How to make trees...... The tree trunks are carved from square stock balsa or basswood. The trees in the photo started with 1" x 1" material. After carving I wire brushed the trunk to add the graining. The entire tree trunk is painted with brown acrylic paint (color similar to Floquil roof brown). After it has dried, I applied a wash of black to fill in all the wood graining. Next, I dry brushed the trunk with light gray and light brown. The armature for the foliage is made using washable air conditioning/furnace filter material. The filter material is about 1" thick. You cut out the various sizes you will need and separate each 1" thick piece into two or three layers. The filter material is a blue-green and you will need to paint it brown. After the paint has dried push the trunk through the first thin layer of the painted filter material to a point on the tree trunk you want to start the folige. Glue the material to the tree trunk with white glue. Continue installing each layer of the filter material until reaching the top. Complete the top by adding a wedge shaped piece of filter material glued to the top of the trunk. The foliage is Woodland Scenics fine ground foam material. I used "Soil" for the bottom of the armatures and "Burnt Grass" for the tops of the foliage. Start by adding the bottom foliage by turning the tree upside down and spraying the first couple of layers of the filter material with unscented hair spray. Then sprinkle on the ground foam. Working from the bottom of the tree to the top. Turn the tree right side up and begin at the bottom with adding the burnt grass ground foam to the filter material in the same manner. Do light coats and build up the coverage of foam. Once all the foliage is added, give the tree a final coat of hair spray to keep everything in place. I added some dead branches below the bottom folige by drilling and gluing in some pieces of wood. You can build a 70 foot tree (1:20.3 scale) in a couple of hours. Most all the time is spent waiting for the paint to dry between steps. We already had the tall western fir trees and we need some deciduous trees. Here are some photos of a 35' tall (1:20.3 scale) tree. The tree armatures are sagebrush. There are about 10 different species of sagebrush. These were found in Washington State. I'm sure that you would be able to find some sagebrush armatures in California that would make some great looking trees. The foliage is made by using #1 or #2 gauge steel wool. Pull the steel wool out to create a fine mesh for the foliage. I paint the steel wool a dark brown before installing on the tree armature. The steel wool is then sprayed with hair spray and coated with ground foam. The armature was not painted, it is the natural gray/brown color. Two more overall photos Close-up of the top of tree Close-up of the trunk-figure is 6' tall