Smaller Scale Tree Stands: I AM A MINIATURE FORREST RANGER

First a reminder of what I'm trying to replicate.  The photo to the left is a close up of one of the three tree stands that Ernie made for me way back in 2010.  Ernie does have remarkable skills and these beauties have held up rather well.

As Stated in earlier posts, I did want to change the design concept and replace the roofing nails Ernie used with wooden dowels.  Even with the points ground down, the nails are still sharp and gamers at a convention are, ummm, not the most graceful in motion.  An impaled gamer is a terrible sight to see and rather messy.

I also wanted to make the trees slightly taller as 15mm scale vehicles sometimes don't fully fit under the ones I've got now.

 I have a bunch of 12" inch long 1/8 diameter dowels which is a perfect dimension for the tree trunks.  So I got out my trusty precision cutter  "The Chopper", set the length to 1 3/4 inches and started chopping away.  The blade is a little worn down so I could only cut three dowels at a time.

Slowly the inventory of tree trunks grew

and grew and grew.  I didn't really keep track of how many I cut but in the end made more than enough for the project at hand.

 The base of the stands I'm trying replicate use "real" tree branches for fallen trees (ok it's just twigs).  That afforded a chance for me to go out in the back yard and find some interesting, scale appropriate, branches.  The outdoor "terrain mall" seems well stocked today.

 A note on tree trunk color - trees in the shadows are black/brown/grey so that's what I'm going to paint mine.

After an extensive search of the backyard and a long nap in the hammock (it was a very nice day), I was left with a sufficient supply of twigs to use as fallen trees.  I'll also put a few sticking out from the canopies to add to the visual details.

 Attaching the dowels to the bases is fairly simple - I put a 1/8 inch bit in my cordless drill and drilled holes along the edge of each base about 1/2 inch in from the edge.  For some of the larger stands I may go back and put a few in the center to suppler the canopies.

Once the holes were drilled, insert a dowel with a dab of Eileens Tacky glue (thickened white PVA glue) and the stands are done.

 The last step before scenicing the bases is to paint the trunks so I mixed up some simple craft paint (1 part black, 1 part burnt umber, 1 part medium grey) and painted the trunks.

So here's where we stand at the moment.  Next up will be scencing the bases which will be fun and then making the canopies, which will define the term tedious for you.  There is also a forthcoming VERY EXCITING dissertation on the differences between Woodland Scenics "Clump Foliage" and "Foliage Clusters".  Prepare to have your minds blown....

BOOM