Good idea and great results, Grampy. Thanks.
The matte medium seals the plant and thereby preserves it. It is an important part of the process (apparently) if you want the tree to last. Once soaked in matte medium the trees get a little more resistant to damage as well.
There are certainly better ways to hold the leaves on than the matte medium, but I suspect that hairspray,spray adhesive and so forth will not preserve the tree. If you read the manual that comes with the trees it makes it quite clear what the purpose of matte medium is and also why matte medium over white glue.
Of course it is always your call.
Simply soaking them in matte medium and then hainging them with weights to straighten them out has never worked for me. I boil mine first. Check out this tutorial.
http://www.fcsme.org/bcarl/how_to_make_scenic_express_supertrees.htm
The Matte Medium is to preserve and protect. It makes them less fragile. As the super trees dry they become very delicate. The Matte Medium helps them to hold up to handling and wear and tear on the layout. I would not skip this step.
I use strong hold hair spray to adhere the ground foam. Its a lot easier and can be re-applied to add subsequent layers of ground foam. I spray, do a loose layer of coarser foam, spray again, and apply fine ground foam more heavily. This creates a nice three dimensional effect on my N trees.
The basic technique I use is from Joe Fugate’s second scenery DVD. I modified it to fit my needs with N trees. He has the chapter on making trees available for download as “TENMILE CREEK SERIES - Part 14: Realistic deciduous trees” on his site for a few bucks.
Chris
You can order diluted matte medium, in gallon quantity, from Scenic Express, the same folks who sell the Super Trees. When soaked in the matte medium, the Super Trees will be less brittle as they age. You could probably also use glycerin, if you have source to purchase it in large quantities.
You can also modify the Super Trees by adding (or subtracting) limbs to them. We use some hot glue to attach limbs. As some have noted, the trunks are a little thin at the base. We use hot glue to attach small headless nails to the trunk; when painted, it all blends together with the trunk plus gives you a positive way to mount the trees.
Jim Brewer