Quick Palm Trees

[Chuck Geiger]

No problem Matt, will do this week. It is pretty quick and involves foam balls, paint and ground foam.

 

[Southwest Chief]

Bob Smaus has a great techinique for making orange trees too. If interested, i will "forum" that up for your citrus modelers too!

Please Please Do

I have an orange grove and the trees are very old and I'm not even sure where they came from.  Would love to have a way to make my own for future use. 

[Chuck Geiger]

Bob Smaus has a great techinique for making orange trees too. If interested, i will "forum" that up for your citrus modelers too!

[Anonymous]

Great! Now, to figure out how I can put a palm tree in New Hampshire......

[Southwest Chief]

Very nice!

They sure look like "California" palms to me...especially in that great SP urban setting in the last pic.

[GAPPLEG]

I gotta try those Chuck , My layout is Western enough to have those on the streets. Great technique for "cheaper" trees.

[loathar]

Those look GREAT! The only thing I would add is some way to bend the trunks a little. Maybe a plastic or metal trunk base that can be bent slightly.

[Chuck Geiger]

Don't get me wrong, there are some nice palm trees which Bruce has on his layout, he posted some pics in the weekend pictures, but for $20 bucks a tree, who can afford them. These would look better mixed with some of the commercial, great looking trees. The Royal Palms, a shorter and fan out more and a real hard to make. These are the regular ol' California Palms.

[egmurphy]

Nice looking palm trees. 

Interesting technique.  Thanks for posting the photos and instructions.

Ed

[Chuck Geiger]

How to construct inexpensive palm trees:

You will need to go to a party or craft store and purchase a small bag of plastic palm trees, these are used for decorations. You will have usually three trees in a pack for a buck something. Take them off the plastic trunks that come with the package. Set aside for now.

1.) Use small dowels, sticks or chopsticks, anything that will resemble a trunk.

2.) Wrap the sticks with pieces of brown paper bags cut into small strips dipped in glue and water.

3.) Wrap at a slight angle.

4.) When dry, paint a grey-tan color.

5.) For effect take a fine point black marker and turn the trunk and let the pen follow the outline of the glued paper on the trunk.

6.) Now to the fronds or palm leaves. You will need to bend them. For the bottom fronds bend them down, leave the ones in the middle alone and bend the top ones up.

7.) It will take about 4-5 to do one nice palm.

8.) Set a small nail or brad into the top of the dowel, stick or trunk.

9.) Attached the formed fronds to the trunk with tacky glue.     

10.)      Let the palm dry overnight.

11.)      You will need several shades of green, light, medium and dark. Start with dark paint and shoot the fronds lightly on all angles, then medium and light.

12.)      Let it dry.

13.)      Now you need material to resemble dead fronds at the top of trunk under the fronds. I found that dead leaves, even tobacco from a cigar works great. Glue the material just under the fronds.

14.)      For effect, dry brush some red and tan to the edges of the fronds and there you go.