Wednesday 27 June 2012

Hobby Stuff - Tablescape Trees

I love these trees from Tablescape, I really do. They don't shed flock like the traditional wire and flock gaming trees, and can survive being knocked over etc.

Added to that, they come pre-painted and I think they are simply marvellous. Of course tastes differ, but I wanted to draw attention to them for anyone who may be interested.

The trees are made of hard foam and are £3 per tree, or 5 for £14 at current prices. Tablescape offer two base sizes which can be seen in the picture. The bases come separately (but are included in the price) and simply screw into pre-made holes.

Hobby Tip 1
The underside of the 'foliage' is in the hard foam colour; simply paint it with some acrylic - 5 trees can be done in a matter of minutes. I use Vallejo Black Green for the two darker colours, and Vallejo Medium Olive for the more olive coloured trees.

Hobby Tip 2
The two base sizes effectively give two primary variations of height among the trees. More variation can be added by cutting down the trees. The underside of the 'canopy'/'foliage' is flat, and what I did was take off 0.5 to 1 cm on a handful of trees. As can be seen this allows for an increased variation of heights very easily, especially if you don't want mix the different base styles.

The cutting was done with a coping (or fret?) saw in some cases and a bread knife in others. The coping saw made for easier cutting. I then sealed the undersides with a thin coat of liquid green stuff before painting as above.

The trees (in picture above):
1. Normal uncut height, tall base
2. Cut down height, tall base
3. Uncut height, short base
4. Cut down height, short base

8 comments:

  1. Hardfoam trees? They look good..I wonder what type of foam...could be an idea for scratchbuilging.
    Cheers
    Paul

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Paul's Bods! The foam is the same used by Tablescape for their cargo containers (look for an upcoming post about those at some point).

      It seem pretty durable and retains rigidity.

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  2. nice, I like the idea of some pre-painted terrain. Especially for scatter stuff like this.

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  3. These look superb, will certainly be giving them a go. Many thanks for the tip off.

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    Replies
    1. Glad to help. I really hope that they will eventually do some firs in the same material, but they have said they would need to see the demand is there to do so.

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  4. Just what I was looking for to make a forest / jungle board.
    Look great

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  5. They do look good and with the added bonus of being pre-painted and all at a reasonable price too. I'm sorely tempted...

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    Replies
    1. I have around 30 now, built up over time, and I am pretty chuffed with them.

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