Paper Birch

The birch and its white bark

Few trees are as easy to recognize from a distance as a birch. The pale, almost chalk white bark peels away in thin strips and in green growth it works as a point of light; the eye finds it by itself. Modelers make use of that wherever a solid mass of greenery needs breaking up: along the bank of a pond, by a stream, at the edge of a landscaped garden, or in a light grove the sun shines through.

Box contents

The bag holds one tree 10.1 cm tall. The trunk is shaped into the slender, slightly irregular form typical of this species, and the crown is carried high above the ground. Fitting it to a base takes a few minutes, and given its height the tree suits open ground as well as a group of several pieces.

Recommendations for building

A birch looks best in a group of three or five, because in nature it grows in small stands. If you set up more of them, it pays to tilt and turn the individual trunks slightly so that they are not lined up by a ruler. The light bark is best left to stand out and rather refined with a thin horizontal line of darker paint imitating the transverse lenticels. Then cover the transition from trunk into terrain with small growth: fallen leaves, a low bush or a tuft of grass. Bear in mind that a birch casts thin shade, so it takes lighter and more varied undergrowth beneath it than a dense conifer.

Where a birch helps a scene most

Setting it where the viewer is meant to look proves itself: by a footbridge over a stream, next to a cottage, or on the lip of a cutting above a railroad. The white trunk works as a pointer and the rest of the scenery around it looks deeper. In a dense conifer wood, on the other hand, it would ring false.