I used to use a weed that grows in the wild for the armatures of my first trees, until one of my cats chomped them. Now, I use 12 gauge stranded wire to make them. I strip and tin about an inch and a half at one end. Then, I unravel the individual strands at the opposite end. I then use a cordless drill to twist pairs of strands.
After tinning one end, and twisting the pairs together, I spray the whole armature with matte brown paint. This is just to cover the copper color.
I brush straight white glue on the branches, then dip the branches into ground foam. I drilled holes into a 2x4 so I could set up a tree assembly line.
To add more bulk to the tree, I give it a heavy shot of ultra hold hairspray and dunk it in more foam.
When I get the tree the way I want it, I give the very tops a light dusting of a lighter color foam, and the bottoms a light dusting of a slightly darker color. The final touch is a very slight dusting of cayenne pepper. The cat avoids them like the plague.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Medina -
Nice work! Thanks for the tutorial.
Please include a picture of your cat when she tries to chomp on one of those. Should be priceless!!!
Archer
Marion, I have know about using wire for years. After seeing yours I might give it a try.
Thanks for sharing, Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Archer, I let her get a whiff of it before I tried it on the trees. Nope, she didn't like it. In fact, I sprinkled some on the places that she used to like to lie on. Haven't had anything missing since.
Here are the trees I planted this morning from the ones I made.
Farm house before planting.
Farm house after planting.
Main street before planting.
Main street after planting.
Those are great trees, and cat-resistant too! Thanks for sharing your method.
Have fun, George
I use the blooms off of my lacecap hydrangea, after they turn brown in the late summer/fall, but my problem isn't cats. It's deer! Where I live, I frequently find deer in my yard when I arrive home, and several of my blooms this year were eaten by them while they were still green.
I use these trees for background forests, not for "specimen" trees that will be viewed individually, because the branch structure while good is not correctly proportioned for a real tree. So I will need to make detailed trees for foreground uses, and I might try the twisted wire method. I might take one extra step, though, and use a small clump (or clumps) of lichen glued to the branches, to create a more full bough. I'd then adhere foam to that. The lichen would basically be taking the place of all the super-fine branches that can't be modeled with the twisted wire.
Nice trees.
I have an ancient model rr mag in which they coat the wire with wax to seal it. I like your idea much better. Fewer problems in a layout room with temperature issues.
Do have some trees started on my bench, but I stripped one end an inch for a planting stem. Stripped about 3" on the other end for the branches. Have been trying to figure out an easier way to make the larger limbs. Never thought of the drill trick, though I have seen it used to make bottle brush trees. Will have to give it a try when I get the new battery charger for the drill batteries (it's ordered).
A piece of copper ground wire (heavy stranded) in the cellar has kept beckoning me to use it for an old wolf tree. With your idea of using solder to smooth the twist, it may warrent a try.
I have seen a wire peg pushed into "weed tree" stems to attach them to the layout. Have you tried this. I would think if you were going to solder a peg in place, you could flare the bottom of the.wires out to look like the roots.
Nice trees as they are. Thanks for sharing.
Have fun,
Wow lookes great! Thanks for the ideas and I love the pictures! It makes a huge difference with those trees in the layout! Thanks for sharing!
WP&P I use the blooms off of my lacecap hydrangea, after they turn brown in the late summer/fall, but my problem isn't cats. It's deer! Where I live, I frequently find deer in my yard when I arrive home, and several of my blooms this year were eaten by them while they were still green.
I bet the deer wouldn't like cayenne any more than my cat does. I'll definitely give the lichen idea a try. I have a whole bag of it in the basement, er, train room.
I have been looking for ways to make trees and will try this one out. For weed trees, I always wait for the sedum blossoms to dry out in late fall - and then there is the almost unlimited supply of goldenrod. When it's dried out, fuzz removed, trimmed, spray painted and dipped in ground foam they look pretty good - just don't be allergic to ragweed. A friend of mine came down to the layout room a couple weeks ago and starting to get all stuffed up because I had been working with the weed and had a pile of fuzz sitting on the floor.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
Thanks for all the feedback. Right now, I'm working on a "super tree"; a big full one, complete with a tree swing.
HaroldA I have been looking for ways to make trees and will try this one out. For weed trees, I always wait for the sedum blossoms to dry out in late fall - and then there is the almost unlimited supply of goldenrod. When it's dried out, fuzz removed, trimmed, spray painted and dipped in ground foam they look pretty good - just don't be allergic to ragweed. A friend of mine came down to the layout room a couple weeks ago and starting to get all stuffed up because I had been working with the weed and had a pile of fuzz sitting on the floor.
Harold, I also use goldenrod, but I leave the fuzz after trimming. Gives a fuller look, I think.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Wow! You obviously put a lot of thought and effort into these.
I'm not sure of the location that you're modeling or how the deciduous trees are shaped in your area.
Out here in my area the deciduous trees are a little rounder... More like a lolipop on a stick rather than a sort of upside-down pyramid on a stick.
If you ever wanted to go with a more rounded tree with those wonderful armatures that you make, you could consider stringing polyfiber from branch to branch. And then covering the polyfiber with foam. What I've found with polyfiber is that it makes for a more "airy" tree. Many types of deciduous trees can be seen through.
WP&PI might take one extra step, though, and use a small clump (or clumps) of lichen glued to the branches, to create a more full bough. I'd then adhere foam to that. The lichen would basically be taking the place of all the super-fine branches that can't be modeled with the twisted wire.
I might take one extra step, though, and use a small clump (or clumps) of lichen glued to the branches, to create a more full bough. I'd then adhere foam to that. The lichen would basically be taking the place of all the super-fine branches that can't be modeled with the twisted wire.
I tried the lichen approach, and I discovered a real plus to it. Because lichen is actually made from a once living plant, when it dies, it leaves a hollow "stem". I pulled some apart, then after applying glue to the wire, slid the lichen down the wire. When I finish it, I'll be posting pics to a new posting called "big tree".
saronaterryHarold, I also use goldenrod, but I leave the fuzz after trimming. Gives a fuller look, I think
Terry - Thanks for the idea. Will give it a try.
MichaelWinicki Out here in my area the deciduous trees are a little rounder... More like a lolipop on a stick rather than a sort of upside-down pyramid on a stick.
I think, no matter where you are, the shape of a deciduous tree depends somewhat on the species of tree, but more than anything else on the environment.
Deciduous trees which grow with total freedom to branch out (pardon the pun) do indeed tend to grow in a more or less lollipop shape. This would include trees lining a street, parks, and individual trees planted in yards, etc.
Where the trees grow in a thick forest, though, they tend to grow more in a "Y" shape, because the shade from neighboring trees tends to limit the growth of lower branches which create the rounder shape of "freestanding" trees. The growth pattern of the tree adds new growth at the top, where the sunlight is, and lets lower, less useful branches die off. Most references that show you the shape of a tree don't take this into consideration. However, when you see a road or railroad (or my yard, for that matter) that has been cut through a forest, this is exactly what the trees look like.
So, either shape might be appropriate, depending on what you're modelling.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
CTValleyRRSo, either shape might be appropriate, depending on what you're modelling.
That makes a lot of sense CTVRR.
Which kinda of reinforces the notion that your best trees (more rounded?) should be out where you can see them. The others that are shaped like a "Y" would make terrific canopy trees.