I am considering buying a package of Super Trees from Scenic Express, and I want to know these:
Does the package come with the preserving solution?
Does the package come with paint?
I’m building in N scale, and 5-8" is a little too tall for me. Can I cut the trees to make them look better? Should I do it before or after putting them in the preserving solution?
Dog - I made most of my (400+) Super Trees last spring so I’m just a bit hazy on just what instructions came in the box. However, I do seem to recall that the box did contain a single sheet indicating that the tree armatures should be dipped in diluted white glue or matte medium after the “trees” have been clipped to the sizes you want. Actually, if the trees are away from the edge of the layout they probably don’t need to be treated at all since the “treatment” is supposed to make them a little flexible so they won’t snap if bumped by a hand. I didn’t treat mine along the backdrop and they are still good as new. Also check on-line. There’s a nice, detailed tutorial on making Super Trees somewhere (sorry, I don’t have any url).
As to question #2, no, you supply the paint, leaf material, whatever. The box includes only the Super Tree material.
Regarding #3, the material comes in big bunches or clusters, somewhat smaller than a basketball. You remove and snip the roughly 10" stems to match whatever size trees you wi***o make. There are also some real leaves on the armatures that need to be pulled off before treating or painting the trees.
CNJ831
Here is the link to Scenic Express and Supertrees instructions:
http://www.scenicexpress.com/supertrees.html
I’m in N-scale and got over 300 trees of varying sizes from one bag. A cost effective product that makes great trees!
Okay, new question: When they say to dilute the Matte Medium, do they mean with water or airbru***hinner (assuming they mean to use an airbrush here)?
Dog - you’re supposed top dip them in a bowl of Matte Medium diluted with water, then hang them up-side-down to dry a day or so.
CNJ831
I never did this for most of my trees - particularly the smaller ones. I did try this in conjunction with tweezers to straighten out some of the taller ones. Mixed results on that. Anyway, I have not had any problems with any of the trees that I didn’t soak in Matte Medium.
I did use diluted MM to affix the foam to the trees. I’ve heard that some used hairspray successfully too, the instructions warned that there could be long term issues with hairspray.
Postdog2- Ask your wife for her laundry line out back? for the day. Get many dozen laundry clips and hang your n-scale trees with them after dipping the trees in dilute matte medium. Be sure and twirl the trees individually after dipping, wearing old clothes and latex gloves. If you don’t do the twirling action, you will have clumps of dry matte medium sticking to your branches that make your trees look like they have been attacked by gypsy moths: tent caterpillars! Now you have a tree that won’t snap easily and is preserved. If you find you have some crooked tree trunks, add a pair of self closing tweezers to the end of the hanging tree to straighten it out while drying. From there, you can be as creative as you like. Happy Johnny Appleseeding!
One more thing: Should I just use clump foliage, detailed with fine foliage for the leaves or what?
Postdog2- Like I said: anything goes. What you don’t want to do is hide all those beautiful branches with big clumps of opaque foliage. I like to use fine leaf foliage from Woodland scenics. You can stretch it out making it lacy and see-through. Attach it with some Woodland Scenics foliage contact cement (man, is this stuff sticky!). Later, you can spray the foliage with either some dilute matte medium or non-scented megahold hair spray, and dust on your choice of fine leaves from Heki. That should make a beautiful foreground tree. Leave off the Heki leaf material for background trees. Punch a hole in your scenery base the size of the Supertree trunk, and plant with a drop of Super glue. Be imaginative and creative: the way you want to do it.
One more thing: What colors do you recommend to paint the trees? I’m looking for midwestern trees, such as Maple, Oak, Cedar, anything else that could be modeled by a Super Tree branch structure. Can I just brush on some acrylics or do I need to airbrush?
Bump [:)]
Dog - In the real world most deciduous trees have a greyish color to their trunks and branches. Actually, I found that a medium grey paint with just a tiny amount of green added gives the most realistic representation (I airbrushed mine) of the color. However, I’d just a quickly recommend lining up a whole bunch of tree armatures on a piece of styrofoam and spraying them en masse with any medium to light grey primer from a regular spray can. It’s not really a critical step. If you want to represent different kinds of trees in your forest, just spray a few tree trunks with a somewhat darker grey primer.
One thing you do want to avoid is making the trunks and branches too dark. You need them to standout from all the greenery. Also make your trees light and airy by not applying too much foam foilage. Nothing looks more fake than a tree that’s a solid mass of foam. Incidentally, on his very impressive N-gauge layout, Art Fahie paints all his tree trunks white to make the stand out!
CNJ831
What ever you use for foliage, vary it a lot. Use everything. Look at a forest, the variety is extensive. No two trees look alike, which is why super trees are so good. And do have fun. “Only God can make a tree”, but we can have fun modeling them. Please sho results.
Well, I probably won’t be able to show my results, since it will probably be a few weeks before I get them completed, since I’m still working on setting up an airbrush booth, but thanks for the replies. This has really helped.