I would think that the traditional method of balling up polyfiber, dipping in scenic cement, roll in turf makes fine HO size trees but would be to small for O scale. Can you make a “large” (4" or larger) ball of polyfiber without it shrinking to HO scale size? That fiberstuff is pretty darn weak, meaning I would think what might look like a large puffball of polyfiber, but would shrink a lot under the denseness of the wet scenic cement and would come out more HO size than O size.
Has anyone made O Scale size puffball trees with success? Suggestions?
I am doing a lot of Puff-Ball trees and have found that when I ball up the poly fiber - it tends to expand some so my Puffs seem to get larger.
I make up a 16oz or 32oz bag at a time (ending up with about 240 puffs with the 32oz bag)
I first spray paint the puffs with flat black paint - this provides a base for the green paint it use, covers the White up, as well as making the Puff Ball stop expanding.
Once the Black puff is dry (I wait a couple of days) I paint the puff with cheap Wal-Mart Green spray paint and the cover it with a green mix of Woodland foam.
I cover the wet puff really well and let it dry a minute and then shake the excess loose foam off the puff and put it aside to dry!
I usually make about 60 puffs at a time.
Once the puffs are dry - I cut them in half!
This makes twice as many puff trees and it gives me a flat surface to glue them onto my hill!
I use Clear Latex Caulking to glue them onto the foam hillside
Having the flat side to glue to allows me to pack the puffs closer together and eliminates the SEE-THROUGH that I observe on so many other layouts have visited.
My hillsides match the many pictures I have taken over the years of Western Pa hill sides and this is the look I was after.
Unfortunetly CTT forum is gear more towards collecting and their operation(running). Not much there as far as scale layout scenery expiereance. Was hoping some O scalers would chime in.
You may just have to give it a try, then let us know what you find.
Make the balls the same way as the smaller ones, just use a lot more poly fiber. When I squeeze the little ones to get the excess glue out, they get pretty small, then expand. Hopefully larger balls will puff up like the smaller ones. WS poly fiber comes in pretty small bags, but does over 50 HO trees. Micro-Mark has a larger bag of brown fiber. Haven’t used it yet, but it will make a whole lot of trees from the size of the bag. I am going to use a more concentrated glue solution than I did before, hopefully will hold the foam on a little better. With the WS green, if spots didn’t stick good it didn’t show too much. The brown will show through more, I think. Though not an objectionable color, just don’t want too much of it.
Think for O the puff ball look is good for ornamental small trees in O. Looks too artificial in large scale IMO.
For quality foreground trees I would go with sagebrush with supertree stems or the rope method. For backgound cover its easier to use sedum and other natural materials then the puffball. Most O layouts overlook making larger “scale trees” because of effort . I look at it as another structure.
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