Modelling Trees

[Anonymous]

Hi all, recently i've been building my new micro size n-scale layout, and im almost ready to begin scenery, thing is, like most, i cringe at spending money on scenry, like trees....and i've seen a few tutorials on making trees, but not to what i want, anyone have any good suggestion or links to tutorials on making trees?

Ryan

[SpaceMouse]

Frist, we need a hint as to what kind of trees--and what time of year.

[Anonymous]

ahh yes, i was thinking, maybe a few midly tall ones, evergreen type, but mostly, variations of the standard tree, oak, maple, time of year will be spring/summer, as im trying to work with what i have, and save the income for the much larger layout later on

Ryan

[SpaceMouse]

Mostly I get my trees from plants outside. Some of the plants with close-knit radial flowers will work nicely. The first step is to paint the stems grey, and then add ground foam to the upper part. Yellow paint dusted over the top brings out a sunlight highlight.

[Anonymous]

Super trees from Scenic Express are great & easy. They seem expensive, but you can get a lot more out of a bag than you would think, just follow the directions. One thing I would add is to push a thin wire up thru the trunk to give the tree more strenghth &keep it straight

[jfugate]

You can check out my forum scenery clinic here at this link:

http://model-trains-video.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157

I talk about modeling scenery from A to Z, including how to make trees.


Scenery made using techniques in my Scenery Forum Clinic.

[edkowal]

The best online clinic I've ever seen is in French.

To translate it into pretty good English, first go to the Altavista Babelfish site at: http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Then scroll down to the Translate a Web Page section, choose French to English and enter: http://home.worldcom.ch/gribig/arbres%201.html for the address of the Web page.

Michel Gribi's clinic is the best I've seen, BUT, it is not a fast method. There is no fast and easy method for excellent trees. Of all the parts in the technique, perhaps the key is to work from photos or books of real trees. Everybody knows what a generic tree should look like, but the best tree models, like locomotive or building models, will be of specific types of tree. And the best way to get that right is to work from pictures of real trees.

-Ed

P.S. Forgot to mention the navigation buttons, which don't get translated because they're graphics, rather than text. "Accueil" will get you to the Home page of the site. "Conseils" will bring up a list of clinics. And "Suivant" at the bottom of the page, will bring up a page of completed examples made using the method, and the French-English description of the type of tree it's a model of. Each time you hit "Suivant" you'll get a new page of examples.

[Budliner]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edkowal

The best online clinic I've ever seen is in French.

To translate it into pretty good English, first go to the Altavista Babelfish site at: http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Then scroll down to the Translate a Web Page section, choose French to English and enter: http://home.worldcom.ch/gribig/arbres%201.html for the address of the Web page.

Michel Gribi's clinic is the best I've seen, BUT, it is not a fast method. There is no fast and easy method for excellent trees. Of all the parts in the technique, perhaps the key is to work from photos or books of real trees. Everybody knows what a generic tree should look like, but the best tree models, like locomotive or building models, will be of specific types of tree. And the best way to get that right is to work from pictures of real trees.

-Ed

P.S. Forgot to mention the navigation buttons, which don't get translated because they're graphics, rather than text. "Accueil" will get you to the Home page of the site. "Conseils" will bring up a list of clinics. And "Suivant" at the bottom of the page, will bring up a page of completed examples made using the method, and the French-English description of the type of tree it's a model of. Each time you hit "Suivant" you'll get a new page of examples.

how for do he make trunk ??


K

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edkowal
There is no fast and easy method for excellent trees.

I guess I don't agree. The methods I use with Supertrees makes an excellent looking tree in less than 5 minutes per tree. Here's another photo of the trees:



Depends on how you define "excellent". If you mean species-specific trees that will look like the actual thing in ultra-closeup model photos, then yes, expect to spend some time making each and every tree painstakingly by hand.

But with the methods I use to make the trees you see in these photos, you can crank out 50 trees in an evening and all you have to know is how to use a spray can and how to sprinkle ground foam onto a supertree twig.

To see details, check out my online scenery clinic:
http://model-trains-video.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157

[edkowal]

Super Trees won't work for all cases, or in all scales. I find that unless you're willing to beef up the trunk, you don't get a convincing tree.

The thin trunk that you get using an unmodified Super Tree wouldn't be strong enough to hold up the tree's foliage. The tree would fall down of its own weight.

-Ed

[ngartshore350]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jfugate

You can check out my forum scenery clinic here at this link:

http://model-trains-video.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157

I talk about modeling scenery from A to Z, including how to make trees.


Scenery made using techniques in my Scenery Forum Clinic.

Great Forum on Scenery! Really useful and explained throughly

Not sure what "silfor" is, we might have another name for it in OZ?

Regards,

NG

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ngartshore350

Not sure what "silfor" is, we might have another name for it in OZ?

Regards,

NG

Silflor is a special synthetic mat that you can get in various nap lengths. Here's more about it on my web site:


Click here to learn more:
http://siskiyou.railfan.net/model/constructionNotes/silflor.html

[pcarrell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edkowal

Super Trees won't work for all cases, or in all scales. I find that unless you're willing to beef up the trunk, you don't get a convincing tree.

He's in N scale, so he probably won't have to beef the trunk much, if at all.

QUOTE: The thin trunk that you get using an unmodified Super Tree wouldn't be strong enough to hold up the tree's foliage. The tree would fall down of its own weight.

That's why Jerry suggested putting a wire inside the trunk.


Oh, and Joe,

I love your work. It's very inspirational. I have your scenery clinic bookmarked. (I've had it bookmarked for a long time. Good stuff!)

[edkowal]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pcarrell

QUOTE: Originally posted by edkowal

The thin trunk that you get using an unmodified Super Tree wouldn't be strong enough to hold up the tree's foliage. The tree would fall down of its own weight.

That's why Jerry suggested putting a wire inside the trunk.

You misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that you have to reinforce Super Trees or they will fall over on your layout. ( Although that may well be true. ) What I was attempting to say, is that when used all by themselves, without cosmetically adding to the girth of the trunk, the trunk does not look wide enough to support the weight of the leaves it would have, if it were a real world tree, and not a model of a tree. If you look at Super Trees when used on layouts, don't you get the feeling that they're a little "delicate" to be real trees? I do whenever I see them. That's what I meant. On the other hand, they've got great branch structure.



-Ed

[PennsyHoosier]

I agree about supertrees. They are easy to use and produce very nice results. I highly recommend them.

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edkowal

Super Trees won't work for all cases, or in all scales. I find that unless you're willing to beef up the trunk, you don't get a convincing tree.

The thin trunk that you get using an unmodified Super Tree wouldn't be strong enough to hold up the tree's foliage. The tree would fall down of its own weight.

-Ed

Ed:

You're right that supertrees won't work for all cases, but they work well, unmodified, in many cases. Here's a photo of the prototype Siskiyou Line. Notice the lightweight, spindly trunks on the trees in the foreground just over the edge of the highway bridge.


(Click to enlarge photo)

Now compare that to my model photo:

(Click to enlarge photo)

I'd say the supertrees do a pretty effective job, unmodified, of modeling the trees you see in the prototype photo. The prototype trees do remain standing, spindly trunks and all. [swg]

Agreed, not all types of trees can be modeled with supertrees, but a blanket statement that supertrees always need a thicker trunk isn't the case.

When you do need thicker trunks, Scenic Express also now has "Super Sage" trees. Still, for the bulk of your forest, you can use supertrees unmodified and then line the front of your forest with a line or two of Super Sage Trees to get the thicker trunks when you need them.


See: http://www.sceneryexpress.com/images/SuperSage_Dept2.jpg

[jfugate]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pcarrell
Oh, and Joe,

I love your work. It's very inspirational. I have your scenery clinic bookmarked. (I've had it bookmarked for a long time. Good stuff!)

Glad you find the info helpful, pc!

That's why I post it. [swg]

[ngartshore350]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jfugate

QUOTE: Originally posted by ngartshore350

Not sure what "silfor" is, we might have another name for it in OZ?

Regards,

NG

Silflor is a special synthetic mat that you can get in various nap lengths. Here's more about it on my web site:

Click here to learn more:
http://siskiyou.railfan.net/model/constructionNotes/silflor.html

Joe,

Thanks for the further explaination and the link, its great you took the time to explain it further.

Regards,

NG

[MAbruce]

I model in N-scale and have extensively used Supertrees on my layout. I’m happy with them and think they have worked out great. They are cost effective and have held up nicely for a couple of years now. I’m not sure I’d recommend them for N-trak modules or other portable applications. Not sure how they would hold up to the wear and tear under those circumstances.

Here’s a shot of some trees on my layout, although they’re not nearly as well done as what Joe Fugate has already shown:

[Anonymous]

Thanks, guys for the help, hopefully ill get around to doing some this week...

Thanks

Ryan

[tomkat-13]

I use a real plant that looks tree like. In the fall I pick the dried out plant, dust it with cheep hairspay, the spinkle on ground foam. Also I found out that if you plant the trees in odd number grouping (1-3-5-7-ect) they seem to look more natural.