Collected Scots Pine

Your last picture reminds me very much of a Scotts pine that i saw on Walter Pall's blogspot:

walterpallbonsaiarticles.blogspot.dk/200...turalistic-pine.html

my idea is to just focus on backbudding for a couple of years if you want to come close to the examples. For the future image you need way more branches. At the moment the foliage is way to far away only on the tip of the branch.
Dont bother about needle size or styling. Maybe wire some branches in place for a future design but nothing more. It's gonna take a while but if you do that you will get closer to the images you like every year. Pines grow healthy and strong if you just let them and don't disturb them to much in one season.
Good luck and have fun with it!

Thanks for the advice there is some new buds starting to poke through atm and I agree if I want it to be perfect then this will be the best option. Once we treat the Aphids only some light styling is going to be done and as this is my first (real) bonsai I do want it to be perfect and this is gonna take some time .

science as a verb wrote: Your last picture reminds me very much of a Scotts pine that i saw on Walter Pall's blogspot:

walterpallbonsaiarticles.blogspot.dk/200...turalistic-pine.html

This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.

Interesting as this picks up on what ChrisV is trying to tell me.

"After a couple of years the branches are much shorter and the green is closer to the trunk. One of the biggest shortcomings of collected pines is the lack of foliage close to the trunk. It takes many years to get the green closer to the trunk. Most would have styled that tree already. This would have been a mistake. A tree with wire on it will grow much slower."

Thanks

Well there is only one way to make a pine a convincing bonsai and that is what i told you and the part u mentioned.
The general problem with pines is that they grow leggy branches and dont like to be disturbed in any way.
So the best way to do things is to go really slow on them.
I still have my first bonsai that i styled from a regular garden center it's a white pine and it needs a lot of changes but it's slowly going the right direction after 2 years.
Slowly showing new buds on the inner branches and finally the foliage is getting closer to the trunk.
Pines are a totally different thing and the only thing that makes them a great bonsai is patience and the right techniques applied to them.
So get it to backbud, just some regular maintenance and give it a couple of years and all will be fine.

Good luck!

Thanks for your advice and time

Realize: The two years that Chris mentions is a very short time in pine-bonsai terms.

I bought a mugo pine 18 months ago. It is still in its original container. Beside thinning out the foliage and removing unneeded branches directly after purchase, NOTHING was done on it, untill this sprin, when some bud-selection was done. I have been rewarded with a flood of buds popping all over the tree this spring. Still sitting, waiting. Only next year will a first styling happen. It will then be stron, with all the young buds grown out to small branches.

Also, keep in mind one pine species is not the other

Nice one im starting to feel I needto take a step back lol

Leatherback is right 2 years is short and it still needs a lot of years to develop. But I just wanted to point out that in two years the tree made significant changes although it has a long way before it will be close to being a displayable tree.
Also he's right about the difference between pines. 1 flush pines, two flush pines and for example the faster growing black pine or the slower growing white pines. Also there is a big difference in maintenance and growing techniques.
Pruning, decandeling, repotting etc is all different with different species.
Just know what species you have and ask google there is a lot of detailed information and indept literature on every specie as bonsai.
And most important like you said yourself; Take a couple steps back and let the tree grow free.

After I saw a Scots Pine Literati at the best of british bonsai the other day it made me realise what I need to do and its gonna take some time.