Palms from Pine Cones

WH40K mercenaries (c.1987) cautiously advance through the forest

These are quick and easy (I've made about 40 or so), and the trunks provide good solid cover. Unfortunately my attempts to recreate the squirrel's efforts using a fresh pine cone and a pair of pliers were not at all successful. You'll just have to look around in the woods for the real thing.

Materials

Plastic aquarium plants. The example above uses Type B, but most types would be suitable. Squirrel chewed pine cones - with the cones get stripped back to their cores. Mounting board or heavy card. (For the base)

Construction

Cone Preparation The only thing you will need to do to the cone itself is to flatten off the bottom. I used a circular sawblade attachment for a modelling drill, but you could also use a coarse file. Alternatively you could build the base up around the bottom of the cone with filler. Stick it to a base cut from mounting board or heavy card with PVA. Foliage You could use almost any type of foliage, but I've found the ones with small leaves seem to work best. Cut them up so that there are little sprigs of 2 or 3 leaves, then put a generous blob from the glue gun on the end and poke them into a crevice in the cone. The examples at the top all use type B foliage. One sprig makes two pine cones. Each of the first two tiers on the sprig was used in one piece at the tip of the cone. The rest of the foliage was cut into smaller pieces. Note how the foliage becomes darker and more widely spaced further down the trunk. In this example I have used one with more fronded leaves, which demonstrates how the same technique can be used for a very different looking plant.

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