Trees and plants

Nice work!

Inspires me to build Gilligans Island.

Hmmm, any SS Minnow models out there?

Since I am new here I was hoping there are some others who scratch build trees and plants, does anyone make their own and what are your preferred methods?  How about kits, what kits do you use for different plants and which ones turned out well vs the ones you will never get again?

First off, welcome to the forums...

I don't use kits anymore... Initially, back in the 70s, I tried commercial model RR stuff, but it doesn't look right in 1/48 scale... So I scratchbuild trees and brush..

For evegreen-type trees, I generally use a dowel that I chuck into a drill to turn it into a lathe and taper it... Then I drill hole on the dowel, and insert dried asaragus fern for the branches..  For regular trees, I use roots that I dig up.. Leave 'em bare for "dead" trees, and for the rest, I use a coffee grinder to grind up dead leaves... Then I spray the tree with a spray glue, and swirl the nranches in the leaf pile... A little airbrushing on low pressure and the leaves come "alive" again.. Unless it's a fall scene..

For underbrush and stuff like hedgerows, I use lichen and other mosses... I also use unraveled rope for tall grass..

Thanks for the compliments and the help, I use the same method for all of my trees, they are made of clay and wire then I use several different materials for the foliage.  Mostly I use natural preserved foliage for the smaller leaves, I make my own large leaves for water lily and trees like banana or papaya out of clay and I use paper either hand cut or laser cut for all of the different palm trees.  My goal when modelling is to make each plant identifiable down to at least the genus so I don't use lichen or moss for underbrush, I actually make each species of vine or weed one by one, I have a lot of free time on my hands right now :-)  

I make about 7 species of evergreens right now including sugar, ponderosa, black, and digger pines, and other evergreen trees like fir, ceder and spruce. My method uses a dowel as well, I then use clay wire to make the branches and frame.  Once baked and painted I add the bark and any moss growing on it and finally the foliage, different types for different species of trees.  Normally I use natural preserved foliage for needles, mostly I use preserved misty cut very small, but also static grass and asparagus fern, each one has a "look" that works for each of different species.  I don't have vary many evergreen trees here at the house because they don't come from India or Africa but I will try to get some photos of ones I have made in the past if anyone is interested in seeing them.

You are getting great results, I would stick to scratchbuilding as you ultimately have more control and can model whatever you like, and as it seems you know a lot about each specied of plant, settling for a kit is not worth it. Keep posting your builds. Its nice to this type of specificity in non-vehicle modelling.