Fast,cheap and easy trees

[HHPATH56]

I am in the process of turning out hundreds of HO scale trees mounted on tapered stained ovals of ceiling tiles, for our Hamburg Michigan Historical Railroad museum. The double dogbone loops of HO track are mounted on 2 inch insulation. The idea is to have woodland areas that can change color with the Summer and Fall seasons, so the ceiling tiles are not glued down, and can be rearranged and exchanged.  Since the trunks of the trees are all visible, I chose to use stained half wooden BBQ skewers, sharpened on both ends. The Oreo cookie-like furnace filters can be pulled apart in layers. I cut circles of various sizes to press onto the stained skewers (in about five tiers). Next, I spray the the circles with adhesive and twirl the outer edges in small mounds of mixed yellow and orange Wooland Scenic coarse ground foam, (for Fall foliage, and three shades of green for Summer foliage). I turn out about 100 (quite realistic) trees/hour.  Sorry that the enclosed photo is slightly out of focus.   Bob                  

[jwhitten]

Pointing out that you could do both-- you've given back here and now people know how to do it, so you're free to make up a bunch to sell to the people on ebay who don't want to do it. Its win-win all around :)

[JimRCGMO]

Terry, those trees look great! Of course, with my luck, mine would not likely look anywhere near that good...

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[Trax21]

Trax, I still can't get over how fast and easy you can grow a forest!The CFO wanted me to sell them on the bay, I didn't think that was fair. I've picked up tips here ,thought it was time for a little give-back.

Terry

I still have a lot to learn myself but I can tell you all the help and suggestions that people have given me here has been great. Your trees will add a lot more realizim to my layout (small as it is) I was wondering how I could make them without breaking the bank account shich is already a little broken. I think it's great that you took the time to post about the trees. And I can tell you if I come up with anything that I think will be a good tip or advice I will be sure to share my findings.

[saronaterry]

Trax, I still can't get over how fast and easy you can grow a forest!The CFO wanted me to sell them on the bay, I didn't think that was fair. I've picked up tips here ,thought it was time for a little give-back.

Terry

[graphitehemi]

Well I guess I will have to keep my eyes open for weeds! Keep up the good work.

[Trax21]

Here is my first try at your fast trees with just some stuff I had laying around. (very limited supplies at the moment. it's true though takes longer to do the post then to make the trees and plant themI just used some weeds that I found that I thought would resemble trees when covered. I chose to use a spray adheasive rather than paint as to try and help keep the natural color for the branches

[baron9]

 I thought I was the only crazy one to do that haha. I do the same thing and have made hundreds of trees that way. My son who is a certified arborist couldnt tell that it was a weed. The stuff grows like crazy around here,Upstate New York.  Thanks for sharing the pics.

[SilverSpike]

Yup!

Great technique and on the frugal side too, gotta love that combo!

Hot, fast, and cheap! Excellent way to make a fast forest!

Cheers,

Ryan

[saronaterry]

Graphitehemi, it's usually yellow flowered in the summer.Stands about 2-4 feet high and grows EVERYWHERE up here by Spooner.. Ditches,edge of farm fields,my back yard,etc.The very top flower is what I use,after it dries out.

Miller's the state drink,you know.

Terry

[graphitehemi]

Awsome work! Where does goldenrod grow? I don't know that I've seen it around here in Wis. altho I usually don't pay attention to weeds

I can't help but notice the stong presence of Miller High Life in your modeling.....

[Weighmaster]

Looking VERY good.  Hope there's no allergy issues...  Gary

[saronaterry]

This is how I make them.

I start with a weed called Goldenrod around here. It grows everywhere on my property.I harvest them in the fall after it's gone to seed. Looks like this:

Trim it to a tree shape and pull off the stuff on the "trunk":

Spray it good with rattle can paint color of your choice. I use a light green(Krylon h2o Seafoam). If you use an oil based, do this part outside.Don't spray the trunk. I leave it the natural color and trim it to length before planting.:

While the paint's still wet, load it up with a mix of  ground foam. I use fine turf(lite green/dark green/burnt grass) and medium foliage(green) because I model August.:

Set it aside in a piece of foamboard to dry. By itself it looks OK,but when you put a bunch together they look even better:

I snip the trunk to the height I want and poke it into the foamboard.The part of the trunk I cut off I use as deadfall.:

Here's agood start to the forest I will need here.:

It took longer to type this than to make the 15-20 trees in the pic. Plus, as long as I don't mow the weeds I'll continue to have a ready supply.

Terry