Orange Tree

An orchard for a southern scene

A citrus orchard belongs to the Mediterranean, to California and to North Africa, and on a diorama it determines at once where the scene is set. Four trees in one package are enough for a short row along a wall, for the corner of a homestead or for an area behind a low fence, where a single tree would look lonely.

Hand finishing

The foliage and the small fruits are applied piece by piece, so the trees differ from one another in the density of the crown as well as in the placing of the orange dots. The height runs between 5.1 and 7.6 cm, which corresponds to a low fruit tree with a crown beginning right above the ground.

The pin and the removable base

Every piece has a pin at the end of the trunk, with which it is pushed into the terrain. The base supplied can be fitted if you only want to stand the tree on a board and move it later, for example while trying out a composition or on a scene that is taken apart. Permanent planting is better done without the base, with the hole in the terrain covered with scatter material.

Laying out the area

Four pieces are enough for two short rows of two, or for the corner of an orchard where the area turns. If you need a larger area, the package can be combined with further fruit trees from the same range, because they are finished in the same way and the difference between them lies mainly in the color of the fruit.

Fine-tuning the orchard

An orchard looks better when the trees do not stand in an exact grid and have a slightly different lean. Dry grass or worked soil of fine scatter material suits the ground around the trunks, with wheel ruts between the rows. A few fruits fallen under a crown give the scene the feel of being lived in, and a small orange grain glued to the ground is enough.