Hi,
I am working on gathering the parts to build a pre-war platform based on items availble in the 1930's, since that is when my father's set was a gift to him. I am interested to hear about possible sources or technics to make the trees and bushes like the ones seen in the 1930's catalogs. They do not look as "natural and pretty" as the ones being sold today, I am really trying to go for the look of what was availabe in the 1930's. I read in one book that a modeler created plots by using 1/4" plywood and applying the rough sawdust type grass as gound cover. I like this idea as it replicates the plot concept that is seen int he catalogs.
Any and all ideas will be greatly appreicated.
Kevin Coyle
You could try this question in the OGR Foum "Tinplate" section. You could also search eBay for model RR books from the pre-war period. The trees I've seen at train shows were sold by Lionel as part of their buildings and tunnels, and have a painted sponge look to them. However, I suspect that "homemde" trees and shrubs in that time-frame were "anything goes". In the past, Linchen (sp.?) was used, but since it is organic, it dried out and fell apart over time.
Lichen.
For an authentic prewar look, the scenery should be entirely in black, white, and shades of gray, according to all the pictures I've seen...;-)
Bob Nelson
these guys have them ready made
http://www.jlmtrains.com/scenic_plots.htm
I'm also making some tinplate era scenery for my prewar layout. I've made some raised plots by carving up 2" rigid insulation. First attempt came out OK, but now my layout is changing so i'll be getting he hotwire out agian for attempt #2.
Tim
Thanks folks for the information. Guess I will head off to AC Moore to see what I can find and use your examples.
Kevin
Hiya! I just joined today and I'm also interrested in the scenery techniques used by Lionel in the 20's and 30's. This is what I've learned:
In Roger Carp's 2000 book "Classic Lionel Display Layouts You Can Build", Frank DeMartino of Lionel's Display Department is quoted as saying "we used painted sponges for vegetation..." This is the best info I've ever seen on this subject, although not entirely complete. While Lionel's Display Department does seem to have used sponges for many applications, particularly hedgerows, it doesn't explain the "willowy" look of many of their trees.
Since I don't own any trees of this type, and all I've ever seen is pictures in books or on the net, I don't know for sure. But based on my research into the subject, the tall oak and maple style trees look to be made from jute or hemp rope or twine. This is strictly a guess, but it looks to me like they unbundled the ends of a short length of rope, smashed down one end to form roots then dribbled bakelite, paint and/or some unknown material onto the rope to make the bark. They may have also inserted short lengths of steel wire into the twine to make the trunks more rigid. When that was done, the photos suggest the leaf ends of the branches were further unravled and then dipped in the "sticky green paint" described in the aforementioned book, and while the paint was wet they sprinkled on green sawdust.
It's just a guess, but this procedure seems logical as a basis for attempting a re-creation. In place of bakelite, I'm going to attempt to use dribbled candle wax and then paint the bark with acrylics. I'll also try elmer's glue-all in place of "sticky paint" and life-like brand sawdust grass for the leaves in the next day or two.
If successful, I'll end up with several small "garden plots" about 2 inches in diameter that I can use with my seasonal standard gauge layout. I started my experiments with sponge-based hedges today and I'll let you all know how that goes as well. In the future I plan to have a pre-war layout built with modern techniques in vintage style. By the way, Life-Like brand mountain paper is a respectable approximation of those hand painted hills and mountains from way back when. With a bit of craft paint and a sponge you can make it look even closer to those pre-war originals.
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
I use the bottle-brush pine trees that become so plentiful at Wal-Mart and similar stores as the Christmas season approaches. I try to duplicate the look of the early Fifties, so I don't know for sure if they'd be100% correct for the Thirties. But I've seen very similar trees from the Thirties at antique shops.
Hey it works!
OK, here's how my experiments went. First of all, the wax was a waste of time. It drips too fast from a standard 1" dia taper to create effective bark. Also, it's just too brittle, which is what I expected in the first place, but I decided to experiment with it anyways. So, instead of using wax, I simply wrapped the rope with 1" masking tape, spiraling down to reduce the number of edges that show.
But before I get to that, I should explain how to prep the rope. I bought 108 pound sisal wrope at my local wally mart and heavy floral wire. I cut the wrope to about 12" since I'm making my trees taller than Lionel would have, and partially unraveled the braids about 1" at one end, and about 6 1/2 " at the other. My rope has 4 braids so I split that into 2 to make 2 main branches. Then I inserted the floral wire through the center of the rope by simply twisting the braids open every inch or so to make the wire slide through the middle. It helps to wrap the short "root" end with masking tape to keep the rope from unravelling altogether. When the wire reaches the top section where the rope is unraveled to make the 2 branches, bend it back on itself on the outside of the rope. Then tape up that end and cut off all but about 1 1/2 inches of the wire at the root end. But make sure the wire extrudes past the end of the unraveled rope.
Unwravel the last 2 1/2" of rope on each of the 2 main branches and wrap it with tape where the rope is still braided. Wrap the rope with masking tape in a spiral fashion starting at the top of the branches and let it overlap about 1/16" at each turn. Use short (4" or less) pieces of tape instead of one continuous wrap. Be sure to slightly stretch the tape as you go so it will take on the shape of the nooks and crannies in the rope. When you've completed the branches, place a few short pieces of tape between them to join them to the main trunk. If you install them at an angle, they'll cover the center gap nicely. Then wrap the trunk with tape down to where you left the end unraveled for the roots.
Next, take a piece of heavy cardboard and roughly cut a circle, don't be exact but rather close to the size the roots make when there splayed out. Mash down on the root end of the rope to see how big the base should be. I used the type of heavy cardboard that's on the back of large tablets of drawing paper. Mat board would work well too, it just needs to be heavier than the tree and able to take glue well. Unravel the root end completely back to where the tape ends. Cut a simple starter hole in the center of the cardboard base to feed the wire through, and pull the wire tight so that the unraveled rope splays out 360 degrees to form the roots. I used Elmer's glue-all to glue the rope roots firmly to the base and I let them get flatter the farther they are from the main trunk. Once it dries completely, cut the base in an irregular fashion so that the twine roots are right against it's edge. Let them be of different thicknesses too. Once the glue has dried, cut off the protruding wire so you can stand the tree up. Now is the time to make sure the tree will stand by itself so shape the trunk accordingly.
The next step is to paint the trunk and main branches. I used Folk Art brand #944 Nutmeg acrylic paint which looks good against the sawdust leaves. Let the paint glob and also let it be too thin in some spots. The natural color masking tape showing through from below makes a good contrast and resembles the marbled texture of Lionel tree trunks. Glob it into the gaps at the roots too. Let it dry thoroughly, which isn't long using acrylics.
Make sure the rope at the leaf end of the tree is completely unraveled. Using a long thin brush, I globed on the glue to a few strands of the sisal at a time. I sprinkled the Life-Like green sawdust "grass" using a plastic spoon and caught the excess in a styrofoam tray like the ones that come packaged with meats. It's slow work and be sure you do both sides of each strand before moving on. I used a small scrap of wire to help keep the individual brances separate, but they also look good in small clusters. Make sure the rope branchlets trend downward at the bottom and slightly higher farther up in each leaf cluster. After the glue dries, you'll still be able to shape the tree thanks to the flexibility of the rope. That's all there is to it!
Bushes. Simply cutting the 3M O-cello sponges into rectangles did the job nicely. Make them into heights and lengths that look good against the houses and structures they will be featured with. Glob on the glue and sprinkle on the sawdust the same way you did with the trees but leave the bottom blank, this will be a better glue surface for a rigid base. Remember that the sponges will suck up the glue and get larger as you go along. They'll also shrink back a bit as they dry but the sawdust "leaves" help to keep them the right size. Make "L-shaped" bushes too. I used the same heavy cardboard to make a rigid base for each bush. For these I made sure I had square corners and I cut them about 1/16" larger than the bush all the way around. I glued and dipped them in my favorite blend of fine spring grass colored ground foam which made a nice contrast to the darker sawdust. Let the bases dry before you install the bushes because they like to warp.
I also made an oval base and curved the bushes at either end to create a small garden plot. Bending them rather than cutting half circle pieces of sponge saves material and allows the bush to bunch up on the inner curve and splay out at the top. (Remember that Lionel was after realism as they invented the hobby of model layout building way back when.) I covered the base in my light mix ground foam rubber, and installed one curved bush at each end. If you glue the leaves on the bushes and let them dry first, they'll hold the curve much better. When dry, apply a bead of glue along the base of each bush and apply more sawdust. This gives you a better transition and hides any holes between the sponge and the base.
In the center of this little garden I installed a chess king. It came from a chess set that I purchased in Thailand and has a shape very simlar to the large flower pots (urns) Lionel installed on their scenic parks and station terraces. You could turn one on a lathe, find an original or reproduction part or even paint a figure cream color to make your own statue! The possibilities are endless as long as they look like something you might have seen in a park in the 1920's and 30's. About an inch away from the base of the chess piece, I made a circle of sponge about 1'8" high and 3 3/2" wide. I smply cut long thin strips from the sponge and glued them into a circle. Here I found superglue to be better than Elmer's since the sponge absorbs so much liquid.
When the glue dried, I painted them with 1 coat of red, yellow and white in stripes the way Lionel did on the station terraces. Then I applied a bead of Elmer's Glu-All on each side of the sponges and sprinkled on more turf mix to build up the edges. Once that dried, I was able to add a second coat of paint to my "flower beds" and brighten up the colors. My sponges are blue so the first coat was very dark.
And viola! I have some bushes, trees and garden plots that look very effective with my Standard Gauge equipment!
Have fun!
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