tomikawaTTBob Ross is your friend. Using his methods, painting, "Happy little trees," is easy. Of course, if you want a clear-cutting scene the trees won't be very happy... I have two pickies with using actual photos for backdrops. One is the near-impossibility of finding exactly what you want in a size that will fit your needs. The other is that a detailed photo in the background either demands museum-quality detail on everything in the scene or makes the lack of same painfully obvious. If the backdrop is semi-abstract, that pressure goes away.
Chuck,
I've done the painted backdrop trees. I use these for a pretty specific purpose -- breaking on the middleground between the layout and the backdrop. The earlier trees were more suited to this, because their composition is rather random -- abstract if you will, the printing is slightly translucent with a clear edge that helps blend them into the backdrop, and they are just the right size to work well in scenes from O to N.
A whole forest just of them? Yeah, probably not going to work. But that's not what these are for. It's more like this where they disguise the transition from 3D to 2D. In this scene, they're right there in the middle, where they look like they have some morning mist or fog before your eye arrives at the bottom of the slope of the mountain behind Silverton.
Similar effect here in the middle and right mid-ground. A closer look at them (although if you stare right at them, like with many aspects of scenery, they lose some of their effectiveness.) This is the Animas River crossing below Silverton. You're looking downriver and the sticker trees are there in the middle of things, doing their thing by not being obvious. In this pic with my false-front Silverton pulled out, the Sandylion trees help create the impression of a hazy forest behind the single row of 3D trees helping to disguise the transition to 2D. On their own, these trees are a lot like junk food. As part of a complete scenery diet, they're good stuff.
Similar effect here in the middle and right mid-ground.
A closer look at them (although if you stare right at them, like with many aspects of scenery, they lose some of their effectiveness.) This is the Animas River crossing below Silverton. You're looking downriver and the sticker trees are there in the middle of things, doing their thing by not being obvious. In this pic with my false-front Silverton pulled out, the Sandylion trees help create the impression of a hazy forest behind the single row of 3D trees helping to disguise the transition to 2D. On their own, these trees are a lot like junk food. As part of a complete scenery diet, they're good stuff.
A closer look at them (although if you stare right at them, like with many aspects of scenery, they lose some of their effectiveness.)
This is the Animas River crossing below Silverton. You're looking downriver and the sticker trees are there in the middle of things, doing their thing by not being obvious. In this pic with my false-front Silverton pulled out, the Sandylion trees help create the impression of a hazy forest behind the single row of 3D trees helping to disguise the transition to 2D. On their own, these trees are a lot like junk food. As part of a complete scenery diet, they're good stuff.
This is the Animas River crossing below Silverton. You're looking downriver and the sticker trees are there in the middle of things, doing their thing by not being obvious.
In this pic with my false-front Silverton pulled out, the Sandylion trees help create the impression of a hazy forest behind the single row of 3D trees helping to disguise the transition to 2D. On their own, these trees are a lot like junk food. As part of a complete scenery diet, they're good stuff.
In this pic with my false-front Silverton pulled out, the Sandylion trees help create the impression of a hazy forest behind the single row of 3D trees helping to disguise the transition to 2D.
On their own, these trees are a lot like junk food. As part of a complete scenery diet, they're good stuff.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Bob Ross is your friend. Using his methods, painting, "Happy little trees," is easy. Of course, if you want a clear-cutting scene the trees won't be very happy...
I have two pickies with using actual photos for backdrops. One is the near-impossibility of finding exactly what you want in a size that will fit your needs. The other is that a detailed photo in the background either demands museum-quality detail on everything in the scene or makes the lack of same painfully obvious. If the backdrop is semi-abstract, that pressure goes away.
Somewhat academic in my case. My landforms all rise well above eye level, since my prototypes were built through the lower levels of a canyon.
Chuck (Modeling mountainous Central Japan in September, 1964)
I found some rubber stamps of pine and baren winter trees at JoAnn's, a fabric store that also has lot of the same stuff as Hobby Lobby. I had the idea of using them to stamp a background in whatever colors I wanted. I haven't gotten to that point yet so don't know how they work out. Just a suggestion. Also, you could do a blend of acrylic paints as the stamp medium (rather than ink) and get a color that you want.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
tomkat-13 hon30critter Basil Brush Recently someone posted pictures of a self adhesive strip of coniferous trees that looked like a great possibility for the bottom of a backdrop. I believe they were purchased from an Arts and Crafts store. These were an artists rendition as opposed to real photos but they didn't look too bad at first glance. I have just spent about an hour trying to find the post with no luck. I know that's about as helpful as a flat tire but maybe another forum member can find the post for both of us. Dave Dave here is the link! http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/206179.aspx
hon30critter Basil Brush Recently someone posted pictures of a self adhesive strip of coniferous trees that looked like a great possibility for the bottom of a backdrop. I believe they were purchased from an Arts and Crafts store. These were an artists rendition as opposed to real photos but they didn't look too bad at first glance. I have just spent about an hour trying to find the post with no luck. I know that's about as helpful as a flat tire but maybe another forum member can find the post for both of us. Dave
Basil Brush
Recently someone posted pictures of a self adhesive strip of coniferous trees that looked like a great possibility for the bottom of a backdrop. I believe they were purchased from an Arts and Crafts store. These were an artists rendition as opposed to real photos but they didn't look too bad at first glance.
I have just spent about an hour trying to find the post with no luck.
I know that's about as helpful as a flat tire but maybe another forum member can find the post for both of us.
Dave
Dave here is the link!
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/206179.aspx
Hi,
I was the one in the other thread who brought up the tree stickers I found at Hobby Lobby and I have an update or two.
HL defintely dropped them as old stock or something, which I did confirm. I think they've just gone out of production. I did find a few of them on Amazon about six months ago, so bought some. They may still have some, but I'm sure they're getting scarce. Here's a pic of two packs of those:
But wait! hobby Lobby now has some new pine tree stickers. They're a little more regular in form, thus not quite as useful as the SandyLion trees IMO. But they are what they are, in case anyone finds them useful. These trees are "Stick-A-Bilities" brand#625558 Evergreen Border. They are 3 to the pack for $2.49, so you get 50% more for only 49 cents more. The Sandylion trees were $1.99 for 2. So the new are a little cheaper. Heere's pics of what to look for.
Lots of years ago, I bought a computer CD with "5000 Photos!" ..stock images I can print out. I printed one on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper to make a temporary background for a corner of my layout.
The stock images were only about 800 pixels wide, not enough to make a big background several feet wide. But I could use them to cut out parts and cut and paste.
The buildings and towboat in the above scene were printed out and pasted to a BG, with bthe rest painted by brush and spray can.
There are commercial companies that will create backdrops for you -- Backdrop Warehouse (website) and Sceniking (website) come to mind, but there are others -- using either stock photos or ones you send them. These can be pricey, but the quality is exceptional.
I have also used Google Images and Photoshop to stitch together images for my children's school projects. This is a rather labor intensive process, but Google Images will provide more photos than you can shake a stick at -- so much so that you will probably have to refine your search significantly to find appropriate shots.
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
tomkat-13
Thanks very much for the link! I was getting rather frustrated because I knew the post was out there somewhere but for the life of me I could not find it.
Alan - thanks for the source info.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
It took some hunting but the Sandylion border stickers referenced by tomkat-13 can be found on Amazon [link]; the price is up a bit but you do get 24 inches of trees.
Alan
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
Hi,would any member have ideas of where to purchase photos of a forest being used for timber supplies. for sawmilling..I have C.Ds from Larc products but in their collection there are no suitable shots. I have no forests within many miles that I could photograph myself and somewhere out there suitable items must be available. All suggestion will be gratefully received. Many thanks..