Aspen

The aspen, whose leaves tremble

The aspen grows in continuous groves at higher and cooler elevations, where it often makes up whole slopes of a single stand. Its leaves sit on long flat stalks, so they start trembling in even the faintest breeze and the whole crown then ripples. In fall the foliage turns a bright yellow that stands off the dark conifers around it so strongly that it can be seen across a whole valley.

What is inside

The package holds two trees, the taller 7 cm and the lower 5.7 cm. Both are finished and painted, with no need to build them or tone them. The small difference in height matches the way an aspen grove really looks, because the stand grows from one root system and the individual trunks are of similar age.

Where to use them

They come off best on a slope, in a group and next to conifers, which give them a dark background. A lone aspen in the middle of a lowland scene is less convincing than a pair stood close together. Low grassy undergrowth and a few fallen trunks make a fitting addition, because in aspen groves the understory tends to be light and thin.

The pair suits mountain subjects, forest railroads and dioramas from Nordic and Alpine battlefields. Both sizes suit buildings and vehicles in HO and N, and the smaller piece can also be worked in as young growth at the edge of a clearing.

If you want to suggest the trembling of the leaves even on a static model, it helps to turn both crowns the same way, as though the wind were pushing them. The same lean in the grasses under the trees will then support the impression of movement without anything having to be altered on the tree itself.