When "planting" the trees, always make sure that the bulk of the tree is balanced over over the point where the tree meets the earth.
Just as a human standing on one leg or running or walking keeps the weight balanced above the foor that is contacting the ground.
Trees that are tilting all over the place just look wrong -- like they are about to fall over.
It's not about straight trunks per se; it's about balance.
Craig
DMW
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Thanks for the tips Ken. I have some of the forest undergrowth/deadfall debris from Scenic Express and like it a lot. I also use ground real leaves from my backyard and also real dirt as well. The kit instructions said the armatures can also be turned into evergreens. Anybody try this before? One thing's for certain I will need to buy a heap of foliage! I have a bunch to start with but need a TON more!
Have a super weekend folks!
Matt
Painting the trunks help mine a lot! Few tips that I can offer.
1 Sometimes I leave the little sections in the bigger Tree. I use glue to attach the smaller section to the bigger part. Makes a fuller tree.
2 Glue together some bigger sections at the base, some trees have more than one trunk. Stick in the same hole.
3 Some of the trunks will have a curve mo matter what you do. Make the hole ( I use foam as the track base) on the side of a hill so the tree will look straight.
4 Use different colors of green, that is a given. My last batch have a dark health color.
5 Put in ground cover (Dead leaves, branches,bushes etc) on before you plant the tree.
I started using Scenic Express Flock & Turff Scenic Texture Dead Fall Forest Debris and it added a lot of needed detail.
Picture is **** eye but the tree looks good.
Ground cover, first picture the trees look a little washed out.
Hope I was of a little help.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Nice photos guys! What are you folks using for leaves? Scenic Express suggests using the various products from Noch. Here's a couple finished trees I made today as I experimented with a couple different techniques. These leaves were made with Woodland Scenics coarse ground foam and a bit of the finer grade stuff on top of that. Off to a decent start I think. Only 497 more trees to go!
Boiling and straightening...I use clothespins to add weight to the trees and let them set for 24 hours or so. Also I'll reiterate clipping the little leaves...pain in the butt but well worth the effort.
I also hang mine after adding the foliage...dip in matte medium...add foliage...hang...spray with diluted matte medium...let dry and then spray with your choice of dullcote, hair spray, whatever. I have found this does a great job of keeping the foliage on the trees.
Some pics
Dave
'there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear' Modeling the Hard Knox Valley Railroad in HO scale http://photos.hardknoxvalley.com/
Thanks guys. My other question is after boiling and hanging, how "dead straight" is "dead straight"? Most prototypical trees have bends and curves and dips the whole way up through the trunk. In other words, the bottoms and tops of the various trunks should be straight, but in the middle, shouldn't there be the fluctuations in straightness? Or shouldn't I worry too much about that as the foliage will hide it anyhow? Thanks again for all your advice!
salt water cowboy Point well taken on the long leaves! And going s l o w! You and I and others CNJ had a good discussion in my "tree-canopies" thread if I recall. I will give the boiling a try on a few next. How long do you need to boil? Matt
Point well taken on the long leaves! And going s l o w! You and I and others CNJ had a good discussion in my "tree-canopies" thread if I recall. I will give the boiling a try on a few next. How long do you need to boil?
I subscribed to using a big pot (about 32qts.) and boiling for 20 minutes, or a little more. Then I hang them up-side-down on a string, like you did, and need to use only common spring-clip clothespins for weighting. They usually come out dead straight in doing so, as Tim noted. When they are dry from this process, then I do the Matte Medium dipping.
CNJ831
Couple pics of what I was working on last night....crappy light I know..
A true friend will not bail you out of jail...he will be sitting next to you saying "that was friggin awesome dude!" Tim...Modeling the NYC...is there any other?
I can personally vouch for the boiling of the armatures. Although it stinks a little it really relaxes the branches. I actually hang mine with clips AFTER boiling and when they dry they are pretty much straight as a pin. I learned lots of patience with these as you can experiment with different textures of foliage to achieve the "look" you want. My layout is set in the fall so I am able to really go wild with the colors. And don't forget to clip all of the little leaves that come on them. Good luck!!...Can't wait to see your finished product. Tim
Work slowly and carefully, Matt, and your end results should look like mine.
Incidentally, you might try boiling the SuperTree armatures to straighten them before dipping in Matte Medium. This "relaxes" them better than just dipping and weighting. You might also want to consider removing some, or most, of these long leaves the plant comes with. If you don't you'll be surprised how often you can spot them even on the finished, foliage-covered, trees.
Months of waiting and they finally arrived! The super value pack of Super Trees from Scenic Express. I planned on buying a case for myself for Christmas. (you know...the self indulgence factor! ) Well, the best price I could find was from MB Klein but in mid December they were out of stock. I signed up for their e-mail notification when they would get them back again. Christmas came and went. New Years slipped by and no notification. February entered and last week my wife opened up e-mail to see they were finally in stock! Unbeknown to me she quietly ordered them and deleted the e-mail. I found out later we got one of the two cases left already! So, yesterday the postman delivered a rather plain cardboard box and I tore into it. (Since my birthday is in February, my wife got them for me as my present.) I had to go to work, so I put them in my workspace and left home. I took the instruction manual along so I could read it during dinner. I couldn't wait to get home to practice on a few. I even dreamed about them last night! Geez talk about obsession!!! I dreamed they were all smashed flat and the only thing I could do with them was turn them into pine trees.
Well this morning I set up my work area and opened the box for this pic.
I broke off a few trees and airbrushed a dirty brownish/grayish/blackish onto the trunks and main branches. I didn't worry about the finer branch structure as they would be covered with foliage later. After they dried I soaked them in diluted matte medium as the preservation process suggests. Here's a pic of my thrown together in a hurry tree making station!
Then I hung them upside down to dry and weighted the tips to straighten the trunks out some.
Now I'm back off to the train room after a bite of lunch and do some more! The foliage will have to wait until they dry and straighten but I can't wait to see the finished results! Have a great railroady type day!