Yep you did hear right, cake trees.
Well to put into perspective I got to tell a little story first. It involves family. Everyone loves a little family story on a Sunday night.
I have two daughters. My one daughter went back to China for her fourth year. She has been teaching English there but this year she is translating English with a nice pay raise. I am very proud of her. I only see her 5 weeks out of the year.
Now my second daughter who I am every bit as proud of, works nights at a bakery decorating cakes, donuts, and cupcakes. She also got a promotion. She now has two employees working under her as the decorating supervisor.
Well anyway she called me a while back and told me she has cake decorations she needs to get rid of. The bakery has small pine trees that are not a very common cake decoration. They need to free up space for more common decorations.
She has four big boxes of these things she brought home and put in her garage.
She knows I do model railroading so she sent me home with a bag of these things to see if I could do anything with them. They are really cheesy.
They sat around for a while and like I said they are really cheesy but I thought about it a few times and then all of a sudden, one day I saw potential.
So I cut the bottoms off of one or two trees depending on how tall I want to make a tree and then used a full Tree Top for the top and threaded them on bamboo skewers. Different sizes of course, all trees are not the same.
Then I took a little snip here a little snip there so they didn't look so perfect. Then I took two different tones of flat spray paint and while the spray paint was still wet I sprinkled two different colors of flock on them. And finally painted the trunks burnt sienna.
I think those cheesy cake decorations will look pretty good now on a Model Railroad.
It's been awhile since we had a tree thread here. Does anyone else have some creative ideas and examples of trees they scratch built, kits or just any trees to post?
Track Fiddler
TF .... Very interesting........ Thanks for sharing...
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Track fiddler ... I think those cheesy cake decorations will look pretty good now on a Model Railroad.
Not bad...not bad at all!!
Wayne
I like them. They certainly look good enough for backgounds and props for picture taking.
.
I have used all kinds of weird things on my 30 by 30 board for picture taking. I have even gone as far as making use of aquarium decorations!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
TF:
They look really good! Silk purse out of a sow's ear as it were.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
RR_Mel I just struggle along with tree kits from WS. Some look real good and some don’t. I’ve given up trying to have better looking trees, I guess that’s just not my thing. My tall pines look worse than the ones in the picture. Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
Thanks for the compliments and comments
I think your trees look decent Mel, those Kit trees are a lot of work. I know a guy at my MR Club that took an enhancing flat color from a rattle can and did a really light mist to create highlights on his trees. The results were good.
Good suggestion kasskaboose. I have been meaning to do that outdoor walk this fall to look for some good tree candidates. I remember an article in MR magazine where a couple went and harvested Goldenrod trimmings in the fall. They made some pretty good-looking trees out of them. I can't remember what issue that was though.
Steven I dug up this old thread to give you some ideas for making trees. I'll try to remember to post another tree making example tomorrow.
Those did turn out nice, TF. I was busy at out place in northern WI. all of Sept. and not on the forums much at all.
I learned that the "bottle brush" pine trees can be made acceptable by doing just what you did to the "cake" trees.
Mike.
My You Tube
Ineresting to see these cake trees. I think I had some of the same as a kid. Not sure where my parents got them. Like most affordable tree options, I think they just need a bit of attention and then to be displayed en-masse.
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
Track fiddlerdug up this old thread to give you some ideas for making trees
And a good idea. Recall seeing some palm trees adorning a retirement luncheon cake and thinking how they might be useful in modeling temperate climates.
Regards, Peter
Track fiddlerDoes anyone else have some creative ideas and examples of trees they scratch built, kits or just some good looking trees to post?
Good Looking? Well, that's subjective
I read somewhere about using dried tree roots for making dead trees. I tried it and I like the results.
IMG_9430_fix_web by Edmund, on Flickr
Look along any railroad right-of-way and you're going to see several dead or fallen trees. Plus they add variety to a scene.
Here's some of the raw material I work with.
IMG_9434_fix_web by Edmund, on Flickr
I have had pretty good luck with the sage-brush "Supertree" armatures from Scenic Express, too.
New 10-22mm Lens RR_0264 by Edmund, on Flickr
I'll have to see if I can find a photo.
Thanks for starting the thread, TF! Your "Quickie" pine trees look great. I wonder if trying some kind of static grass on them would look like pine needles? Before I made my fly-swatter static grass apparatus I actually used an inflated baloon to make the charge. It worked but was a little awkward.
Regards, Ed
Again thanks for the comments and compliments.
Hey Mike, Alrich told me how he gave his inexpensive trees a snip and a nip to make them look more real quite a while ago when I was complimenting him on his trees. They may have been bottle brush trees too I think.
Peter I think that's funny you were sizing up the palm trees on the cake. Us crazy model railroaders. I was at the Fourth of July Carnival last year with my Daughter. I saw this very unique tree with bark that looked exactly like sedimentary rock, it was amazing. People must have thought I was crazy as I was picking the bark off and putting it in my pocket, I did get some very unique looks. A few hours later with a rash on my hands I found out it was allergic to it
Eilif If you have a single tree that's a big wow like some of these expensive trees on eBay, you can put it off on its own. Kind of like that one Lone Tree you see out in the middle of a farmer's field and you wonder why he left it. I agree some trees look better in groves or bunches.
Ed those tree roots sure make good dead trees, very realistic looking. I'm going to have to grab a shovel and head into the woods this spring. When the ground is still soft I'll check that out myself. I may try to experiment and put some foliage of some kind on some of them. All I've been making is Evergreens, I have not attempted to make any coniferous trees yet.
I've really been meaning to get an applicator or make one from a video on YouTube for static grass, I haven't tried one yet but looking forward to it. Thanks TF
So the question is, can we forum folks get those cake trees?
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have used several fried floral items from Hobby Lobby for treesThe trees in this picture are made from mini Gypsophillia (baby's breath) make sure to select one that the buds aren't open. When closed they make great looking leaves. Wrap several stems tohether with masking or floral tape paint the trunk and beautiful little trees.
The pines were made by using some dried flowers that I found there- but I am not sure of the name. They were pressed into a balsa wood trunk. Another dried plant that is useful is German Statice. It makes good trunks for trees. You need to trim off the flower sections and you wind up with a nicely shaped trunk. Use either clump or net folige to make the top. I couple of hints on this one- look for browner looking trunks rather than the greener. Also do the trimming outside- the flowers stink Jim
You know I was trying to find the thread but the guys responsible for the Mear's Madness Rio Grande Southern layout had a really funny post a while back on one of the discussion groups about finding brown toilet bowl brushes at a store really cheap to use as evergreen trees. He loaded up a cart and went to the register. Of course the question was asked what in the world are you going to use all these for? His quick answer......Christmas gifts.......... guess making trees sounded too implausible. Jim
Track fiddler
Those look great, but they might look even better if you sprinkle a little green ground foam on them.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
Those cake trees look exactly like the trees that the European company Faller includes with in some of their kits.
Whatever you're doing and whatever you're buying at Hobby Lobby Jim, I would suggest you keep doing it. That center-left grove of trees looks very convincing.
The Pines from the dried flowers pressed into the balsa-wood trunks on the right look good in the setting. Sometimes they say seeing is believing. It looks to me like a storm went through at one time and that's why some of the trunks are busted off towards the top.
Anyway after that said, nevermind the trees for now. I really like that Mill with the inscription Tunnel on top. I certainly wouldn't want to go up to the fourth floor in that building. She's looking old and decrepit just the way I like buildings to look to add extra realism.... nice job.
Nothing wrong with the buildings in the middle right either and the hill coming down kind of sets the scene.
You're modeled scene reminds me of that old movie where the Sherman tanks are coming out of the tunnel in that old German town.... Kelly's Heroes
Thanks for posting, enjoyed. TF
PS The toilet brush thing was funny. I would have told the cashier you bought an apartment complex and you need to clean the toilets
Is there a source for those cake trees?
riogrande5761 Is there a source for those cake trees?
Yes....... I did some homework. Amazon has 24 of them for $5.49 that averages out to $0.23 a tree. It takes two or three trees to make a tree so whether it's worth 50-75 cents a tree is another thing. I Googled pine tree cake trees
TF
PS I didn't look very hard.... I'm sure these things can be found For Less in bulk.
Track fiddler Whatever you're doing and whatever you're buying at Hobby Lobby Jim, I would suggest you keep doing it. That center-left grove of trees looks very convincing. The Pines from the dried flowers pressed into the balsa-wood trunks on the right look good in the setting. Sometimes they say seeing is believing. It looks to me like a storm went through at one time and that's why some of the trunks are busted off towards the top. Anyway after that said, nevermind the trees for now. I really like that Mill with the inscription Tunnel on top. I certainly wouldn't want to go up to the fourth floor in that building. She's looking old and decrepit just the way I like buildings to look to add extra realism.... nice job. Nothing wrong with the buildings in the middle right either and the hill coming down kind of sets the scene. You're modeled scene reminds me of that old movie where the Sherman tanks are coming out of the tunnel in that old German town.... Kelly's Heroes Thanks for posting, enjoyed. TF
Thanks on the complement-The loading chutes were based on an article written by Harry Brunk in the NGSL Gazette. They were scrachbuilt board by board and dowel by dowel. I vaugely remember seeing them as a kid in a trip through Idaho Springs CO. - but my Dad had taken picures of them too some as far back as 1962 before I was born. By that time the headhouse on the top was mostly gone. The mill remains but the chutes are gone- they were bulldozed about six months before I took a vacation in Colorado in 1985. Jim
m hortonAHM made those frees back in the sixties. I might have a couple left somewhere.
Never mind, duplicate of TF's last post.
Carry on.
Thanks for participating in the tree thread. I've been meaning to post another step-by-step tree build but I've been so busy. Tonight I made some time after wxxk. I remember when I was very young the Towering Norway Pines in McGregor Minnesota. I was just a little guy, I'd stare up at those Monsters just fascinated. They were 90-100' tall easy. I wanted to model these trees, so I did.
Tall Timber Pines.
These are the things you need from Hobby Lobby. Bamboo skewers , Floral wire, Lichen moss. I'd be surprised if these trees cost more than $0.10 a piece to make
You drill your bamboo skewers starting approximately a half inch from the top and then every half inch at 90 degrees from the last hole. I do three to four holes. Than you drill one more hole an inch to an inch and a quarter below your last three, four holes
You string your floral wires through the holes and glue them with CA and accelerator. Then bend them down and then back up so they're slightly angled up. The very top one you just bend up.
Cut the wires at a triangular angle like a pine tree is.
Paint the tree trunk raw Umber. I use a hair dryer to accelerate the paint. After the paint is somewhat dry lightly scratch it with your fingernail here and there, trust me it'll look better
Start at the top and try to find that pointy piece of lichen Moss to put on the top then work your way down with the Lichen moss on every wire until you have it the way you like it. Don't put moss on the lower wires, those are the dead limbs
Every tree turns out differently. That's what you want
Spray your tree with a matte clear rattle can or use a matte medium solution if you don't like extra crispy. You can also use a super hold scentless Hairspray.
After making a few I average about 15 minutes a tree. They really are a piece of cake.
Thanks and happy modeling. Track Fiddler
PS. There's no reason why one can't get bigger dowels and a little thicker floral wire, than add more limbs and do the same thing for HO trees..... You have no idea how long it takes to post something like this from a phone
My PS statement on my last post stated I think these trees could be made for HO just as well. I hate to admit it, but I found out trees are easier to model in HO. They are funner to make and they look better because the larger scale provides better detail.
I got off work early again today. I was so curious what this method would look like, I dusted off the work bench and made one.
My Railroad Club host models HO so I will give it to him. I had so much fun I will make him some more. The first time you model something is a learning experience, after that it just gets better and better.
Norway Pines always have die-off below the healthy branches due to droughts. They shut off the energy to their lower branches to put more energy to the top of the tree to reach for energy from the Sun. This is why you always see dead branches below the health of a Norway Pine.
These are roughly 90 ft Pines in HO and N scale. The HO tree took me about an hour opposed to the 15 minute N Scale tree. The HO tree was funner.
PS I forgot to mention I found 3/16 inch skewers at Ax-Man Surplus, Fridley Minnesota while I was doing my plumbing job today. I figured out a way to make the trunk thicker towards the bottom.
I used to see them in the cake decoration aisle of arts and craft stores like Michael's. I haven't been there in a while so I don't know if they still have them. I use to buy palm trees and cactus there.