Southern Pine Trees

[usma05]

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I'm attempting a hybrid combination of Steve Flanigan's Georgia Southern (April 2001 MRR) and Lance Mindheim's East Rail, based in Coastal Georgia featuring the Georgia Central short line that runs in/around Savannah.

 

I've see a wealth of information on pine trees in previous posts, but I would like to know if anyone has any specific tips on modeling "long trunk" southern pine trees?  I remember Steve also used photos of Southern Pines on his backdrop to cut down on the “tree production” and still give the feel of being engulfed by the forest, but I don’t think he revealed his secrets of his life like pines.

[R. T. POTEET]

Modeling pine trees is not, in itself, unusually difficult; getting that accent down is the hard part.

Seriously, I model the region around the upper Ohio River and, hence, most of my interest lies in deciduous trees. I am, one of these days, going to have to tackle pine trees; I found Popp's Step-by-Step feature from a couple of years back very informative in this regard.

Welcome to the forum, my friend, and STAY SAFE!

[PB&J RR]

RT,

http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=i&id=257

In the June (I think) 07 issue there was a great article on scratch built pines... These I can certify as easy to make and fun (if you are into twisting rope and metal...LOL...

If you don't have the article the gist is this...

You will need:

bench vise

drill

cup hook-fasten it in the chuck of the drill

sisal or manilla rope- untwist the strands down to the fibers, I cut it in 2-2.5 inch lengths first.

floral wire-I forget the weight but it is the heavier cloth wrapped, buy some florists tape too, to wrap the trunks if you like...

flat black or OD spray paint-foam friendly of course...

The process isn't hard:

1. bend a strand of the floral wire in half, around your index finger is a good way to do it, even up the ends and pinch the wire around your index finger, give it a bit of a twist if you like-not too tight, you'll want to keep you finger... clamp the non looped end into the vise.

2. slip tufts of the rope between the wires not too thin, but not to thick either, its a tree not a shaving brush... When you have put enough rope "branches" in the wire to suit you, then take the drill, hook the loop of wire with the cup hook, and GENTLY press the trigger on the drill. twisting the wire and making  a tree armature that resembles a bottlebrush... it took me a couple to get the right amount of rope and to judge how tight to twist it...

3. trim the tree branches, thin them unevenly, contour the tops, make it look like a pine...then:

4. hang by the loop and spray paint outdoors, snip off the loop and plant it in foam and spray paint it... either way... I recommend that you let them dry and then give them the cheap hairspray and ground foam treatment- something about plunging a freshly painted tree into the ground foam worries me... I dunno why... afraid I'll ruin it I guess...

5 wrap the trunk in florists tape, apply some WS pine cones either of these is optional, I wouldn't wrap the trunk if it wasn't visible, and I have never bought a bag of those little pine cones... I'd collect the spruce buds of the tree in my back yard... and place them with tweezers..

The cost of this project is reasonable-

spray paint 6 bucks

floral wire a buck for 12-15 strands of cloth wrapped

cup hook- pack of 6 59 cents in the junk bin at ACE

floral tape 2 rolls a buck

sisal rope 50 feet for 3 bucks

manila rope I had a few feet,

if you buy hay or straw baled with sea grass string, try it, it might work and its already on hand...

colored ground foam in various colors 5-7 dollars a can...

so for 20 dollars you can make a bunch of trees... if you want smaller trees you can get 3-4 out of one piece of wire, for taller trees, only 1...

I hope this helps... afterall its about time I got to give something back...

 

[CSXDixieLine]

I just switched my layout location to the Carolinas, and by my latest calculations I will need about 8.6 billion of those southern/eastern pines! My plan so far is to just model deciduous tress like in the Appalachians, then model some large foreground pines to add southeastern flavor to the scene. The best technique I have seen so far to do these foreground pines is to use floral wire to form the trunk & branch structure, then add foliage & static grass. There was a recent thread on here (within the last 4-6 weeks) where we discussed this and someone posted a bunch of pics. BTW, the bottle brush/twine/cup hook method works great for western pines, but southern/eastern pines are completely different. Jamie

[Grampys Trains]

 Hi usma05: Welcome to the forum and thank you for your service.

Does this look anything like a Southern Pine tree? DJ.