thoughts about trees

[SAH]

More tree photos.

Train going into staging.  The big maple at the right (with too much hair spray) would do a good job of hiding the opening to staging, if the lighting was correct  .  Woodland Scenics trees are against the backdrop.  These are effectively Super Trees already done up, no?  My Super Tree starter kit just came in last week but I haven't had time to play with it yet.


Here are stick built / fiber trees on the right, tapering off to less developed WS trees as you approach the highway.



Still lots  to learn.

Steve

[Ed Kapuscinski]

... maybe, but man, that's nice!

I can't wait to see the rest.

[wm3798]

I use the sedum material... I have two large plantings in my yard, so every winter I get another healthy batch.  They can be okay individually, but work better if several snips are combined to give you multiple "crowns" and a taller tree.

This can be done by clamping a couple together and applying white glue.  Once the armatures are glued together, I spray them with some primer to seal them, then mist some greys, blacks and browns to color the trunks.  Then, while the paint is still wet, I roll the crowns around in some fine flocking to add the green.

I'll have to photograph the process next time I do it.

Lee

[tom mann]

Steve,

Really nice ground texturing.  Maybe some tips are in order. ;D

[cv_acr]

I really like the driving path at the left there. Nicely done.

[SAH]

Thanks for your kind comments.  With the exception of the tall weeds along the r.o.w. there are no unusual techniques at play.  Different colors of ground foam applied in layers.  Ground foam sprinkled over stretched and spray painted poly fiber for the low shrubbery.

The tall weeds are the result of an "experiment".  When I started this test bed I hadn't even heard of Silflor.  That shows you how far out of it I'd become.  Consider this "budget Silflor".  I bought fake fur, colored a dusty green hue, cut it into appropriate shapes, glued it upside down and trimmed the backing away.  Shape and thin the result with scissors, a knife or whatever works for you.  Spray the top lightly with hair spray and shake WS Static Grass Flock on top.  I used burnt grass as I'm modeling Northern Ohio in late summer / early autumn.  I also wrapped a strip magnet around the shaker lid, the theory being the magnet will charge the flock and make it stand up.  I didn't make this up - I read it in a Kalmbach scenery book I bought for my nephew last Christmas.  It works "kinda" but not as well as the grass machine discussed in another thread, based on photos I've seen.  Oh yeah, make sure you color the ground under the weeds before you glue the fur in place.  Dark colors - green, brown or black depending on the depth you want to acheive.

Steve

[tom mann]

I bought the Scenic Express "Super Sage" kit (recommended for HO and larger  ).  This is essentially a box with sage bush pieces and whatever the "Super Trees" material is.  I imagine that it's stuff that someone somewhere has in their backyard.  It sells for $25 - the $40 kit includes a sprayer, matte medium, and ground foam in every color of the rainbow (only good if you're David Popp  ).

It's hard to say how many trees this kit will make in n scale.  A lot of the sage pieces are too big to be used as is, but they could always be  split.  But unless you're modeling redwoods, you'll have to break them apart.  The "game" is to attach the super tree weed to the sage in a tree-esque fashion.  Easier said than done.  I actually split and grafted in pieces, and drilled holes to get a fluid look.

This is how they look assembled:



And painted and all groundfoamed up:



Note that the sage looks too much like a sand-beaten dead tree that you would see in the desert.  But it looks organic and barky, too, so I like it.  The kit is good for large trees, since there are few pieces smaller than what would be 2 ft in diameter for a real tree.

[SAH]

> The "game" is to attach the super tree weed to the sage in a tree-esque fashion.  Easier said than done.  I
> actually split and grafted in pieces, and drilled holes to get a fluid look.

Easier said than done indeed.  Same thing I did with my box wood twigs (from my back yard  )  It takes lots of practice and patience.  I'm still not very good at it.  Your trees look good Tom.  I think I'll take the Super Trees starter kit material and use it with my box wood twigs.  Having a photo of specific type of tree to work from helps a great deal.  Same as when weathering freight cars.   

Steve

[Nato]

    Some of us living out here in Sage Brush country have been doing the Super Sage thing for quite awhile, gathering the sage branches, then making the armatures, and foming them. yes I agree it takes practice to get the rest of the tree looking right, and the sage sometimes takes on a dead tree look, but alittle bit of paint fixes that. The gnarled shape of the sage just make trunks that look right to me, although I have bought some Scenic Express trees ,Red Maples for example, which will be planted in the residential area of the city on my layout.                                                                                       Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah .