Read the article while in the barbers chair and while it's good and well written I must admit I haven't had good luck using sedum for making trees
I find it brittle and hard to work with and once finished they don't look like any trees
in the real world
Least not my world
I think it may be a lack of smaller branches
all the trees in the article have very long branches
with the folage all the way at the end
Which puts all the leaves 20 to 30 feet off the ground
And I get smacked in the face with leaves every time
I mow the lawn
I like the Sage brush trees that Sweetwater Scenery sells
I think they look much more convincing
http://sweetwaterscenery.com/ct_CGtreestructures.htm
I like the rough shaggie bark and multiple small limbs
There has to be other natural tree armatures out there
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
Privet Hedges are a good source of armatures for deciduous trees. I use both.
Terry,
Great tip.
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
C&O Fan Read the article while in the barbers chair and while it's good and well written I must admit I haven't had good luck using sedum for making trees. I find it brittle and hard to work with and once finished they don't look like any trees in the real world, [at] least not my world. I think it may be a lack of smaller branches all the trees in the article have very long branches with the folage all the way at the end, which puts all the leaves 20 to 30 feet off the ground. And I get smacked in the face with leaves every time I mow the lawn.
Read the article while in the barbers chair and while it's good and well written I must admit I haven't had good luck using sedum for making trees. I find it brittle and hard to work with and once finished they don't look like any trees in the real world, [at] least not my world. I think it may be a lack of smaller branches all the trees in the article have very long branches with the folage all the way at the end, which puts all the leaves 20 to 30 feet off the ground. And I get smacked in the face with leaves every time I mow the lawn.
Indeed, Terry, I have pointed out such appearance shortcomings in using sedum sprigs to represent trees here before, indicating that they really don't have any common counterpart in trees found in the real world.
As best I've been able to ascertain, the use of sedum sprigs originated with architectural models as an Art Deco period (stylized) representation of trees and slipped into the area of public model railroad displays sometime thereafter.
Look at pictures in MR of club or display layouts from the 30's and early 40's and you'll typically see strangely Utopian landscapes of broad open plains and widely spaced, odd-looking, sedum trees. Unfortunately, the tradition of using sedum sprigs to represent common trees has carried down through the hobby's generations and is still rather widely seen today.
Far and away the best, most realistic material to represent second growth deciduous trees today are Scenic Express' Super Trees. When properly flocked with ground foam they convey a reasonably good impression of the real thing. Larger, more mature trees, can best be modeled with sage twigs and some other similar natural materials.
CNJ831
CNJ831 C&O Fan Read the article while in the barbers chair and while it's good and well written I must admit I haven't had good luck using sedum for making trees. I find it brittle and hard to work with and once finished they don't look like any trees in the real world, [at] least not my world. I think it may be a lack of smaller branches all the trees in the article have very long branches with the folage all the way at the end, which puts all the leaves 20 to 30 feet off the ground. And I get smacked in the face with leaves every time I mow the lawn. Indeed, Terry, I have pointed out such appearance shortcomings in using sedum sprigs to represent trees here before, indicating that they really don't have any common counterpart in trees found in the real world. As best I've been able to ascertain, the use of sedum sprigs originated with architectural models as an Art Deco period (stylized) representation of trees and slipped into the area of public model railroad displays sometime thereafter. Look at pictures in MR of club or display layouts from the 30's and early 40's and you'll typically see strangely Utopian landscapes of broad open plains and widely spaced, odd-looking, sedum trees. Unfortunately, the tradition of using sedum sprigs to represent common trees has carried down through the hobby's generations and is still rather widely seen today. Far and away the best, most realistic material to represent second grown deciduous trees today are Scenic Express' Super Trees. When properly flocked with ground foam they convey the reasonably good impression of the real thing. Larger, more mature trees, can best be modeled with sage twigs and some other similar natural materials. CNJ831
Far and away the best, most realistic material to represent second grown deciduous trees today are Scenic Express' Super Trees. When properly flocked with ground foam they convey the reasonably good impression of the real thing. Larger, more mature trees, can best be modeled with sage twigs and some other similar natural materials.
You have the best looking fall follage i've ever seen
Wish i could do that but alas i'm a mear mortal so i stick
with shades of green
I do like the trees on Wolfgang's layout also
http://www.model-scene.com/index_eng.html
But don't know if you can buy them here in the states
When I read that artical and saw the magazine cover photo, I thought, "I'd never put that tree on my layout where someone could scrutinize it." I was surprised they'd put it on the cover, and think my spirea bush bloom/polyfiber/ground foam & dyed sawdust trees are much better, and I'm not even very good at making them! I've seen sedum trees here on this forum that made excellent canopy trees, but as individual stand-alones, I'm not at all impressed.
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
Goldenrod works rather well on my layout--mind, the area that I model is not overgrown with trees....
Another thing I've fiddled with was braided wire and some putty that I'd work up as bark on them---seems to work
My trees---such as they are---also are placed in such a way that the emergants come out of the canopy just about anywhere-----some layouts I've seen seem to place them in one spot-----
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
blownout cylinder Goldenrod works rather well on my layout--mind, the area that I model is not overgrown with trees.... Another thing I've fiddled with was braided wire and some putty that I'd work up as bark on them---seems to work My trees---such as they are---also are placed in such a way that the emergants come out of the canopy just about anywhere-----some layouts I've seen seem to place them in one spot-----
Barry do you have a picture of the Goldenrod trees ?
i made my trees out of saw dust and jimson weed" mce_src="">
i have refined the trees since i took this pic like i put the saw dust in a coffee grinder and made the leves smaller
C&O FanBarry do you have a picture of the Goldenrod trees ?
not yet----I'm still trying to get NON-fuzzy pix----I'm getting there though
blownout cylinder C&O FanBarry do you have a picture of the Goldenrod trees ? not yet----I'm still trying to get NON-fuzzy pix----I'm getting there though
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
saronaterry blownout cylinder C&O FanBarry do you have a picture of the Goldenrod trees ? not yet----I'm still trying to get NON-fuzzy pix----I'm getting there though Terry
There you go----his are WWWWAAAAAAAAAYYYY better---
Just to address the some of the points:
1) I make trees out of sedum, and with a couple of exceptions, I wouldn't use them for foreground trees either.
2) Having said that, sedum isn't brittle if you dry it thoroughly, then soak it in matte medium or glycerine solution. Just like the MR article said.
3) The shape of the plant isn't ideal. You have to trim and combine several stalks to get a natural-looking tree. Just like the MR article said. You have to add some polyfiber and foliage material to get the shape right. Although I will note that, while a free-standing tree is lush and full, if you've ever seen a spot where construction has cleared an established, mature hardwood canopy (like in my back yard), you DO see many trees that have only canopy branches, with bare trunks lower down and all the upper branches reaching up for the sky. The branches that slap you in the face are the young saplings, that you wouldn't be modelling with sedum plants anyway.
Sedum is an inexpensive -- but time consuming, if you do it right -- way to manufacture a large number of fair-to-good looking BACKGROUND trees. And for those of us who don't possess CNJ's godlike modelling skills and painstaking attention to detail, they do a serviceable job of filling up the layout.
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
I thought it was just me when I read the article...
To me the trees looked more like asparagus than they do any trees I've seen– At least in the north-eastern US.
topcopdoc Privet Hedges are a good source of armatures for deciduous trees. I use both. Doc
I gave it a try Doc
You're right not bad !
I still like the shaggy bark on the sage from sweetwater scenery BUT
you can't beat the price on the Free backyard privet
Here's one of the sage armature trees
CTValleyRR Just to address the some of the points: 1) I make trees out of sedum, and with a couple of exceptions, I wouldn't use them for foreground trees either. 2) Having said that, sedum isn't brittle if you dry it thoroughly, then soak it in matte medium or glycerine solution. Just like the MR article said. 3) The shape of the plant isn't ideal. You have to trim and combine several stalks to get a natural-looking tree. Just like the MR article said. You have to add some polyfiber and foliage material to get the shape right. Although I will note that, while a free-standing tree is lush and full, if you've ever seen a spot where construction has cleared an established, mature hardwood canopy (like in my back yard), you DO see many trees that have only canopy branches, with bare trunks lower down and all the upper branches reaching up for the sky. The branches that slap you in the face are the young saplings, that you wouldn't be modelling with sedum plants anyway. Sedum is an inexpensive -- but time consuming, if you do it right -- way to manufacture a large number of fair-to-good looking BACKGROUND trees. And for those of us who don't possess CNJ's godlike modelling skills and painstaking attention to detail, they do a serviceable job of filling up the layout.
Guess I have to try soaking the stalks
but then that just adds another step to what seems to me as
a lot of effort for a second class tree
Doc's Privet Idea was easier and quicker
and you can use single stalks for one tree
I'd like to see MR reach out for some new and better ideas for trees