Trees Without Leaves

[Anonymous]

I make many trees by collecting real life twigs that look like scale trees. I attach multiple braches to create a full tree by attaching them with plaster or hydrocal. There are so many ways and ideas though. You should use several different ways until you find some that you like!

[JoeUmp]

Thanks for the input. I think I have a good sarting point.

JoeUmp

[FJ and G]

Oliver,

Just make sure it isn't nitro-g LOL.

I believe the formula is 1/2 water and 1/2 glycerine. Heat to a simmer with plants in it and cut off the flame before it boils.

[Anonymous]

Somewhere in the 80's I read an article about making trees from plant "materials" in Model Railroader, and to preserve the trees the author first cooked the plants in a mixture which among other things contained glycerine (to prevent them from becoming brittle when dried) - can't remember the formula, but I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to find out which issue of MR it was.
Good luck,
Oliver

[FJ and G]

dehusman hit the nail on the head. Roots. I use tree roots (look for a tree that has fallen over).

[dehusman]

Use the root systems of weeds. You have to wa***he dirt out of them and dry them, but you get the densely branched effect.

[Anonymous]

If you need whole forests of barren trees, then you don't want to be twisting wire and carving bark. It is better to look for real plants that already have the character you need. You can find some materials at a craft store, but you might do just as well to hunt for weeds as someone else suggested. Here's another idea: use roots. If you can find the right kind of weed (one that is not considered by someone else to be a part of their landscaping!), you will see that once the roots are washed clean, there is a ready-made branch structure for you to use. You'll need to glue this onto a more stiff armature, perhaps using other twigs or commercial products, and you'll need to preserve it somehow. I intend to use this method once I get around to doing my winter scene, though I have not done so yet. I previously did a winter scene using a berry-bearing plant structure similar to a grapevine, but more woody and vertically-oriented; I do not recall the name of the plant I got it from, but it was in my grandmother's garden. The only trouble was that it had little bulbs of dried-out berries on the end of each branch, and the branch structure was not very fine. The thing is, though, it was very convincing once planted in large numbers, and sprinkled over with snowfall.

[Anonymous]

Although not American HO, my British outline OO winter layout has over 60 wire trees on it. each one was made by twisting strands of wire together to make a basic tree shape, covering it in texture paint (Artex), glueing sea moss (sold in UK as 'Forest in a Box') and spray painting the lot grey/brown.

go to http://uk.msnusers.com/JonGrantsRailroadmodels and look for Steve Flint's Photo Album in the 'Pictures' file.

Hope this helps

Jon Grant

[Anonymous]

A way to make them look good (though time consuming) that I have come up with. You twirl wires around themselves many times and build it up to the desired shape you want each time. Next you want to find some non-kiln self drying clay to mold around the wire. Once you have molded the clay around the wire and got it to its desired shape you should then take a Xacto and cut bark structure into the tree (slashes from the top to the bottom). Let the clay dry and then as a final step take paint and color it to the desired tree color (to make sure you dont waste your time I would first make a thin sheet of clay and paint it with a variety of paints before you apply it to any trees. Best of Luck

[Anonymous]

Grab a sack and go for a walk. There's probably all sorts of weeds, twigs, etc. that will fit your needs/

[CNJ831]

Far and away the best product commercially available to reproduce bare trees are Scenic Express' Super Trees. Properly prepared, they look just like the real thing, with a multitude of fine branch structure..

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

Woodland scenics make pewter tree armatures which can have limbs added to with brass wire and ca and then painted. I have a few I use for dead trees and they look acceptable. FRED

[Anonymous]

That's a tricky one... You can try building up a tree with bunches of sedum with the flowers clipped off. I have seen pictures of that sort of thing, and then the base is covered with paintable caulking for the main trunk. The sedum structure gives you all the branches that are normally not so visible.

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Can't help you there but here's an anchor idea.

I used a pin vise/tiny bit and drillied a hole into the base of the tree.
Then I made a hole where I was planting the tree.
Inserted a 22 or 24 gauge solid wire with or without insulation connecting both.

No more knock downs.

Chuck Walsh

[JoeUmp]

Does any body know of a method for modeling trees without leaves. My layout is being modeled in spring before all the trees have leafed out.