If you go down to the woods today... pt. II

With the latest expansion of my Hex terrain should have come an increase in the number of trees... While I have been adding a lot of trees as fixed features to built-up Hexes I hadn't gotten around to making more trees to go on separate bases.

Being able to add, move and remove trees (both single and clustered) to the Hex terrain adds a lot to the flexibility of the set. The trees can be used to provide cover, break up lines of sight and further enhance the landscape...

Due to a peak in work related activity (and sadly there's no end in sight) I don't have a lot of time to spend on the hobby. What little time I did have was used to make a new set of trees and bases. Quite relaxing, as this task doesn't require anything remotely difficult...

Below is a step-by-step guide to show how I make my trees...

Step 1: cut the wire to length...
For a standard tree I use four pieces, roughly 10cm each... For a typical tree
I use four pieces of wire, smaller trees are usually made with just three pieces...

Step 2: using a pair of pliers, grip the pieces of wire in the middle...
Tightle twist to form the trunk of the tree...

Step 3: at irregular intervals, bend two wires to branch off...

Step 4: twist the wires into branches...
Cut the ends of the branches to length...

Step 5: bend the little loop at the bottom to form the roots/base of the tree...
These particular trees will get bases. The trees that get fixed on the Hexes
 will have their bottoms tightly twisted as they will be pinned in the styrofoam...

Step 6: base... After priming the trees, the base will painted with some textured paint...

This rather easy technique enables me make a tree in a matter of minutes. Apart from a sprayed-on basecoat and a drybrush the trees receive no treatment at all...

The picture above shows the results of an evenings worth of cutting and twisting... I am going to need a lot more bases. Most of these will be based as cluster, but a fair number will be based on their own...