Just some pictures of all kind of Ho and N trees

[grove den]

The first 2 prototypes of a "larch"...

Planted them between the firtrees...

 

Jos

[grove den]

Well I put all the pinetrees and larchtrees together on a small diorama that was left over from a former exihbition last month. so the vegetation on the ground doesn't fit/match under these trees!

 and an other one:

 

Jos

[grove den]

Well the same "composition " and pictures taken outside in the sun!

but now with a N scale truck/vehicle...So you can easily use HO as well as "N " trees together!!

and from an other angle with my thumb....

 Jos

[cudaken]

 Jos, as ever one has said, great looking trees. I have skip through the posting, running the trains and do a BBQ at the same time. How long does it take for you to make a tree? If you where to sell them, what would you charge? Over all I am happy with my super trees, but I would like some breech trees. They have them at my LHS and as much as I like supporting K-10 Model Trains why not help a fellow modeler as well?

 How do you do a larger section of woods, say 100 trees plus?

 WOOD you mind making a new posting as asked before from start to finishes on making the trees?

 I got to LEAF now to flip the meat.

                      Cuda Ken

[grove den]

Biiiig firtrees  Hello Cuda Ken,   here it is.....   The frame is made/built up , again, with wires: the green ones from out a floristic shop. The wires I use are: # for the core of the tree: I use a wire that is almost twice thicker as the wires I use to make the branches . It will gave the trunk more strength when twisting the thin wires around it... The branches, of a "N"scale tree,  are made with: 0,4 mm diameter green floristic wires, the wire used for the core: 0,7 mm diam.( Ho : 0,6 for branches and 1,2mm for the trunk/core) The trunk is made by twisting tight some wires around the bottom of the thick(core) wire. On the tree I made I used almost 3 wires ( 12 inches long each)before making the loops for the first "bottom"/basebranches.These dead/barebranches are made by making small loops. The real branches( with green needles) are made by twisting large loops (a litlle bit larger than one inch) . When making a large loop twist the wire at least 7-8( HO 5 X ) times very tight around the corewire and than again make a large loop.( if the wire is still long enough to do so! btw: picture above is from a HO tree Continue till the top of the core wire Of course, because we try to make a fir tree, the loops can be made smaller to the top... If done so it could look like this: I added some drops of cheap superglue on the twisted wires all over the trunk..It makes it a lot easier when bending the branches= cutted wires from the loops in the right shape... When the armature was "shaped" I primered it with sprayprimer. Painting can be done as well. detail: If the primer was dry, I added the very fine MDF sawdust on the trunk with the" mix"( white glue and some drops of dishdetergent and a litlle bit of water) Let it dry and paint the frame with , in my case, latexwallpaint in a color I found/bought cheap during a sale and just had the right color!   close-up of a HO tree next step is cutting the filterfibers and collecting them in a biiig shoebox. Spray the armature (= branches ONLY) carefuly with sprayglue and add the fibers on the branches. ONLY the outside of the branches! Adding the fibers can be done by picking up out of the shoebox and let them carefuly fall over the top of the tree. By tipping against the bottom of the trunk the fibers that are not glued will roll and fall down over the other branche into the shoebox again... Mostly you have to remove some fibers on places they dont belong...It can be done with a tweezer or just by fingers or a short haired brush dipped in terpintin. when ready it could look like this: I painted the top of the tree( the blue fibers) with spraycanpaint.  for a more realistc effect I add first a thin "layer" of fine grassfibers first with a sieve....  and added the leaves/needles by spraying the outside of the fibers  again with sprayglue and than with a rough sieve the Woodland fine  turf ove the branches with the fibers.   the result is this: spray the tree twice with matte varnish... Jos

[DeadheadGreg]

wow dude, your stuff is absolutely stunning.

What I want to know, however, is what you used for the ground cover in those last diorama pictures, with the road built into the hillside?  and how you did it?

[grove den]

Hello DeadheadGreg,

 

Well it is that simple....just throw some coarse turf( Woodland Scenics) in a plastic-old?- cup and add some , not to much!, deluted whiteglue...stirr it and you can put it with a spoon or tweezers on the spots/places you prefer....

picture was taken from:  http://www.meine-n-welt.de/

In scale N it looks like low shrubs/undergrowth.

I also use/combine it with some fine roots of dried gardenplants and fine colered filterfibers  I just place/put it over the dried roots/fibers and next day all is fixated like it is done with superglue!

 this picture was taken by my youngest son...he couldn't resist ........

 

Jos

 

 

[grove den]

An other tip/trick to make quickly/fast in HO scale shrubs/bushes...or in N scale trees...

Here is a small "how to" about making these "fast" HO shrubs/or N trees.

First take some fibers out of the package and take a piece of floristic wire...

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turn the wire around in the midle of that "bunch"of fibers. Just watch carefully and try to "lay"the fibers almost to one direction...

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turn the wire that tight so that the fibers are "locked up.

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Now try to give the bunch of fibers the shape of a large shrub or tree by pulling carefuly the fibers to all directions. May be you have to cut some ..just do as you like...

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If shape is ok paint the fibers in a natural color. I do this with paint out of a ratllecan.

Adding some small grassfibers with sprayglue and a theesieve...


adding too some , in this case, WS fine turf like weed , green grass or a kind of blended turf with a sieve...( for HO may be coarse turf?)
final results:
a kind of shrub with red leaves...

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2 1/2 cm = one inch and leaves from NOCH

the "trunk" is still a litlle bit to thin but after 3 minutes of work these trees are ready to plant on the layout , may be as background trees!

Jos

[grove den]

It is an "oldie"but I think it is still one of my favorites..the weeping willow..

Made this one  almost 3 years ago ..it is alot of work but the efforts were all worth of it!

It took me some months to get the foliage in the right dimensons/texture...

Again Sawdust is the( cheap)  ingredient to make the leaves!!

The costs on materials of this tree are ,say max.:$ 2 and a  1/2    but the time...more than 2 hours at least pffff

detail of the twigs/leaves of the weeping willow:

here a picture during the "making"proces of the  hanging twigs..They are made of separate ropes of straight sisal glued in small bunches of 3-7 strings each ...X 112 times...pfff lol

 

 

Jos

[grove den]

Up into the sky...

Made some more pine/firtrees...

almost max: 11- 12 inches..... so almost in HO scale!!

Also an old oak tree in Ho scale...about 9 inches

and of course a HO  "grove den"= dutch for : scotch pinetree( pinus sylvestris) but this time the "leaves/needles made of ( sieved) coarse turf, color weeds and sprayed over with  lightgreen/grey :

finaly a Pinus pinea made after watching/studying some pictures of this kind of mediterian tree.....a kind of "pilot" tree to me!!!

hope you like them .....

Jos

[Loco]

 Very, very, nice... again!

[MPRR]

I am just blown away!!

[Anonymous]

 Well, honestly, I have never seen so beautifully made trees before unless they are made by Mother Nature herself!

 

Wish I could do that...

[grove den]

Specialy for Mike with his "captainAvatar" I  did make some pics of my newest trees with :  good old "lost captain in the woods" standing side by side with the trees.....

and an other tree.....

 btw happy eastern all

 

Jos

 

[MPRR]

Nice pics Jos, I still can't get overthose trees!!  Happy Easter.

[Doc in CT]

 Those trees are incredible (do need thicker trunks usless you are modeling the pines they grow down south for paper).  Look foward to a complete how to do.

[joe-daddy]

 Jos,

I am looking forward to your 'book' on making trees, I'm as impressed with the quality of the pictures and illustrations as I am of the trees themselves.  Quite a talented person you are!

 

Thanks for sharing your techniques and work

Joe Daddy

 

 

[grove den]

OOps sorry Joe Daddy ...but thanks for your kind words!

have to maintain my skills and fingers !...........so I must/have to   make  a  tree, each week.

So here it is :

.

don't ask me, as well as the captain what kind of tree

 

Jos

[grove den]

well I am still "busy"in the pine/firtree business...

Here I tried to make some look- a- likes from small/young sequoias

on the road drives a N scale truck

and other kind of firtrees....

 the captain is a H0 scale preiserman...

 

Jos