Trees on the West Virginia Northern

[soumodeler]

When I saw the cover of the June MR, I was impressed by the realism of the trees and the way you can see the trunks and undergrowth just under the trees and you assume that it continues. There are all kinds of branches sticking out all over the place, some just barely visible, just like I see out my window. I turned to the article and got another good photo of wonderful trees. On my last layout I started using poly-fiber balls for trees and it looked horrible. I started over with a much better layout soon after I started the scenery on that layout. I would kie to know how trees like this are made? It looks like it would take a lot of time to make trees like this but the time would be well worth the effort. Can anybody tell me how to make some of these trees? I am modeling the same area in summer and would love to have this quality scenery on my small layout that is currently under construction. Thanks for any help.

soumodeler
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The Southern Serves the South!

[Sperandeo]

Hello "soumodeler,"

I belive many of those foreground trees are a combination of twig trunks with poly fiber stretched thin and covered with foliage netting and ground foam. Farther back there a probably no trunks, just polyfiber supporting foliage netting and foam.

So long,

Andy

[CNJ831]

Soumodeler - Indeed, poly fiber "balls" often don't look too much like real trees.

Regarding the WVN trees, looking carefully at the article illustrations in question it appears the trees consist of twigs covered with poly fiber and sprinkled with various shades of ground foam (the poly fiber shows through as smokey-grey in several places on pages 42-43). The technique is quite affective along abrupt vertical surfaces, like very steep hillsides, where the tree trunks will show clearly but apparently doesn't come out quite so well in mass plantings on more level terrain (especially if the twig armatures are omitted). Take a look at the picture on page 44-45 and you'll see a lot of poly fiber showing through and a general lack of twig armatures. This leaves one with the impression they are looking at large bushes or very young second growth, rather than mature trees.

Twig armatures covered in poly fiber and coated with ground foam are time consuming to make if you need a forest. I would tend to recomment the Scenic Express Super Trees. These eliminated the polly fiber step completely and look like miniatures of medium-sized trees right from the start. Not as cheap as going out and picking up twigs in the woods but much more realistic in my opinion.

CNJ831

[soumodeler]

So with the Scenic Express Super Trees system, you bend it to shape, paint the tree, put on a glue, and dip it in a foam color? Also, what is the difference between Super Trees and Easy Tree Kits? Does one not have the fine branch detail? The price is a little high but if is as easy as it sounds that might be the way to go.

soumodeler
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The Southern Serves the South!

[wp8thsub]

QUOTE: Originally posted by soumodeler

So with the Scenic Express Super Trees system, you bend it to shape, paint the tree, put on a glue, and dip it in a foam color?

With the Super Trees, there's nothing to bend to shape. You paint the armature if desired, or use it as-is. The armatures are a weed that grows in Scandinavia (from what I've heard). You can easily trim the armature to alter its shape, or break off key parts with your fingers, pliers or scissors.

I just helped a friend build and install a fairly large mountainside full of Super Trees built into aspens and they look great - even better than we expected. We used a lot of the smaller cast-off chunks to represent other types of vegetation, so very little goes to waste. The aspen armatures got a coat of white paint, plus some flecks of black splattered on with a stiff paintbrush, but the other trees and shrubs used the natural color.

QUOTE: Also, what is the difference between Super Trees and Easy Tree Kits? Does one not have the fine branch detail? The price is a little high but if is as easy as it sounds that might be the way to go.

I'm not sure whose "Easy Tree Kits" you mean by name. If you mean Woodland Scenics or Accurail, there's no comparison with the realism of Super Trees.

[soumodeler]

Easy Tree Kits is another kit from Scenic Express. It says it is a plastic trunk and just bend them to shape and glue on the supplied foilage.

How much of the Super Trees would you need to cover a 7x12' walk-in layout in a dense Appalachian Mountains forest? The Super Value Case seems like the best deal and close to the number of trees that I think I will need.

Thanks,

soumodeler
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The Southern Serves the South!

[CNJ831]

Soumodler - A lot depends on just how much actual surface area of your 7x12 walk-in layout that will be covered in trees. So far I've densely covered an area on my layout measuring about 2x10 feet, corresponding to 350-400 trees, from one Super Value Case and still have a significant amount of tree-sized material left over (75-100 trees more?). A lot will also matter just how picky you are with individual tree appearance and how big you want the trees to be - a very large tree armature can also make 3-4 good-sized but more modest trees. And as wp8thsub says, small leftover pieces or scraps make great shrubs for the forest edge.

The key to this product's success is implied complexity. All those tiny foam covered branches give the impression of great detail and the mind fills in the rest from memory of the real world. I find that, viewed from track-level, a well done Super Tree forest passes for absolute reality.

CNJ831