Question for those of you who carve your pine tree trunks out of wood and then seperately apply branches. Do you use dowl rod or do you use balsa or bass wood to carve the trunk? I am thinking of making a few for the foreground of my little diorama I am building, and was just curious which way would be the easiest to do.
Thanks
Mike
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
I used the cedar wedges you can get at HD or your lumber store. They are used for shimming doors. A square cross section is easier to get an even taper on than a dowel, unless you have a lathe. You could use basswood or balsa too. Cut a strrip equal tothe height of tree you want. Taper the strip evenly on all four sides, then shave the corners to make an octagon then sand to a tapered round cross section. Easier done than said. I use the wedges since they are already tapered on way. BILL
I have used dowels or scraps of wood I ripped on my table saw. Walnut gives a nice color. I then shape them with a belt sander or my spindle sander. They could be shaped with a dremel, it would just take longer. I then carve the bark with the back side of a pointed dremel tool.
Thanks for the replys. I never thought about the cedar shakes you speak of. I will have to look for them.
Cedar shingles, both white or red clears or even hand split, do work great for the trunks. Cedar is quite soft, straight grained and easily shaped. Some of the heavier shakes can have a much more knarley grain which can produce some twisting and crooks to the trunk.
After preping the taper and rounding off, use a fine toothed saw or other serrated tool to scrape the truck. This and intermitent sanding will produce some realistic bark texture.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Do any of you guys have any pics on how you do it. I am having a problem grasping the flat rectangle turned into round trunk. I am sorry I am a visual kind of guy.
rs2mike Do any of you guys have any pics on how you do it. I am having a problem grasping the flat rectangle turned into round trunk. I am sorry I am a visual kind of guy.
Think of it looking down from the top taper. Start by making the trunk square (having four corners/sides). Shave off the corners to make an octagon (like a stop sign). Sand/round the corners of the trunk thus making it round in appearance.
Using a (small) block plane going w/ the grain speeds this up. If not a rasp, utility knife and sanding will get you there. If you have trouble w/ guessing the 45 degree champhers, use a pencil to line it as a guide to acheive the octagon shape. Cedar is very soft, sanding w/ #80 grit will "chew" into the wood and shape it quickly. Just go easy...
For larger trunked trees you will need to go to a 3/8" or larger dowel. Shingle butts are 5/16" for white and 3/8" for red R&R. Med to heavy shakes can go up to about 3/4". This would depend on your scale. Dowels are made from a semi hardwood ( ex. birch etc.) and of coarse will be harder to work with.
Cool thanks. I am in ho scale. What would be a good diameter for a tree. 3/4 inch is big but would be good to whittle down a bit. Thanks for all the help guys
Here's some trunks I did for a pulpwood car. Nothing special.
I used different dowel rods, some fine ballast, some oil paints (mixed very thin), rough sandpaper (for the grooves in the tree bark).
I cut the rods into certain sizes I wanted. Next I mixed some oil paints very thin, and gave the rods a wood color. Next I took the rough sandpaper for the grooves, and to remove the oil paint. Then I mixed up some lighter color oils, mixed with the fine ballast. Dabbed it on all over the rods (for the bark look). Then its done!!
Here's the only picture I have.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
That is a nice load. Hard to believe it is dowl rod. Nice job indeed!!