I made my fourth tree today. I was never really satisfied with the first three so I tried something different. Please let me know if it looks ok. Honesty preferred over praise. Thanks.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Tom, I think it is excellent! The only thing I would do, personally, is to try to pick off the dangling stuff that doesn't look attached. There is some at lower centre right on the tree canopy, hanging down...can you see it, too? Other than that, once it is in properly finished surroundings, I think you should be well pleased.
-Crandell
Thanks for the quick replies.
J.R. thanks for the idea. Here's a pic of my previous best for comparison.
Outdoorsfellar, thanks for the kind words.
Crandell - good catch. I will get it trimmed.
Tom, I think the prototype for your tree was growing across the creek from my house in Tennessee! Seriously, very nice work.
Are you sure that thing dangling down isn't a damaged branch on the verge of becoming a, "Widow maker?" Trees in the wild aren't maintained by the local tree service, and seldom get pruned to perfection. OTOH, trees growing in a city park or some formally landscaped area are kept free of broken limbs and other oddments that either constitute a danger or detract from aesthetic effect.
(Incidentally, my prototype tree, which was on my property, was festooned with grape vines, and eventually succumbed to a microburst storm that damaged a number of buildings in my rural subdivision. It ended up as firewood.)
Chuck (modeling the cedar forest of Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a treeless desert)
It looks good. Things to watch for are making the top too rounded, pull up a couple "bumps' to make the tree look a little more uneven. Your other tree isn't toobad, it just looks like its recovering from a storm (had a bunch of branched knocked off.) You might even put a stick down there and a stump, use a razor saw to cut the trunk into big chunks and drop the sawdust around the cuts. It will look like some trees fell down and "they" are cutting them up.
You can also vary the color of the truck from a dark grey to medium browns and greys. Rough up the plastic with coarse sandpaper, paint it a base color and then give it a wash of black or dark brown. It needs to be flat paint also.
Dave H.
PS: use tin foil to wrap your bridges so they won't get plaster spattered on them.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
One thing you should do is add something to the middle. The main leader in the middle looks too bare. This is a better result than your prior, but it still looks a little thin in the middle. Add a little fiber fill and foliage on the middle. Also chekc out the Noch leaves. You might want to experiment with those to add a little more dimension to you trees.
For the diameter of the trunk, it looks to be a bit short. I know trees come in all shapes and sizes, but a typical mature deciduous tree can be 50 to 60' tall. For modeling purposes, 40 to 50's is plenty... Stand a 50' boxcar on end next to it and see what you've got there.
This shot should give you a good idea of proportion:
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Looks like a tree to me. The foliage looks a little too green-y in color but that might just be the camera. Definitely better than your previous tree.
Paul
-Morgan
The only big thing I noticed is the color of the trunk. It has that platic or shiny clay like look to it. I would maybe shine it down with dullcote or spray paint them with an alternate color also giving it a little bit of texture perhaps. Oh someone said it before The tree is too round on top. Pull the stuff up to make it uneven
fiatfan wrote:I made my fourth tree today. I was never really satisfied with the first three so I tried something different. Please let me know if it looks ok. Honesty preferred over praise. Thanks. Tom
If it looked any more realistic I would ask where the tree house was. I like it.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
jktrains wrote:Lee points out an often missed element - tree size and proportion. Most trees made by modelers are too short; the train cars are taller than the trees when it should be the other way around. Having 40'-50' trees provides a sense of scale not only to your trains but to your buildings also.
I noticed that myself. I recently put some manufactured formed trees in and I thought they were waaaaaaaaaaaaay too tall at first, but then I placed a 2 story farm house next to them and ran a train near it and was like "duh"! There are many trees that are taller (in real life) than a 80 Y.O. 2 strory farm house.
How's about them apples?
My engine and caboose on Ed Kapuscinski's winter layout.
fiatfan wrote: I made my fourth tree today. I was never really satisfied with the first three so I tried something different. Please let me know if it looks ok. Honesty preferred over praise. Thanks. Tom
Nice, i prefer to use Modeling Lichen
I make some nice fall colored trees :D
~Tommy Single
wm3798 wrote: How's about them apples?My engine and caboose on Ed Kapuscinski's winter layout. Lee
I don't see any apples?
That's illustrates the point exactly - the trees are taler than the trains giving the scene a sense of scale and proportion. They also serve as an excellent view block and scene separator instead of a mountain or ridge which becomes old.
Wow! I take a day off and get all these great comments. Thanks to everyone who replied. I really appreciate the helpful comments and kind words. When I was building the tree I also thought it was too short. I even checked the package to make sure I buy taller ones next time. The tree is a little lower thant the track but even if it were on the same level, it would still be too short. I might move it over to Railfan Park (the location of tree number three).
Thanks again to everyone who replied.