P is for Poplar (Lombardy not Plastics)

Continuing with the Britains trees, we look at the cleverest. The construction of the poplar tree is very ingenious, bears little relationship with the other trees in the range, obviously the materials, base and foliage are in the same pattern, but the way it's all put together to look like a poplar tree - which it does; is just incredibly clever.

The truck is broken down into small interlocking sections, like swoppet figures, with specialist sections at the tip and toward the base, while  another moulding for the base of the trunk is employed where it meets the base of the toy.

The four components lined-up ready for final assembly, different types of foliage are used on the different sections in order to further enhance the look and get round the difficulties presented by the challenge of producing a toy poplar tree which looks like a real-life poplar!

It works! There is a slight flatness to the sections of foliage, but my Grandparents had a row of poplars in the drive when we were kids and from memory I know this is pretty good.

A few years ago (nearly ten!) I had the job of sorting a load of trees for a dealer and remember these suffering from brittleness in the foliage, but mine seems OK still (fingers crossed), so it's probably a luck-of the draw thing with them?