brush to create a rough bark texture and paint the trunk. I used Rustoleum Satin Espresso (Dark Brown) then dry brushed white over the top.
Bore a small hole in the top of the balsa wood trunk so the skewer can fit in then trim the skewer and press the tree top into the trunk and glue. I added a short piece of wire to the bottom of the trunk so I can press the tree into a foam base and it will stand straight.

Well that's it, This technique has been used many times before however it's usually made using furnace filter. Now the Australian have a shot at making great looking pine trees :)

Stay tuned for the video :)

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Hay bales and Millennium Falcon

14/4/2016

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It's been nearly two weeks since I last made any updates to the website and my YouTube channel, partly due to work but also my daughter came home with a cold which was passed on to my wife a few days later and then found it's way to me!!

You can get an idea from the photo above, I'm just finishing up a new video showing a very simple yet effective way of making realistic looking hay bales. I just finished filming the build process and now it's just a matter of doing the editing.

And while I was feeling unwell I decided to build a model kit I recently purchased. I'm a total novice when it comes to airbrushing and I plan to do some weathering on my $300 locomotives so I took a chance with this Millennium Falcon. It's the new Bandai 144th scale kit from "The Force Awakens", it's actually quite amazing at how much detail this thing has at such a small scale.

It shouldn't be too much longer before the "Hay Bale" video is finalized and posted, it will be quite a short video, it's probably the easiest tutorial I've done so far and for the end result its quite amazing that such a simple method gives such an amazing final product!

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Not a Furnace Filter Pine Tree!

Hay bales and Millennium Falcon

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