cattails in HO

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Anyone have a suggestion for modeling cattails in HO? I don’t need many. Any suggestions would be appreciated

2

brush bristle, such as from a plastic whisk broom (not too thick), dip the end in Walthers Goo or in the plastic decoupage you see at craft stores.
If you are lucky it will dry to about the right shape.
Dave Nelson

3

The little “craft” whisk brooms from the dollar store may be useful too. They use some sort fo plant material that has “split ends” which looks like the leaves that branch out regularly from the cattail stem.

If you are looking to create bullrushes (often confused with cattails, as they grow in similar environments) I would suggest some thin wire with an oval shaped blob of paint or even nailpolish (haven’t tried this, but seen it recommended…!), near the end of the wire stalk.

Good luck. Let us know how you solve this one!

Andrew

4

Just got caught by my wife cutting up her broom! Asked what the *&^% I was doing? I responded catails! She just rolled her eyes and walked away. Good idea though. thanks guys. I’ll let you know the results.

Well this worked pretty good! They turnd out really well. The broom bristles looked a little to large, so I found some florists wire and tried it. They look alot better.
Here’s how I did it.

Painted florists wire with craft paints, pulled end of wire through some white glue, then through some real fine green foam and finally through some really fine sawdust. They turned out great. Thanks for the idea guys. Well back to catail heaven! Rex

5

Any chance of some pictures? [:)]

Andrew

6

In the MR there were picture of a guy that had taken 10thou plastic rod which was sprayed green with the seed pod put on by rolling the bit down from the tip in brown nail varni***hat was on the end of a 1mm wide bit of styrene!

they looked really good.

7

If you dont need very many. Alkem Scale Models has cattails in brass they are 24 for $10.99.

8

Two URLs that will get you to Alkem Scale Models Web site are:
http://alkemscalemodels.com
and,
http://www.geocities.com/bkempins/ASMMain/Main.html
Not only do they have cattails and corn rows, they also have sumac plants and signal towers, switch targets, etc.
Bob

9

I made them using short lengths of .10 plastic rod painted a deep green then I too a deep red nail polish and made the head of the cattail on top…i setup a lil assembly line and made a few dozen at a time. Look VERY realistic

10

The March 2001 issue of MR has a good article on cattails and pond scum etc

11

Boy! I’m realy getting old. You guys are talking about vegaition. I immediatly tought of brakeman warning catails at low underpasses and tunnels. Gotta get with the topic
LOL

12

I’ve got two methods:

  1. take dry Christmas tree. Shake well. Collect needles. Glue in place and enjoy! There’s no seedheads with this method, but you get a lot of coverage for cheap. They are a bit brittle, though.

  2. Take green florist’s wire and cut to length. Roll tip in white glue, and then Woodland Scenic’s earth. This is the flower head. To make the leaves, take green florist’s tape and cut it 3/4 of the width several times, to replicate leaves. Cut sections of the tape, roll around the flower stalk, and glue in place.

Method 2 takes a LOT longer, but makes for very nice cattails. Save them for the foreground, and use the pine needles in the back.

13

The next challenge : WORKING cat tails, which actually release scale seeds into the air.
I expect to see a full report sometime around April 1

Dave Nelson

14

Dave Nelson,
The thing about counting “cat tail” seeds is that they are smaller than rivets. [:)]
Bob

15

This sounded familiar, and I finally tracked it down right here at trains.com (imagine that! [;)]).

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/002/504xisqm.asp

Andrew