Search for furnace filter trees here on this site. Some people make extremely nice trees out of those.
Here is a link: http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/
Magnus
Furnace filter on a stick for lots of HO Christmas trees. Absolutley the best, fastest, cheapest way to get trees of all sizes. Use Noch static grass to get a more furry appearance.
Dried Astilbe flowers spary painted green make lots of tall pine trees. That is what I used in Yellowstone Canyon. Add WS flock or Static grass for variation.
Caspia twigs glued in carved dowels make the best White Pine/Douglas Fir but take more time to make.
You don't have to be an artist, but practice and patience are needed to get a lot of good trees. Only half of what I make are usible near the front to a viewing area.
Show us what you make for we are all learning this together
Three old pics
Grampys Trains wrote:Hi: FWIW, here are my "bottle brush" conifers.
Those are the ones I was thinking of. Didn't you do a "how to" thread on how you made those Grampy? I searched for it and couldn't find one.
These realistic enough for you?
(Click image to enlarge)
I discuss how they're made from furnace filters in my Scenery Forum Clinic.
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
Thanks! *JFUGATE*
I have been experimenting with bottle brush trees for a couple of weeks and I am satisfied with the look of them but I dont think they are detailed enough to do the whole layout in them.
So today I have been experimenting with your idea and the results are very satisfying. I have also found that using cedar boards for the trunks work very nicely. I use the fence type boards and with the prying side of a hammer break off large splinters. Cedar boards are really soft and when it comes to scraping the bark texture into them the texture just sinks in.
Mine are bottlebrush types - a twisted u-shaped wire with sisal rope fibres wound inside, painted very dark brown, with Woodland Scenics conifer foliage glued on. DAS clay moulded over the low part of the trunk to hide the wire twists, and painted to match once it's dry.
This one just needs clay.
Mike
Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0
there was an MR from like 95 or somethin where Earl Smallshaw showed this genius method for making evergreen/pine background trees.
Take window screen type wire, and cut out a tree skyline on top. then you take the whole thing and make folds in it so that it comes out all zig-zagged, like /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/. Then you just cover them with whatever foliage you want to use. The folding gives the tree shape outline some 3D substance, and you can make them as long or as short as you want. Its crazy good.
I've bought the trees at Model Scene.
If there weren't the postage....
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
Furnace filter on carved trunks (or on bamboo skewers for trees with foliage to the ground). I have a mix of homemade and Canyon Creek Scenics products (very nice but expensive) on my layout.
Regards,
Charlie Comstock
The furnace filter material to make these trees is getting harder and harder to find.
It used to be I could find this material at Walmart or Target, but not any more. I can find it at BiMart, Lowes, or Home Depot.
I also discuss how to find this material online, with several links provided here.
jfugate wrote: The furnace filter material to make these trees is getting harder and harder to find.It used to be I could find this material at Walmart or Target, but not any more. I can find it at BiMart, Lowes, or Home Depot.I also discuss how to find this material online, with several links provided here.
n1vets33 - some people hold it all in place with masking tape. I haven't bothered - mainly because I'm too lazy to go and look for it. I actually don't mind if things slip a bit - makes it look a bit less formal. Masking tape may well help to hide the wire twists a bit.
Light tie wire will do the job for you. It all gets wound up using a drill at one end, and a vice at the other. You can't add more strands afterwards, so start with plenty. You can always cut them away with scissors.
Give it a go. It's fun. Don't forget to post the results.
I'm not sure about the fir trees around the Columbia River Gorge, but you might consider one of my favorite ways of making evergreens...
First, get some pine cones from your backyard or local park. Using a pair of gloves, "shuck" the outer "petals" off the cone, so that you are left with just the bare cone. Then dip the cone in a mixture of white glue and water (1:4). Sprinkle Woodland Scenics' blended turf over the wet cone, covering the whole thing. Then, for mounting purposes, drill a small hole in the bottom of the "trunk" and stick a 1-2 inch pin or nail in it. Then stick it on your layout. You can make a lot of these in one sitting very inexpensively. Here is a picture of one on my layout (about a third of the way down on the page)...
http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/model-trees.html
Hope this helps.
Union Pacific Cascade Division Model RR wrote: jfugate wrote: The furnace filter material to make these trees is getting harder and harder to find.It used to be I could find this material at Walmart or Target, but not any more. I can find it at BiMart, Lowes, or Home Depot.I also discuss how to find this material online, with several links provided here. Another question, Yesterday I purchased two air filters from Home Depot,they were the kind that were encased around the edge in cardboard. They also had a different kind that was thicker and just in a plastic bag like the link you posted. Which one should I have purchased?
The furnace filter material I've used comes in a plastic bag or comes in rolls that you cut yourself. I've never seen it in the configuration with the cardboard edges, if that helps.
I have used Bumpy Chenelle and ground foam with florest tape to make firs for my layout I will post a picture when I figure out how to
Daniel
jfugate wrote:The furnace filter material to make these trees is getting harder and harder to find.It used to be I could find this material at Walmart or Target, but not any more. I can find it at BiMart, Lowes, or Home Depot.I also discuss how to find this material online, with several links provided here.
The furnace filter material is still available at my local Home Depot. It comes in a plastic bag and is a blue color. It has a (1/4") sqaure mesh on both sides and is about 1" thick.
A trick to good trees is also in carving trunks. Some of these I carved but most of them are from my friend Pete and Canyon Creek Scenics.
When I do trunks they're mostly cedar shakes that I rough cut on a bandsaw then whittle down to size. Once at roughly the right size I scrape 'em with the grain to roughen things up a bit making a doug fir type trunk. Pete does a lot of extra carving for his cedar trunks. I like the shakes because a bunch of 'em lasts a long time, they're pre-tapered (at least on two sides, and they can make trees up to 24" tall (174' in HO).
Sometimes I use bamboo skewers for trunks to hold furnace filter. With these I run the 'foliage' from top to bottom to leave the trunk 'invisible' (I paint the skewers gray first). Another trunk material is wooden chop sticks. The next time you eat at a restaurant the gives disposable wooden chop sticks take 'em home with you.
Be sure to paint the furnace filter to get rid of that horrid blue color. I paint mine with cheap black spray paint. For the trees with 'real' trunks I paint the furnace filter first. For the skewere trees I paint it after it's glued to the skewer.
Dead branches can also be made by selecting certain filter strands and gluing them in holes on the trunk.
Lillen wrote: Search for furnace filter trees here on this site. Some people make extremely nice trees out of those. Here is a link: http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/ Magnus
Holy crap!!! Those Deep Woods trees are crazy. $150-$350 for ONE tree!??!?! wow.
Personally, I never liked the furnace filter trees. They just look like green pinecones.
Haven't read through the whole thread, but Grand Central Gems has always impressed me. However, I've always loved the regular old WS trees. Sure, the Canyon Creek and Grand Central Gem trees LOOK absolutely real, but to me its almost like they're too real for a layout. I donno, just my own feeling.
I think Pete (owner of Canyon Creek) sells the DeepWords trees to the same folks that think $3000 for one locomotive is perfectly fine. The DeepWoods trees take a long time to make. I can attest that he's not getting rich off of them (he still drives a 15 year old mini-pickup with camper shell).
The other canyon creek trees are a LOT less expensive (still not what I'd call cheap). I've used a number of his background trees in places in my new scenic area (mixed in with ones I've made - his are nicer). I know Joe Fugate has a few Canyon Creek Scenics trees in foreground areas.
I don't have any northern trees on my layout, since I am modeling Southern California, but I have made a few trees myself using armatures made from twisted multi-strand electrical wires. Since tumbleweeds are easy to find in my local deserts, I found they can be broken into very realistic tree armatures. Sometimes I glue the flocking or ground-cover directly to the branches, and sometimes I use a little green polyfill to fill out the armature before flocking. I have also bought some expensive ready-made trees.
But my favorite source for lots of trees in lots of styles from palm trees to weeping willows to oak trees, is from an e-bay store:
http://stores.ebay.com/everydaygoodz_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsxQ3amesstQQtZkm
They are located in Hong Kong, but their prices are great, shipping is faster than some US suppliers, and I can get LOTS of good-looking trees for a few bucks. They also have good prices on figures, lamp posts, and other scenery items, with which I have been well satisfied.
Union Pacific Cascade Division Model RR wrote:Building a new layout and need some ideas for FIR trees. These need to match ones that would be found in the North Western part of the US. Specifically the Columbia River Gorge. Thanks!
What part of the columbia gorge are you talking about because I live over here.
4x8 are fun too!!! RussellRail
rerailer wrote:I'm not sure about the fir trees around the Columbia River Gorge, but you might consider one of my favorite ways of making evergreens...First, get some pine cones from your backyard or local park. Using a pair of gloves, "shuck" the outer "petals" off the cone, so that you are left with just the bare cone. Then dip the cone in a mixture of white glue and water (1:4). Sprinkle Woodland Scenics' blended turf over the wet cone, covering the whole thing. Then, for mounting purposes, drill a small hole in the bottom of the "trunk" and stick a 1-2 inch pin or nail in it. Then stick it on your layout. You can make a lot of these in one sitting very inexpensively. Here is a picture of one on my layout (about a third of the way down on the page)...http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/model-trees.htmlHope this helps.
(Just making the link clickable)Other techniques on the site too. Worth a look.
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net