My past layouts have always had store bought trees on them. Yesterday I made my first two trees ever. The one one on the right is suppose to be a fir and the one on the left a hemlock. Please give me your opinions on how I can improve on these as I will be making hundreds to cover my thirty five foot long pass through the rockies.
I really fall down when it comes to anything that requires artistic talent like scenery for a model railroad. I will be listening to all your advice before mass production begins. Thanks guys.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Bert, one on the right looks great. Not knowing what a Hemlock should look like, it looks well upside down?
Ken
I hate Rust
cudaken Bert, one on the right looks great. Not knowing what a Hemlock should look like, it looks well upside down? Ken
I see what you mean about the Hemlock. They have the flop over tops on them and that is what I was trying to achieve. Fir trees have the pointed tops and I think that was easier to do. Maybe some work with the scissors on the Hemlock will help. Thanks Ken.
The one on the right is a good job.
What did you use for branches on the left. Seems to me a little too thick for hemlock. I think of them as having sagging branches, but not as full as you have done You might try making them like some folks do pines, using rings of scrubbies or furnace filters, just fill them in more.
I would also use a thinner skewer or at least taper the top more.
Just a couple of observations. I haven't done any of them yet, so you are ahead of me.
Good luck,
Brent,
The fir looks great but the hemlock looks alittle too boxy if ya get what i'm saying. Also it looks alittle to bushy, most tress have dead braches underneath and like the leaves are more on the outter part becasue the sunlight is blocked by the top branches. Hope this helps!
Bear Down!
The fir is very good. The hemlock looks a bit like a Dr. Suess tree.
"You need trees for your train, but to make them is a pain..."
Sorry, couldn't resist. Hemlocks I've seen look much more "fir-ish", but maybe just that's western hemlocks.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
You know what for a first time out of the box I think they both look great. A few creative suggestions, your colors and technique seem to be spot. What I do is if I am trying to make a particular type of conifer I try and print out a few good color pics of that type of tree to use as reference point.
Also it takes someone very skilled to make foreground trees, most of us mere mortal modelers use own home made trees as background or filler trees.So if you mix yours in with some store bought trees the illusion of a nice full forest will be achieved.
That being said I think you just need some practice with the scissors , just like any scale arborest.
Thanks for everyones . Both trees are furnace filter trees. The one on the right is a much courser filter material than the one on the left. I have a bunch of unused filters laying around. The one on the right I sprayed the filter material black and sprinkled WS fine turf on. The left one is sprayed with a lighter brown with the same WS fine turf.
My wife say's the hemlock looks like it's covered heavily with moss, like we get in the West coast rain forest. However that's was not the look I was aiming for.
For the trunks I put dowel or chopsticks in the drill and taper them down with 80 grit sandpaper. It seems to be quick and works well. Where a glove if you try it. I will try some of the other filter material and see what I end up with. Thanks again.
I did a little scissor work to the tree on the left. Is it an improvement???
The before pic.
BATMAN And after
And after
Hemlocks are TALL, mostly pyramidal, trees with slender, horizontal or slightly drooping branches and a characteristically nodding or somewhat drooping leading shoot, they have flattened needles.
In Canada we have only 3 types: Eastern, Western and Mountain of the 10 types in the world.
I can't tell the difference between a hemlock and a bunch of other evergreens.
Check a tree book of trees of North America and look for the section on silhouettes of trees, this will give you a great reference point for trees.
A considerable improvement. Much more air in the tree and you got rid of most of that matted look. Next try don't use so much foliage over the fiber.
The top of the trunk still much too heavy. Could you cut off the skewer, drill a small hole and insert a piece of paino wire or similar for the top?
As GE used to say "progress is our most important product." You are making progress.
Thanks Cowman and everyone. Spent more time mess'n around last night and I am starting to surprise even myself. There may be hope for my landscape yet. Next are those Japanese Double Cherry Blossom trees
On another note, your first LH tree looked like it was cut with scissors. The lines were too straight and square. The remake looks much better. I like my trees to have a little more of a see-through and airy look, but they look OK now.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Hi Batman: The tree on the right looks pretty good for a first time attempt. The one on the left - well lets just say it needs an arborist to trim a bit of the heavy branches out which you have already done to some extent, but the dropping top is good. One thing I might suggest about the tree on the right is that these types of trees do not taper at the bottom. The typical form is that the tree is conical right to the ground, so the bottom branches should not be shorter than the ones above them. I have a large spruce tree in my back yard and the bottom branches are the widest on the tree and they sit right down on the ground. This is just a suggestion - if these are your first attempts then your future work will likely be extraordinary!
Take care
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!