Caspia Tree

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

This is my first attempt at making trees. Trunk is made from balsa and the branches are made from dried Caspia. Please let me know what you think. Should I bother with more?

Thanks

2

They look great!

Did you paint the leaves?

PS:[#welcome]

EDIT: They look much better than MY first attempt!!! [:o)]

3

Great start. I learned a few things making mine.

  1. Taper the top to a point

  2. Cut two slots from the top down with a razor saw. Then some caspia in the slots from the top to form the top of the tree.

  3. Flocking the tree with the Noch static grass machine makes a nice Douglas fir.

  4. Use the dead emty pieces of Caspia for a dead tree.

Expermentaion is more important than education. I urge you to continue. I get a lot of comments on my White pine. I have made about 35 of them and I think about 10 are pretty good. Keep the pics coming. By the way, you did a nice job with the bark. Did you use a black wash to emphasise the shadows in the bark?

4

Looks pretty good. Are you sure that Caspia won’t dry out and crumble with time?

5

Looks like a good start…only a couple of 1,000 more to go? …Cox 47

6

The trees look great as a first attempt. Implement the suggestion given about tapering the tree more to a point at the top and maybe get a little more bark detail by roughing up the dowel with a razor saw.

Caspia will dry out over time and also lose some color. You can prevent this by getting the bulk caspia and soaking it in a solution of 80% distilled water and 20% liquid glycerin. Let it soak for about a half hour and then hang it up to dry someplace where you don’t care about the drips getting all over. It usually takes about a day to dry. This method will keep the caspia pliable and colorfast for about 10 years.

7

Thanks for the feedback. Next go will definitely involve the suggestions made.

Tyler - I did not paint the Caspia, used it as is off the shelf.

Art - all I did was use a wash of brown acrylic, let that dry and then darkened some spots with a Minwax stain pen.

Jim - thanks for the glycerin idea!

8

Other than needing some taper over the entire length, it looks real good.

9

What is a caspia tree? does it have another name? where does it grow?

10

Caspia is not a tree but a small bush-like plant that blooms. It’s the blooms that are dried and used for decorative purposes. You can grow caspia but it’s a lot easier to go to someplace like http://www.driedflowersrus.com/?cPath=62 and just order it in the color you want.

11

Wow! Where do the prototype trees grow? I might want to make some for my layout![;)]

12

The Caspia tree is a model of White Pine and Norway Pine. Larger versions make Redwood, but aspargas grass may be better. With Noch flock it makes a Douglas fir. Pieces of the Caspia are stuck in holes drilled in the carved dowel that makes the trunk. If there is interest several of us could do another tutorial. They are time consuming, but I know of no other way to get the big pine or fir in HO or O. Most of the older layouts all used aspargas fern and may still think they look better.