I really need to know the best way to come about this problem...I am modeling a On30 logging layout and dont know if it is better to buy trees or make them myself. I need a lot so i know buying them will be expensive. Is there a fast and cheap way of making trees?
r.y.a.n Is there a fast and cheap way of making trees?
Sort of...or not. If you do a search at right in "Search Community", you'll find many threads on this subject. Search for Aggro Trees and you are sure to find a thread detailing how to make conifers from natural fiber furnace filters and dowel or kabob skewers.
You won't be making a dozen of these in a couple of hours. It takes essentially 15-20 minutes to get to the point where you can spray the fibers with glue and drop some ground foam on them.
-Crandell
"Is there a fast and cheap way of making trees?"
I Think , mostly, cheap and fast don't match well together... ??
If you want trees thathave the same details , in the same scale, as your engines and cars , I think , you have to make some time to modell large O scale trees!
Specialy in the foreground/front of your future layout...
I posted a small "how too"some months ago overhere about making pinetrees with floristic wires , some "aquariumfilterfibers ( these fibers are also used in floristic industry to decorate plants/flowersand can be sold in many colors. It is called: Decotwister") some grassfibers( 2 mm) and some fine turf "weeds"from Woodland...
here a picture of some of the "Proto type"trees I made last year...the Volkswagen car is in HO scale
and yes it will take some time to make them but only 15 of these are enough for a space of 2 x 2 feet??
Basically, I agree with the previous poster that fast and cheap are pretty much mutually exclusive.
If I were you, I would use commercial trees for your foreground trees, and make a puffball forest for the background. With a little work, you can use skewers and polly fiber, or even green scouring pads to simulate a coniferous forest.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”
We can talk more if you like
1. Aggro' s Furnace filter on a stick is fast, easy and cheap. I have added Static grass to make them more of a fir tree.I have made hundreds and they are kind of fun. Even my grand children can make these.
2. Casspia in a dowel makes a great pine tree and is cheap, but not fast. If you are interested we can talk more.
3. Queen of the Praire makes a great birch or poplar tree and is free, but the flower needs to be dried. Then they go real fast.
4. Assilbe flowers make great tall Christmas trees like Yellowstone Canyon. Again they need to be dried, but then are free and fast..
5. Sage brush makes a great Oak and Maple but not easy to find in most places. Glueing some super trees to the top and coating with Noch leaf material makes a great Oak.
6. My opinion is that you can make better trees than most of the commercial ones for MUCH less cost.
I have pics of all these in the photos in my sig. We can talk more in this thread if you like.
ARTHILL 1. Aggro' s Furnace filter on a stick is fast, easy and cheap. I have added Static grass to make them more of a fir tree.I have made hundreds and they are kind of fun. Even my grand children can make these.
I know a lot of folks use to use Noch Fir flock like this and looked real good. Noch stopped making it sometime ago. I looked through you pictures for the stacic garss ones but I', not seeing them (I know it'sme). Are you using 2mm?
ratled
I do not know the term "fir flock". I use the plain old static grass. WS also makes it. Noch is advertising the applicator again so I assume they sell the grass. I found the long grass looks more like a Norway Pine and the short Grass looks more like a Douglas Fir. I also vary the color a little. I also found that using the applicator gives a more finished look. In my pictures there are examples of the grass on Filter on a stick as well as Caspia in a stick.
I think there are some with the grass on Asilbe, but those could be gone. As is obvious by looking, I am not into keeping my photos in order. I have enjoyed expermenting with all these things and find that there are always a few worthy of the front, and then the rest fill the forests. I hope you learn to enjoy this aspect as much as I. have.