Hey everyone,
I am modeling the late 80's chessie rails and need a way to make leafless trees. I like how bush branches would look but my mom would kill me if I snipped of hundreds to ho scale trees from it. Any ideas?
Probably the best I've seen were by mikelhh, a Member on these Forums. However, I just now googled for some of his offerings posted here in the past, and it appears that he's one of the victims of photobucket's new policies.If I'm not mistaken, he used the roots of common plants to represent dead or leafless trees, but I can't recall the particular plants.
Wayne
doctorwayneIf I'm not mistaken, he used the roots of common plants to represent dead or leafless trees, but I can't recall the particular plants.
I have uprooted many trees on my property and agree with Wayne that you can find some very convincing dead tree material for your model scenes this way.
I simply clipped off many of the finer "rootlets" and let them dry in the warm sun for a few days then "harvested" the best looking out of the bunch. Some I dusted with lighter shades of gray primer and some I dusted with Pan-Pastel colors.
These were primarily oak and maple trees but other plant life may be just as successful. I will try to get photos posted soon.
Below shows an assortment that was trimmed off the root ball of a maple tree:
These can be trimmed further or combined to make multi-trunk "clumps" as many trees in the wild tend to grow.
I sometimes make a coarse cut with a Zona saw. Touch-up the cut with a thin wash of grey paint to age the cut if desired.
Often I see vines (Poison Ivy or Virginia creeper) climbing over the dead tree. You can simulate this with a thin line of glue and some fine leaf material sprinkled on.
Have Fun, Ed
Thanks Wayne and Ed! This will definitely help and look great on my layout!
Hello I also use roots. Thses are from small sunflower plant's. I also used them to make green tree's to.
Hope this helps Frank
Not the question you asked but what about fallen leaves? Ken Patterson did a What's Neat video in May of this year. [search you tube]
The end result of leaves on the ground looks good. He doesn't appear to care or even notice the mess he makes preparing the leaves. I thought that part was funny.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
If you wait for your mothers flowers to go to seed, she may not get upset if you offer to deadhead, clip off the dead blossoms, for her. Sedum and hydrangas some to mind as some that can make good armatures, either for dead trees or you can turn them into green trees also. There are probably others that would good looking bare trees.
Good luck,
Richard
I have used the same natural bush/brush armatures that I make green trees with, for winter trees, by adding strings and light tuffs of polly fiber, the same as I do with summer time trees, to simulate fine branches, and painting the tree a combo of light and dark gray.
I just don't go the extra steps of adding the "foliage", or ground foam, and pay more attention to the detailing of the bare tuffs of fiber, to look like bare branch structures, trying to stretch the fibers out more vertical, and securing with hair spray as I go.
Some of the spray adhesives have a white-ish color, so I stick with the cheap, unscented hair spay, to shape and secure the poly fiber "branches".
I have no pictures to offer, but they turned out good.
Mike.
My You Tube