Building a new layout and need some ideas for FIR trees. These need to match ones that would be found in the North Western part of the US. Specifically the Columbia River Gorge. Thanks!
Search for furnace filter trees here on this site. Some people make extremely nice trees out of those.
Here is a link: http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/
Magnus
Furnace filter on a stick for lots of HO Christmas trees. Absolutley the best, fastest, cheapest way to get trees of all sizes. Use Noch static grass to get a more furry appearance.
Dried Astilbe flowers spary painted green make lots of tall pine trees. That is what I used in Yellowstone Canyon. Add WS flock or Static grass for variation.
Caspia twigs glued in carved dowels make the best White Pine/Douglas Fir but take more time to make.
You don’t have to be an artist, but practice and patience are needed to get a lot of good trees. Only half of what I make are usible near the front to a viewing area.
Show us what you make for we are all learning this together
Three old pics
Hi: FWIW, here are my “bottle brush” conifers. 
Those are the ones I was thinking of. Didn’t you do a “how to” thread on how you made those Grampy?
I searched for it and couldn’t find one.
These realistic enough for you?
(Click image to enlarge)
I discuss how they’re made from furnace filters in my Scenery Forum Clinic.
Hi Tom: Yes, it was “Tree making techniques” by alco49 on 5-01-08.
Thanks! JFUGATE
I have been experimenting with bottle brush trees for a couple of weeks and I am satisfied with the look of them but I dont think they are detailed enough to do the whole layout in them.
So today I have been experimenting with your idea and the results are very satisfying. I have also found that using cedar boards for the trunks work very nicely. I use the fence type boards and with the prying side of a hammer break off large splinters. Cedar boards are really soft and when it comes to scraping the bark texture into them the texture just sinks in.
Mine are bottlebrush types - a twisted u-shaped wire with sisal rope fibres wound inside, painted very dark brown, with Woodland Scenics conifer foliage glued on. DAS clay moulded over the low part of the trunk to hide the wire twists, and painted to match once it’s dry.
This one just needs clay.
Mike
there was an MR from like 95 or somethin where Earl Smallshaw showed this genius method for making evergreen/pine background trees.
Take window screen type wire, and cut out a tree skyline on top. then you take the whole thing and make folds in it so that it comes out all zig-zagged, like //////////. Then you just cover them with whatever foliage you want to use. The folding gives the tree shape outline some 3D substance, and you can make them as long or as short as you want. Its crazy good.
Furnace filter on carved trunks (or on bamboo skewers for trees with foliage to the ground). I have a mix of homemade and Canyon Creek Scenics products (very nice but expensive) on my layout.
Regards,
Charlie Comstock
The furnace filter material to make these trees is getting harder and harder to find.
It used to be I could find this material at Walmart or Target, but not any more. I can find it at BiMart, Lowes, or Home Depot.
I also discuss how to find this material online, with several links provided here.
Another question, Yesterday I purchased two air filters from Home Depot,they were the kind that were encased around the edge in cardboard. They also had a different kind that was thicker and just in a plastic bag like the link you posted. Which one should I have purchased?
WOW…tHOSE ARE EXPENSIVE TREES! I have gotten some pretty good results using woodland scenics foliage and cutting out triangular shaped patterns and gluing to each branch to get a nice conifer.
That is a great idea for where your layout meet the back drop, throw a few regular tress in front of it, I bet you couldn’t tell the difference. Im deffinetely gonna use this one. Thanks!
That is some great work, Why are they called “bottle brush type trees”? Is that what kind of wire you use? Also I see you bend the wire into a v shape and place the pieces of rope strand in between before you twist them but how do you continue to add more strands once already twisted? I would thinkplaing all the strands at once would be a little difficult. I would like to try this method.
n1vets33 - some people hold it all in place with masking tape. I haven’t bothered - mainly because I’m too lazy to go and look for it. I actually don’t mind if things slip a bit - makes it look a bit less formal. Masking tape may well help to hide the wire twists a bit.
Light tie wire will do the job for you. It all gets wound up using a drill at one end, and a vice at the other. You can’t add more strands afterwards, so start with plenty. You can always cut them away with scissors.
Give it a go. It’s fun. Don’t forget to post the results. [:)]
Mike
I’m not sure about the fir trees around the Columbia River Gorge, but you might consider one of my favorite ways of making evergreens…
First, get some pine cones from your backyard or local park. Using a pair of gloves, “shuck” the outer “petals” off the cone, so that you are left with just the bare cone. Then dip the cone in a mixture of white glue and water (1:4). Sprinkle Woodland Scenics’ blended turf over the wet cone, covering the whole thing. Then, for mounting purposes, drill a small hole in the bottom of the “trunk” and stick a 1-2 inch pin or nail in it. Then stick it on your layout. You can make a lot of these in one sitting very inexpensively. Here is a picture of one on my layout (about a third of the way down on the page)…
http://www.building-your-model-railroad.com/model-trees.html
Hope this helps.
The furnace filter material I’ve used comes in a plastic bag or comes in rolls that you cut yourself. I’ve never seen it in the configuration with the cardboard edges, if that helps.