Just a quick reminder that your local 'dollar' store now has their version of the "Christmas Village" on the shelves; a great time to build your forests! One big one, or two mediun sized, or three little guys, all in blister packs, for a dollar! The series also had chain posts and fences. All usable with HO scale. If you want, you can paint the red christmas balls to be pinecones, and the white tips of the others are easily covered with an acrylic paint, which they also have in abundance, even some metallics, over in the craft aisle...
I have a number of these. I find the green to be too bright, but a quck blast of a darker green from a rattle can cures that problem. They aren't the best trees around, but as part of a mixed forest in the background they do quite nicely. And as you pointed out, you can't beat the price.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
wow;thanks for the heads up...Jerry
That was my point; at this price you won't feel bad stripping off half the foliage, painting it brown & tossing it on the ground as deadfall...and to pack in those corners for a nice dense background, now's the time to get 30 or 40. I'm even getting my friends on facebook to grab me a couple when they're out; they've embraced the idea since it gets them involved after seeing the layouts on my Photo pages.
Here's the posts and chain available (originally a brass colour, this was the first coat of black.) With a ceiling train, fencing is essential, so I found that a certain size of machine bolt slipped right through the chain on the inside of the posts, and could be cinched tight, making a secure yet invisible barrier.
Whats this "Christmas VIllage" and what dollar store are you talking about!? If the last picture answers my question I apologize, I cannot see it at work. Please say it Dollarama
I didn't want to make this seem like an ad for Dollarama; but, yes., it's Dollarama. The packages are on a blue card in Canada this year; previous years have also had little 'Victorian'-style cast iron-like fencing, as well as the post & chainlink fencing as illutrated in the last picture. Here's a shot of some of the trees:
and here:
This is the size range of trees available. The largest are about 10" high.
Sweet swirling onion rings! Dollarama here I come!!! Thanks for the awesome tip :D
In keeping with this theme (and thread!), also included in this year's "Village' offerings is a set of two streetlights, self-powered with a 2 AA battery pack.
At 4" high, they're a little overscale for HO but would be fine for big lights, like station platforms or parking lots. And if you're careful, the little red bow pops right off.(Bah, humbug...)
The tree on the left I picked up with a bunch of cars & buildings cheap a awhile ago. There's roughly 100 trees & I paid about $40 for everything I picked up.
I was trying to figure out what to do with them then saw what was an identical tree on a layout at a recent train show I went to.
They has apparantly used some form of "scenic" material on them, so I tried it as well.
The tree on the right, is the finished product.
Gord
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
I saw either the same trees or something similar at Jo-Ann's Fabrics in their holiday section for about the same price. I need to go back and pick up a bag or two of them.
I went to both Dollaramas in my town... one didn't have anything and the other only had the massive 8" ones that are wayyyyyy to big for the layout im going to be doing :(
For the price, you can have yourself a National Forest on the layout in no time! One little improvement for the trees is to spray them with a cheap hair-spray, dip them lightly in some finely ground foam such as various colors of WS 'turf', then seal them with another shot of the hairspray and you've got about as many cedar trees as your layout can handle. Good stuff, those Dollar trees!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Gee, we don't have any "Dollarama" here. We DO have "Dollar Tree" I wonder if Dollar Tree Indeed carries dollar trees?????
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Chin up, everyone! Not all stores have all stock in yet; but we're not the only ones that are on to this (wretched dollhousers!) - my local store was down to its last 5" tree - but had lots of the streetlights, I hope that's the case tomorrow! The company that makes these must grab its suppliers on the fly - every year is a slightly different product. Last year's model was much more sparse, a more realistic-looking tree (my 3rd pic), but the various sizes I've seen so far this year look all like the winners at a topiary festival - very dense & tight.
Throughout the year I find these stores quite handy for building wood as well, as long as you don't mind being inventive with what they have. There's usually a good selection of dowels, squared posts, & of course, popsicle sticks! Their hardware aisle also has a bunch of cheap lights, 'press-on/off'; I'm starting to experiment with disassembling them & using them for accessory lighting...
No Dollarama's around here. Dollar General had nothing like them. Went to Big Lots today, they had 16 trees about an inch to 6 inches tall in a package for $6. Couple of big ones, couple of medium and the rest quite small. All were on a round, white piece of foam (?), looked like it should come off easily. They did have some white sprayed on them, so for non snow scenes would need a paint job.
I've been making my own with baling twine and floral wire, but may get a couple of packs, as they certainly aren't too costly.
Have fun,
Richard
I visited my local Dollar Tree and indeed, they had small pine tree's of 3 different styles in packages of 2 for a dollar. Not too bad for back ground. In fact you could use the ones I saw without re-coloring, they were a dark dark green. Small by HO standards but you could fill in with them fine. Hmmm
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
HaroldALOL - Okay, I have been to the Dollar Store, Dollar General, Big Lots, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and every time I ask for these trees I get the 'deer in the headlights' look. Perhaps here in Michigan we don't have such products. (sigh)
Come up and visit us Canucks! We are friendly and don't bite... usually
The excitement just keeps building...you can't see the forest for the trees!! Now, in addition to the 'landscaped' trees that were out in the first post-Thanksgiving offering, there are 'rougher' trees on the shelves. Also in great abundance this year are a wide assortment of antique-style streetlights, with attached battery packs. As I mentioned before, most are a little large for HO, but a little imagination & the two I got today (shown) will add a nice touch to my work yard...
Stop teasing me with your amazing dollar stores! They have no selection here at all in the 5 dollar stores in my town
bigpianoguy This is the size range of trees available. The largest are about 10" high.
I found these exact sets at Home Depot on sale last week for 5 bucks each.
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