I have made many trees in the past, but I am trying my hand at birch trees for the first time. I am using Scenic Express SuperTrees and I am wondering what is the easiest way to get the white bark look of a birch tree? Who can tell me what has worked for them? All suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
Thanks,
Ron
First you need to examine real birch trees for their overall shape and trunk sizing to the canopy. I don’t think the super trees actually resemble a birch in the first place. Most times birches will grow in stands of numerous ones of all sizes. Trunks and older growth is white w/ that black/ dark slash markings, newer growth on upper smaller branches is silvery or reddish. You may be better to select end “twig” branches as a starting point (silvery grey), spread thinnly pulled polyfiber attached to the upper branched for canopy cover (held on by dipping tops of brach/ twigs in white glue), then glue, hairspray etc and sprinkle on the ground foam.
Birches will tend to be slender, older ones will loose the lower branches , quite often, 2 or 3 truncks emerge from a single root .
Tho paint the trunks, i suggest drydrushing the white not totally covering as a full coverage “coat”, allow to dry and w/ very small brush dab those horizontal slashes. Only some of the mature trees will have the white extending out on branches up and into the canopy
Ron, I use goldenrod for trees. I paint the trunks white with a rattle can then use a black sharpie. There’s a couple here in front of the SD:
A few more:
Hope that helps!
Terry in NW Wisconsin
So, I made a few birches for my son’s layout. I used WS armatures and pared them down with a sprue nipper. I airbrushed them with white acrylic paint, then dry-brushed the black on with a fine brush. They took about an hour each, so I only made a few, but they turned out very well.
Sounds good. Obviously another way would be to paint the entire trunk a dark grey then randomly brush on the ‘white’ in a hit and miss manner with a small shaggy brush, painting across the trunk rather than along it. The unruly nature of the brush will leave small patches of dark here and there as you go.
You might try using a sharp black pencil for the horizontal lines in the ‘bark’.
-Bob
Ron,
Spray paint the trunks flat white with a rattle can and apply foliage. Use Noch olive green and light green fine leaf flakes for the best results. I’m not sure trunk detailing will be necessary, They should look pretty good without the trunk highlights (especially when viewed at a distance)
Guy
I appreciate everyone’s input. Below is a photo of my first attempt. I think they came out pretty good. I used SuperTrees armatures. You have to select the right ones–they are the left-overs that you wouldn’t want to use for deciduous trees. I spray painted them with a cheap, flat white rattle can. I then stained them in an india ink wash. I used Scenic Cement to hold the foliage in place and made the telltale black hashing on the bark with a very sharp black colored pencil (the ones in the foreground have this done, not all of the ones in the background have been “hashed” yet). Remember, these are N scale, so the photo is actually larger than actual size. Thanks for all your tips.
Terry,
I like your trees, I actually have some birch tree armatures that were a gift, but they are like winter, no leaves. So I need to try your polyfil process to build a canopy on them
Ron, I think you did a great job, your white birch tree’s look great. How did you do hte leaves/canopy?
Aflyer
I agree. They look very good!
The foliage was easy. I just dipped the top of the armature in a small bowl of Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement then sprinkled it with healthy covering of Silfor Birch Tree Lite Summer folliage straight from the shaker and stuck in in a piece of foam to let it dry.
Ron