Baobab tree

I ordered a custom African baobab tree from Danny a long time ago, but they are not my favorite species of baobab. there are 8 species in all, one from mainland Africa, one from Australia (which is a very cool looking species but I don't have an Australian diorama yet) and 6 from Madagascar. The African species has been introduced to Madagascar but it is not native to the island.

Here is one I just made, it is my favorite species and the one everyone thinks of when you picture a baobab tree, Grandidieri's baobab, Adansonia grandidieri. I decided to do it fairly tall and the tree is about 27 inches tall. I made the trunk and branches 24 inches thinking it would be a little taller with the foliage. I still have to finish painting it, the base is on but I have too many colors. The normal color is a greyish brown and I tried to highlight the browns in the bark but I am not happy with the color so I will repaint it. Hope you like it,
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That is a wonderful baobab-tree

I LOVE it. Gosh, it must have taken a long time to make all those details

Thankyou for showing us, - and thankyou for info about baobabs. I had no idea that there were more than one kind of baoab, - I will have to soogle some.
How lucky you are on this forum, I learn so much from you ! Thankyou !

Beautiful baobab! You did great job on it!! Your animals will look lovely next to it

Oh wow, it's gorgeous Phil!! I mentioned to you about loving baobab trees, I knew there was an Australian one and African, but 8 species I never knew!

I love your trees, they look so realistic!

Great tree Phil could you share some pics next to animals ?

Phantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

Very talented as usual and I apreciate your knowledge and passion for trees! :)

beautiful! thank you for sharing your tree and your knowledge!

Good Job Phil, but let me correct you about the most common species of Baobab, or the one that most people think about when the name its mention. It is any of the mainland African species, depending of course where you live since i'm pretty sure that for Australians it would be the species overthere the one that comes to mind.

But when you look at Baobabs here in the states, or in most zoos around the world, it is mostly the African mainland species, as a matter of fact i have never seen a single Madagascar species of Baobab in real life, and i have visited well over 300 Zoological and Botanical parks around the world. But i have to agree with you as far as the Madagascar species being extremely majestic.

I have a 1:12 scale model, that i aquired for my collection early on, it was on displayed at the Naples museum of Arts on a special Madagascar exhibition, it now resides somewhere in a garage, but i will try to get some nice pictures one of this days.

Berlinzoo954 wrote:

Good Job Phil, but let me correct you about the most common species of Baobab, or the one that most people think about when the name its mention. It is any of the mainland African species, depending of course where you live since i'm pretty sure that for Australians it would be the species overthere the one that comes to mind.

But when you look at Baobabs here in the states, or in most zoos around the world, it is mostly the African mainland species, as a matter of fact i have never seen a single Madagascar species of Baobab in real life, and i have visited well over 300 Zoological and Botanical parks around the world. But i have to agree with you as far as the Madagascar species being extremely majestic.

I have a 1:12 scale model, that i aquired for my collection early on, it was on displayed at the Naples museum of Arts on a special Madagascar exhibition, it now resides somewhere in a garage, but i will try to get some nice pictures one of this days.

Thank you for the compliment Danny, and everyone else for that matter I really am happy that you all like it. As far as being the most common species you are correct, the African species is the most common being the only species that isn't endangered, although there is only one species from the mainland and it has been introduced to Madagascar so it can be found there as well. I think you misread the post though, I never said it was the most common, only that it is the most recognizable and this is because of the movie Madagascar, it is featured throughout the movie and is the "Home Tree" for all of the lemurs, at least here on the west coast. Near you there is a couple of the African species growing so people who know trees probably do think of it when you mention baobabs, I think there are 2 in Hollywood, on the circle there is at least one if not two growing in the park.

I would love to see the one you have in 1:12 scale, the one you had made for me in 1:22 is massive. It is so big I don't even have it out on the diorama because there is no room for the base. this new tree is about 4 inches taller then that one but has the thin trunk. After thinking about this tree I have decided to make the Australian species just to have a collection of scale models of the genus.

What kind of Baobab was the one in the wonderful book "Le pétit prince" ?
Does anyone know?

That was where I saw a baobab first

I really like your Babobab Phil!!!
My favourite species are the ones from Madagascar!

Great tree Phil - Well done

SUSANNE wrote:

What kind of Baobab was the one in the wonderful book "Le pétit prince" ?
Does anyone know?

That was where I saw a baobab first

It was a Crazy French Baobab!

Plastoy has the fox of "Le Petit Prince"!

I know Plastoy! I have some dragons from them. They have a great fantasy/cartoons range of figurines!

Roger wrote:

It was a Crazy French Baobab!

Plastoy has the fox of "Le Petit Prince"!

This time it doesn not fit anywhere, - why did I suddenly want to use this smiley

Ohh, yes, Plastoy !
They make so many good figueres, - I am still looking for the Marsupilami with loooong, bendable tail
I would LOVE to have The figueres of The little Prince and his fox and his lamb also

SUSANNE wrote:

I would LOVE to have The figueres of The little Prince and his fox and his lamb also

Plastoy did the Little Prince's Lamb?! Add that to my want list!

Another fantastic job Phil!
In my eyes, it already looks great, but i guess, when you are making these trees by yourself, you are more critical in the end result...

Thanks everyone for your compliments, I am very happy you like it. I did 2 things today, first I repainted the trunk so I am happier with the tree then before, and second I started a second one that is even taller then this one. This one will be over 30 inches when it is done, I hope closer to 36 inches with the foliage. Here is a photo of the first stage, the trunk. I put the first one beside it so you can see how tall the trunk is before the crown is added.
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Since I don't have many Schleich or other major brand figures here is Ana's bongo as a reference so you can see the size of the first tree. I couldn't focus on the bongo with the whole tree in the photo but I wanted the crown in the picture so you could see the width of the trunk and canopy.
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If anyone wants one of these for your display just PM me and let me know the height you want, I am going to make a 3rd one for a display that was suggested by our own Ana, I hope she realizes that now she has to make most, if not all, of the figures!!!

They are massive! I hadn't realised how big they were. Wow Phil they're going to look stunning on your dio

Mastiffcat wrote:

Plastoy did the Little Prince's Lamb?! Add that to my want list!

I only have one catalogue with Palstoy, here is the pictures of the lamb and the fox.
Perhaps they exist without the key chain ?

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Phil, those trees are awesome!

SUSANNE wrote:

Mastiffcat wrote:

Plastoy did the Little Prince's Lamb?! Add that to my want list!

I only have one catalogue with Palstoy, here is the pictures of the lamb and the fox.
Perhaps they exist without the key chain ?

thanks for sharing the photo, since now I believe I can live without him after all. I like the fox, but the lamb isn't quite right. I'm not sure how one could get the fragility of the lamb in plastic. It's such an anemic, frail little thing. And the keychain bob ruins it for me.
so, that's actually good news! one less sheep to pine after! :)

Hi Phil! They are so HUGE!!!
I love these trees, You did great job, it really made my day. Thank You!