10mm Wargames Terrain: Toothpick Trees
Commercially available trees such as those from Scenics provide for relatively inexpensive terrain in large numbers. Costing about £0.18 a tree they produce what I consider to be very good looking trees.
However, I still felt that there must be an even cheaper and quicker way to produce good looking trees in large numbers. My solution was 'toothpick trees'.
Although I have not yet worked out the unit cost I do know that they work out cheaper than the Scenics trees. I also know that they are extremely easy to make and lend themselves perfectly to a 'production-line' method of production.
Toothpick Trees Method
For each tree you will need; a toothpick, a small piece of card, a penny piece, PVA glue and a piece of clump foliage.
Cut off one of the points on the toothpick. How high up the toothpick you make this cut will determine the height of the finished tree. Punch a small hole through the piece of card and insert the toothpick (sharp end first) through the hole until the cut end of the toothpick is flush with the underside of the cardboard. The toothpick should now be able to stand upright unsupported.
Put PVA glue on the face of the penny and stand the card-mounted toothpick on the PVA. Also place some PVA at the base of the toothpick to glue it to secure it firmly to the card. Allow the PVA to dry.
Cover the base of the tree with PVA glue and then dip it in sand or else follow your usual method for making a base. Once the sand is dry put a black wash over the whole base area and allow to dry.
Then dry-brush the base in stages using Vallejo Saddle Brown, Games Workshop Snakebite Leather (if it's still available), Snakebite-Leather and White mix, and finally a top highlight of pure White. When this stage is complete, finish the base with a dry-brush of GW Camo-Green or some other green to suit your collection.
Finally, paint the toothpick a suitable brown. I use Vallejo Beige Brown.
Put a generous amount of PVA glue on the toothpick (the trunk of your tree) and while it is still wet and runny take a piece of clump foliage and slide it down the trunk by piercing it with the tip of the toothpick. You may have to add some more clump foliage to complete the top of the tree. Allow the PVA to dry and secure the foliage in place.
That's all there is to it and you now have a perfectly acceptable tree to add to your terrain collection that is also nicely in scale with your 10mm figures.
Effect
In my opinion the trees look very realistic and add considerably to the overall effect on the tabletop. Due to the availability of different types of covering materials and colours it is possible to have a lot of contrast between individual trees.
Russian infantry advance through some woods.
