Terrain Blitz: Southern Pine Trees

   Somehow, I ended up with a extra day off that did not plan on having, which was alright with me. This just meant that I can work on some of my own projects. I tend to assign project days between my stuff and commission stuff. In this case, I decided to really try out my pine barren pieces for my Olustee project, which will also give me ideas for other terrain answers later.
   The field problem I had with with project was that there were no tree designs in the modelling world or train set department addressing the southern pine tree. This is rather surprising, since a large area (southern-eastern U.S.) have them everywhere. The train and model companies tend to stick with the mountain fur trees. It probably has to do with making them easier and most train layouts trend towards the Rockies when it come to the United States. Plus, there is the European market. So I was left with on choice: make my own.
   Notably, the first thing to notice out in the field is that the southern pine tree grows rather tall while losing the lower branches underneath. This is not always the case, but it is when seeing them in a pine barren area or areas shared with other trees. So I decided to make these using Woodland Scenic Trees. While the largest Wood Scenic Trees could work just fine, I needed to make them taller. I would have gone with the outdoor stick routine like have in the past, but I need the trees to be more stable, since they will be top heavy. Plus, I knew I could extend their height mounted on MDF board. For this, I used dowels.
     So why do these trees have to be taller? One, I like trees to be more accurate in size for modelling purposes. I like to go the extra mile with this. Plus, the average southern pine at full growth average is about 50 to 70 feet. The tallest recorded one in was 169 ft. The second reason is that I am going to have a lot of trees on my convention board. So in the process of modelling accurately without compromising playability, I need them taller, so hands can reach through and rulers and measure through without lifting and moving them out of the way. The plan is to have 150 trees on the board at 6' x 18' board. The middle has a clearing where the main fighting will be at. Also, a bunch of the trees are going to be Cypress trees in an impassible swamp or smaller trees, so they will look out of control awesome. However, it will still work in a game setting.
    Below, are the photos of what I was able to do. I really had the time to 20 more trees, but I ran out of glue and my hot glue gun died as well. I will mostly work on more of them the next week on a day off. I will also have to write up how I am doing this for a tutorial for those interested. Enjoy!

Here they are with 28 Union Troops.

The tallest one measures a roughly 14 inches. Compared to a 28mm figure, this would equal 70 ft. 

This is one of the many skeletons I have awaiting to be finished.