Hi guys,
I’m about to put in a lumber mill scene on my layout. One part of the mill will consist of huge piles of logs awaiting their turn for the saws. My question is, how do you make a pile of uncut tree logs look prototypical in HO scale. I have two kinds of wood to work with in this area, oak or Pine but if i leave the bark on the twigs I’ve gathered as is, it just doesn’t look right. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated…chuck
Click image to enlarge
Mike Siggins used my technique to make those logs.
Visit:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/logs/
Thank you if you visit
Harold
Chuck Ellis used bird perches for his layout that he bought at a pet store for his layout
and they looked pretty good
CW, The timing is just about right to try what I did:
I used to get Southern White Pine (natural) Christmas Trees. Once their assignment as a Christmas tree was done and they had sat in the back yard for awhile, I would use my pruning shears and cut the small limbs into lengths equal to what my HO log cars could carry. A variety of diameters of “logs” were made in this way. These were stored in large zip-lock bags. The bark detail looks fine and they don’t seem to dry out - and it is surely easier than trying to make a dowel look like a log. I have had these for over five years and they still look good.
Bill
Do filberts(hazelnuts) grow in your area? The suckers from these small trees make great logs just for the cutting.
Cedar tree branches work good too. And they smell good![:)]
No hazelnuts here…It’s hard enough to get pine, oak, or just about any tree to grow here with the gumbo clay soil in this area. We do have a bushy tree here called youpon that might work. I made a walking stick out of it one time but for miniature trees?..i don’t know…Looks like i’m going to have to make a trip to Idaho on my next vacation…[;)] chuck
Botanically speaking, small branches of trees and shrubs are exact miniatures of the mature tree. try some shrubs of different variety, people are amazed at the accuracy of these “logs” and the price is right, cut halfway through each log so there is a saw cut and where the tree breaks before it falls, determine what size logs you need for your layout, some logs in British Columbia are so large one whole log car is used for one log. (those hazelnut twigs are perfect)
As Beach Bill says, you would be amazed at how many uses an old Christmas tree can be worth to this hobby - and this is one of them. Very early on the day after Christmas descend upon some place that has been selling trees and you will, most likely, find the unsold numbers abandoned. Throw a couple in the back of a pick-up and give the proprietor of the property a hand in cleaning the place up. Take them home and leave them stacked up in the back yard until they have dried thoroughly and then harvest the branches for your purpose. Not only can logs be fashioned from the branches but after the needles have fallen off the tips can be soaked in glycerin and taped together and used for tree armatures.
I have a large log deck at my band saw mill. I have been using old rose bush stems. Recently I have discovered that butterfly bush stems are even more realistic.
Peter Smith, Memphis
Remember when cutting the logs to length that in the real world, they where usually cut to specific (mostly even foot) lengths in the woods (the buckers job, after the faller had chopped the tree down). This reduced the amount of wood that had to be transported that would not end up as lumber, making the transportation and storage of the logs more efficient.
The is a photo of a log train that hauled logs to the mill in my town (on the CPR), it is dated as 192-
And here is a coastal train. Note the somewhat bigger logs:
