I've just started to make trees, too. I went out in the yard and recovered some dried tops of Pampas Grass for my armatures. I've avoided these in the past because they are not symmetrical, but for my swamp they will be ideal as "overhanging" trees that are kind of lopsided anyway.
I've got a couple of packages of Noch foliage. At first, I tried "painting" the armatures with watered-down white glue and sprinkling on the foliage. It's OK, but very little sticks to the armatures, and I find myself repeating the process many times to get decent results.
Today, I tried the hair-spray technique. It worked better, but again, not much of the foliage stuck each time.
I can live with this, but I'd be interested in other methods, or just hints on better ways to apply the foliage. Right now, I'm catching the foliage that doesn't stick on a piece of white paper and just recycling it.
And, as always, a picture is worth a thousand words.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Here is what I do and it seems to suit me well.
I take an empty shaker and mix some differnt colors of Woodland Scenics corse turf together to form about a half of a shaker worth of mix. The I get my tree and spray it with a spray adhesive I "dunk" it upside down in the mix shaker and then shake it a bit to get the mix up in and around the tree. It also helps cut down on clean up as all the unused mix stay pretty much in the shaker except for whatever falls of after the fact. Just don't let go of the tree it's hard to get it out if you drop it, without making a mess.
here is a photo of what the finished product looks like. I'm still fine tuning it but I think it looks alright so far
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk12/traxrs18/DSCF3398.jpg
try that again
I glue Lichen on my tree armatures. Apply glue to it (usually spray it), then sprinkle on fine ground foam. The Lichen acts to fill in the tree, and the ground foam acts as the leaves.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
If a picture is worth a thousand, how much is a video?
This guy is really good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rf_bejdO8g&feature=related
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." -Aristotle
EDZ If a picture is worth a thousand, how much is a video? This guy is really good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rf_bejdO8g&feature=related
I would say thats worth about a million thoes look great
Don't you just hate it when people make stuff look so easy? I know that I do.
EDZ Don't you just hate it when people make stuff look so easy? I know that I do.
Yes...Yes I do. but in this case it is just that easy. i couldn't find any chenille fibers today so I thought I would try some squirrel tail fur since I tie fly's I had that on hand plus it adds a little more "tree" color to it. Here are a few I did in about 10min. They still need a little trimming but I think they turrned out pretty good.
Fire fighter Mike EDZ: Don't you just hate it when people make stuff look so easy? I know that I do. Yes...Yes I do. but in this case it is just that easy. i couldn't find any chenille fibers today so I thought I would try some squirrel tail fur since I tie fly's I had that on hand plus it adds a little more "tree" color to it. Here are a few I did in about 10min. They still need a little trimming but I think they turrned out pretty good.
EDZ: Don't you just hate it when people make stuff look so easy? I know that I do.
Sweet! Nice job, FFM.
Rich
Alton Junction
it's getting really easy and quick now I'm up to about 20 trees in about 45 minutes now. I love it when I can make lots of something that looks pretty good for cheap.
I made some pines with the floral wire and bailing twine and they turned out just like that. Quick easy and not too messy. Now I only need about 500 more of them.
AltoonaRailroader I made some pines with the floral wire and bailing twine and they turned out just like that. Quick easy and not too messy. Now I only need about 500 more of them.
Bailing twine Huh???? I have some of that kicking around too I never even thought of that.
500 thats a nice small number I'm hoping thats all I need is around tha, I have a 1.5' X3' area to do and I'm not even sure what I'm doing with the other 8'X3' yet LOL so I will probably need more. Ah well easy and cheap and not to time consumeing I can sit and watch tv and make trees can't beat that.
My success came with hairspray and then just burying the tree with shear volume of foliage. I used a rubber made tub so I could easily reclaim the left overs. I then hit it again with hairspray but from a little further away. I found just sprinkling it on did not work very well.
Some hair sprays are much stickier than others. I got funny looks sampling them all in Walmart on my fingers.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
For any one near a Dollar Tree store they have unscented extra hold hair spray and surprise surprise it costs $1.00
Happy Railroading
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
Please don't take this out of context, but, well, which hair spray do you guys use?
Wow, I tried Mike's idea of using a shaker, and it works great. I put just a small amount of Noch leaves into a Woodland Scenics ballast shaker I'd emptied. I took a small block of pink foam and carved a circle the size of the top of the shaker, and punched a small hole in the center for the tree trunk. I sprayed on the hair spray, put the tree into the shaker with the cap, and shook it. Instant tree.
Now, how durable is this stuff? It's not going to get rough handling or be moved around. It's just going to sit on the layout and get looked at. Can I expect the hair spray to pretty much hold up, or would it be better to give it a shot of Dul-Coat or something else more permanent? Thanks again.
i don't know how hair spray will make them hold up. Like I said I used a srpay adhesive for my first go. I've made some new trees and I am trying hair spray out (Alberto Extra Hold) I give them a shot of spray coat them and then spray them again to set them.
The first batch I did in the shaker with the adhesive are holding up quite well. they made it rhough my first layout got boxed for a year or so and are now on my second layout and holding up quite well.
Thats a pic (sorry it a little blurry) of the previous trees after one layout storage and then making it on to my second layout. the evergreens are store bought in this picture.
Where do you get spray adhesives? Hobby shop, craft shop, hardware store, Wal-Mart?
So far, the hair spray is holding up, but it's only been a week.
I've successfully used Sedum flowers. I soak them in matte medium while I tease out a ball of green poly fiber into a nice puffy ball. Then I work the fiber down over the stems of the flower, dip it into the matte medium again, shake off the excess, and sprinkle on ground foam. I do this last step over a shoebox. Makes very cheap, serviceable trees.
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
For hair spray I use cheap, strongest hold I can find, so far it is holding well. As for the spray adhesives add offfice supply stores to your list of possibile sources. They use it to stick up photos and other such things. I've got a can of 3M that my son got somewhere, but I've never used it. Don't know if I can as he used some out of it and I don't know about keeping the nozzle clean.
Good luck,
Richard
MisterBeasley Where do you get spray adhesives? Hobby shop, craft shop, hardware store, Wal-Mart? So far, the hair spray is holding up, but it's only been a week.
Awesome. Are you going to the prom?
Auto parts stores carry 3M spray adhesive, though it may not be your best price. WalMart might carry it in their crafts dept. I'd stick with the hair spray. Tons of ppl use it and I don't recall hearing anyone say it failed over time.