Lost in a Forest

The Meinreuss gorge and the hills around it have a few trees on them in the real world. More than a few actually, so now that I have some base scatter undergrowth in place on my Z scale Wassen, it's time to do some arborealing.  What a great word I've just made up

I'm using a mix of trees here, based on what I have come across in shops and auctions.

• The leftover JTT bluey-coloured pines from a local hobby shop
• A fancy box of 40 Noch pines of a yellower tinge covered in superfine foliage
• A box of 100 el-cheapo Heki unflocked pines

At least I think they are pines. I know they aren't cacti...

That's a start being made. My general process is to use an old round dental pick to gently poke an appropriately-sized hole into the scenery - some of which is firm, but some is merely PVA-coated phonebook-papershell. An appropriate tree is selected, it's trunk bottom might need to be reworked or pruned of foliage (especially the Noch ones, but more on that for another episode) to ensure it can plug into the hole.

Often, the bottom skirt of foliage might need to be trimmed, especially if the tree is being planted on a steep hillside (in which case a side is chopped off per the below), and in this case the bottom of the trunk might have to be bent thus so it can plug horizontally into a vertical cliff face:

A generous blob of PVA is applied to the base of the trunk and it is plugged into the scenery. Some trees might have to be encouraged to stand up straight with cardboard props:

But once they have set, they can be gently straightened by holding the base with fine pliers and bending the trunk up. Below is a work in progress as there's nothing worse than having your trees all listing at haphazard angles...