From Tree to tree - making 6mm trees.

From Tree to Tree

Or how to make trees for 6mm and smaller scales from cones from Alder Trees.

First find your tree

Alders like damp conditions so the best place to go looking for them is near lakes streams or rivers.  They are easy to recognise in the winter when they have lost their leaves but still have cones and catkins on the tree.  Alders have both cones and catkins on the same tree which also helps identify them.  As you can see from the photo below they are quite a slim tree rising to a distinct point.

This is what you are looking for, an Alder in winter.

It’s the cones we are after these are best collected after a couple of dry days so that they are not damp.  If you can only find damp ones don’t worry as they dry out easily.  When you collect them, the cones will probably still have some seeds in them.  I find that putting the cones in a plastic bag and banging them against the palm of your hand (do this quite hard or use a harder surface to bang them against) will dislodge most of these.  Don’t worry about damaging the cones they are pretty tough.  Test a couple to see how hard to hit them to dislodge the seeds.

These are the cones as they come from the tree (UK 2p coin and ruler in Cm for scale)

Cut the “stalk” about 1cm below the base of the cone with a sharp craft knife.  You can also trim off a couple of rows of the segments that make up the cone from the base to give the cone a more tree like shape.  So you end up with something like this.

I base mine on UK 1p pieces.  To do this I use Milliput, a blob about 5mm in diameter should be about right to create a flattened dome on top of the coin deep enough to hold the stalk of the cone firmly.  If they come loose a drop of glue in the hole is enough to hold the cone in place.  Set these aside to let the Milliput cure until firm.  I usually leave them overnight.  What you have now should look like this.

Now to add the foliage, I have found that a light foam flock such as Woodland scenic fine turf works well.  Mix some PVA glue with a little water until you get a consistency similar to single cream.  Paint this onto the cone starting at the bottom and working upwards towards the pointy end.  It doesn’t need to be 100% coverage the cones are wood coloured anyway so any you miss will just look like the branches.  Now dunk the cone in the flock and give a good tap to shake the loose flock off.  If you want to make a bigger tree use a chunkier foam such as the course turf or shrub size foam flock, but either don’t water the PVA down or use a stronger glue such as Bostick.  The result should look like these.

So all that is left to do is paint or texture the Miliput base and Bob’s your Uncle.  From a big tree into a teeny-weeny tree!

Objects in Space

Full credit to anyone who spotted this as being the title of an episode of Firefly.  I chose the title as I have been making some contact markers for use in games of Full Thrust so they show the location of an unidentified "Object in Space" when using the hidden movement and sensor rules.  I could have done a better job of the painting but I was doing the target rings free hand on a spherical marker.  I may repaint them to try to get a better result, or then again I may not.

The spheres come courtesy of Guiness. They are the widgets from their draughtflow cans.  These are hollow and hold the gassing agent for creating the draught beer effect. Other draughtflow systems may use different shapes of widget. The Guiness cans themselves are only thin and crush and tear quite easily. First drink the Guiness (or other draughtflow beer of your choice). After gently crushing the centre of the can's cylinderical length they can either be cut with a pair of kitchen scissors or torn open.  Take care doing this as the metal will be very sharp.  I recommend using gardening gloves or similar to protect your hands. 

Roll out the plastic ball and wash to remove traces of beer.  You will find two small indents at or near the "North and South poles".  I drill these out with a Bradawl, rewash them and set them aside to dry, you might need to blow out any moisture from inside the spheres.

I poke a paint brush handle through on of the holes I drilled out and paint the sphere black using a cheap craft acrylic paint.  Slap this on in quite a thick layer using a course bristle brush to create a little bit of surface texture.  Once this is dry I use a dry brush technique, which is the reason for creating that texture in the black paint, and apply a metallic dark purple and dark red random pattern.  This is only a slight effect intended to break up the monotone black colour.  It should make them a little easier to focus on in game.  Of course you could paint them any colour you fancy I just like the illusion of not being totally sure where they are against a black playing surface.  Put these aside to dry.

The stands are created next using a hexagonal base cut from cardboard.  The uprights are furniture fixing dowels available really cheaply from most do it yourself stores.  Glue these to the centre of the card hex. Finally glue a metal washer to the top of the dowel.  I find Bostick glue works well for assembling the bases.  Once the glue has dried paint the whole thing black using the craft paint, no point wasting the good stuff on these as they soak up a fair bit of paint.  Remember to paint the edges and underside of the card.  Painting the underside prevents the card warping and the edges are just for the look of the thing.  Add a label either using a metallic ink pen or by printing something up on the PC. saying something like "Contact 1" and the base is complete.

Finally, add any targeting graphic you fancy to the sphere, or in light of the dog's breakfast I made of mine you might want to leave this out, add a coat of varnish to the sphere and glue to the washer on top of the stand.  And there you have your contact marker