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Ready-made wire tree armatures

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:12 am
by barhamd
I thought folks might like to see my progress with product I'd not come across before. Model Scenery Supplies sell a packet of tree armatures under the brand name 'Footpath'. These seemed good value to me at £9.85 for 5 armatures about 140mm tall.

As supplied they are a little squashed together in the packet, the wire is well twisted, but on the recommendation of MSS I applied a little solder to the major joints just to stop them unwrapping.

IMG_6953a.jpg


The wire is quite robust but nowhere near as painful on the fingers as picture wire or brake cable. I found that a little extra winding is worthwhile at the ends of the branches, this probably took about 5-10 minutes per armature.
IMG_6950a.jpg


I've added some bark (sorry I don't know the source, it was just a plastic bag in my scenics box labelled 'bark'!. I mixed whatever this was with some PVA and painted it on in a number of layers.
IMG_6956a.jpg


I'm quite pleased with the results, thought I'd share..

David

Re: Ready-made wire tree armatures

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:59 am
by Hardwicke
I can see some will like this but following the advice from the late, great, George Iliffe Stokes I'll stick to brake cable thrown into a fire to soften and remove the oil. Free. A smear of pva on fingers protects them.

Re: Ready-made wire tree armatures

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 5:38 pm
by Tim V
But if these kits get you making trees, that's a Good thing :D

Re: Ready-made wire tree armatures

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:09 pm
by Noel
Not if you get leaves on the line...

Re: Ready-made wire tree armatures

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:03 pm
by Paul Townsend
Noel wrote:Not if you get leaves on the line...


Not a problem for the proper periods to model!