There is a LEGO project on CUUSOO that is really worth checking out; realistic LEGO trees by Paul Toxopeus (a.k.a. Paultox). The few and far between trees included in LEGO sets are tiny and often so fragile that if you just look at them wrong they will fall apart (think of the LEGO tree in #10193 LEGO Medieval Market Village).
Here is what Paul says about his LEGO trees project: “Ever wondered why LEGO trees are so small compared to the minifigure? Well, I do. I live in a very green city with a lot of trees, but LEGO City barely has any trees. With these realistic LEGO trees, you can make you LEGO City a much greener place for your minifigs to live in. These LEGO trees do also look great with other themes; for instance LEGO Castle.
Trees are lovely; they have different colors (especially in autumn) and shapes. Look around and see for yourself. Wouldn’t it be great to incorporate this beauty in official LEGO sets? You could also add educational information about the various trees from real life – for instance height, color, Latin name, origin – something like a variation on the LEGO Architecture series. This would also a great opportunity for LEGO to provide autumn-colored leaves!”
Paul’s LEGO trees collection includes large, shady LEGO trees like gingko and chestnut, lovely flowering trees, and smaller trees like birch and poplar. All of the LEGO trees in this collection are sturdy and can handle minifigs hanging up their swings or climbing branches. 🙂
Paul also made a full instructional video for one of his most beautiful LEGO trees. The video is in Dutch, but with English sub-titles, so you should have no problem following the instructions.
If you like Paul’s LEGO trees project, please support it on CUUSOO. Remember; CUUSOO projects need 10,000 votes before LEGO would consider them for production. You can VOTE HERE.
If you need leaves and flowers for your LEGO trees you can get them at the Online LEGO Shop’s Pick-A-Brick section. Here is the link: BUY LEGO LEAVES & PLANTS
Please note that the official LEGO leaves only come in two shades of green and in white. However you can get them in many more colors at AltBricks.com. These leaves are made of the more rigid ABS plastic, and they are excellent quality. You can get them individually, or in mixed packs.
What do you think of the LEGO trees project on CUUSOO? And are you planning to build your own LEGO trees following the video? How about the autumn and winter colored custom LEGO leaves? How do you like them? Share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
Those are really nice. :tounge:
Whoops I meant 😛
Cool 🙂
Well, technically, the small leaf piece comes in olive green and regular green, while the larger one comes in bright green, regular green, dark green and white.
An architecture version of trees I personally don’t see selling too well, but LEGO really does need to make structurally sound brick built trees in their sets. That being said, I want this project especially for the new colored leaf pieces, which are a requirement if you want to make autumn trees.
Also, this coloration only counts for the specific leaves that where shown in the projects. There are other leaves LEGO makes, some of which do come in other colors (the “finger leaf” comes in regular green and dark tan). I would love to see more color variety added to other plant elements as well.
Jacob, yeah you are right; I forgot about the dark green and the olive green leaves. I have a cold, so I guess my thinking is fuzzy. But yeah, more colors the better! 😀
My dad Supported it (Well i kind of made him but he supported it YAY) 😀 😀 😀 😀
Love these trees! So well executed. And I’d love to see more color variety like we’ll be seeing on the trees in Michigan soon.
And thanks for the link to Alt Bricks. Had never heard of them before.
Eric, you are in Michigan? I envy you! My family is in Chicago, and although I don’t miss the winters, I do miss fall! Beautiful colors! 🙂
Yep. Born and raised. Can’t beat Michigan for the full four season experience. it was a REALLY mild winter last year. Hoping for more of the same! Where are you?
Eric, yeah, that’s what my brother said too; mild winter up North. I’m in Florida. Of course winters here are always mild. We are still going to the beach in October. That’s our secret, as tourist rarely think of going to Florida at that time. But it is actually the best time! The water is so warm, and it is not as blazing hot. We have the beaches all for ourselves… and the dolphins… they come really close to shore when not so many people are around. 😉
IV’E NEVER SEEN SUTCH WELL DESIGNED TREES!
——————————–joey———————-
I love the trees. Thanks for listing site for the leaves! LEGO should look into doing bulk sales which I know is tricky as it may hurt their sales of sets.
You are very welcome. You can buy the LEGO leaves in bulk at the Pick-A-Brick site (as I mention in the post) or at LEGO stores. 😉
Beautiful trees! But an 18 minute video? A little long.
J.C., the video is a step-by-step instruction of how to make an elaborate LEGO tree. It is only worth watching the whole thing if you are following along to build one. I’m actually surprized that it is only this long. I love building LEGO trees and it takes me a lot longer that this! 😉
Wonderfull trees and a great video, which i am following to recreate the tree in AutoCad/3DsMax. And I don’t think it’s long at all!
small side note: You say the video is in German, but it’s in Dutch. 😛
Rik, I’m glad you found the video helpful. Thanks for clarifying what the language was! 🙂
It still is! I haven’t finished my tree yet. I wish I could post a wip here!
Rik, if you want to share your pictures you can post them on one of the LEGO picture sharing sites like brickshelf, mocpages or flickr, and just add the link here. 😉
Why have I never thought of that…
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=6062396
why what a marvelous tree so designed my taste in trees is quenched and wow this is so coo- oh my fancy pills wore out
Beautiful designs, LEGO really should consider makeing some of these, trees are so useful! D
cool
Treemendously fantabulous!!!!
Nice trees. I really like the guy pushing the swing. BTW I am really enjoying the building technique section of your bkog it has really helped with some of my MOCS.
Strider, I’m glad you enjoyed the tutorial. Tutorials are actually my favorite part of blogging, although take a lot longer to put together. Hopefully I can add a lot more in the future. 😉
Thanks a lot for the post! I had already supported the project on Cuusoo but you reminded me that I should try to build this myself 🙂
I’ve now put it all together in LDD, including my own tree-trunk design, and have ordered the parts through AltBricks (thanks for the tip!), LEGO.com and various BrickLink stores and am waiting eagerly for the build…
Btw, sorry for rambling, but I’m a pretty new born AFOL, finding the adult LEGO world a very exciting place to be 😉
Thanks for sharing! It is nice to hear that you took up the building challenge! Building trees and other landscaping from LEGO is a challenging but very rewarding experience. Once you are done building, if you would like to share your design don’t be shy to show us! 😉
You are already using LDD, building trees, buying custom parts, and shopping at BrickLink… you are taking to AFOL-ness really fast! Yeah, it is an exciting hobby! If you evern have any quiestions feel free to ask! The whole purpose of this website is to share with newcomers (and also oldies) to the hobby. 😀
Hi there,
Thanks for all the nice comments on my instructions video and LEGO CUUSOO project! Hopefully it will reach 10.000 votes. So please share this with friends and other AFOLs out there!
Kind regards,
Paultox
Paul, we are all wishing you the best and hope that your project will go through! I’m sharing it with everyone I know! 😀
Hi,
I know I’m late to the party here but I have a question about the red leaves. In the tutorial he says that you need six 6×5 leaves (the big ones) and then two 4×3 small leaves. However the altBricks website only has the 6×5 leaves in red but his picture he has red (or dark brown) 4×3 leaves, where are they from?
Kyle, as far as I know those are from AltBricks too. Maybe they are just out? 😕
To be fair, LEGO has made the 6×5 leaves in New Dark Red also, in both https://brickset.com/sets/70008-1/Gorzan-s-Gorilla-Striker and https://brickset.com/sets/79001-1/Escape-from-Mirkwood-Spiders
In fact in 70008 there is also the smaller leaf in the same color, which is also in https://brickset.com/sets/41020-1/Hedgehog-s-Hideaway.
Both parts as well as the 6×5 in Dark Orange in set https://brickset.com/sets/79006-1/The-Council-of-Elrond should be availible from spare parts.
Josh, yes, new colors have been released recently. Please note however this article was written before those were available. Please note the date at the top of the article. It is awesome that LEGO finally decided to enhance their own selection. 🙂
“Paul also made a full instructional video for one of his most beautiful LEGO trees. The video is in German, but with English sub-titles”.
Actually, the video is not in German but in Dutch!
Hans, got it fixed. 😉
Great video. But why is the subtitles partialy removed when viewing it in full screen.
OK I tried again and now it was normal.
How many leaves I need? Approximately, of course.
I think that this tree is quite expensive 🙁
Arek, which tree are you planning to make? In my experience you can make a very nice large tree with 30-50 leaf pieces.