Well, I tried my hand at making a very large tree. I used the stranded electrical wire trick to make the armature. To add size over my previous trees using this method, I used 3 lengths of 12 gauge wire, and soldered the “trunks together”. I twisted some pairs together using a cordless drill. For some, I left them as individual wires. I used clumps of foam and, as suggested by WP&P, used lichen, as well. I found that an additional benefit to using lichen was that the main parts of it are hollow. I brushed on some straight white glue and slid it down over the “branch”. I found the best way to glue the medium coarseness foam on was with Elmer’s spray glue. It doesn’t pack down and lose its “airyness” like diluted white glue.
After I built this tree, I realized it was too big to fit in the field next to the farmhouse where I originally wanted to put it. So, I put it on a hill next to the train tracks.
Planting it on the hill worked well, because this tree was getting a swing put on it.
Looks good; the lichen does help to fill it out. However, as mentioned, the main drawback of lichen is as it has always been, that it has that vein-y or webbed look to it. When I employ it, I tend to get very selective, and only use the tips of the lichen where the texture is finest. And, of course, I make sure to cover it all in foam.
I wouldn’t try painting it to resemble branches, though if you want to conduct that experiment I’d like to see the results. I would suggest, however, that you try to get as dark a shade as possible, so that the ground foam is brighter than the lichen. This adds a bit of shadow and depth, plus you eye tends to see the brighter highlights more than the dark shadows, meaning that the lichen webbing will recede to the background. If you can’t find a source of dark colored lichen, then perhaps you’ll need to stain or paint it yourself. But it makes a world of difference, having a dark lichen substrate compared to a light grey-green.
Where I think lichen really “shines” is as ground cover such as bushes.
For trees, I’ve yet to find anything that compares with polyfiber (used sparigly– you need to stretch it out between the branches) and a fine grade of ground turf. It yields a tree that is both full and “airy” looking.
Nice to see a decent-size model tree, Marlon, but I have to agree that the exposed lichen detracts from its appearance. If you can, darken it, as suggested (even a judicious application of sprayed paint would help), then apply a very well-thinned web of polyfibre, followed by an application of ground foam. The lichen will continue to add to the “bulk” of the tree, while the fibre/foam combination will give it some airiness.
I also use lichen to bulk-out scenes, although usually as bushes and undergrowth. And what looks decent on the layout, doesn’t always appear so in photos. Some of these pictures illustrate that I need to improve my lichen, too.
Here’s the same bridge scene looking east:
…and west:
Some more lichen undergrowth with foam-on-polyfibre on natural twig armatures:
Here’s the same side of the river seen in the previous photo, but on the opposite side of the bridge (towards the backdrop and in an area not viewable in-person from this angle):
While I’m generally pleased with the distant elm, the one in the foregound still needs more work - both trees are polyfibre and ground foam over twig armatures and are about 60’ tall in HO scale:
Wayne – I agree that photos always bring out the glitches in our workmanship that are invisible to the naked eye. That said, I’m lichen your layout a lot, no matter what materials you used on it. [(-D]
Marion, you might be alright painting your “branches”, but you might not be either. One small slip of the brush, and suddenly you have leaves and branches the same color. I’m not sure what color “roof brown” is offhand, but in my experience, trees are more gray than brown. The 30 or so elms, oaks, walnuts and hickories I’m looking at out of the window right now sure are.
Most of the time more gray than brown. Sometimes even with a slight pinkishness to them. Other times with a little green mixed in. But brown doesn’t seem to be the dominant color.
In fact, I have a custom color that I mix myself, which I call (surprisingly enough) “Tree Bark”. It is a mix of about 75% Flat Gull Gray, 20% Panzerschkoladenbraun (Chocolate brown) and 5% Lichtgrun RLM 83 (a light grayish green) (Testors Modelmaster Acryl colors).
Up to this point, I’ve been hitting the trunks with a can of gray auto-primer first. Some get a quick shot of Krylon Camouflage Green or Camouflage Dark Brown.
I’ve also been experimenting with using Bragdon weathering powders on the trunks– over the top of the gray primer… Which gives a good affect also.
I like the tree over all but I think you need to get out the scale pruners. My thoughts are that the trunk is far to small to support a tree of that size and could use a little more girth. Scale wise I would bet maybe three times the diameter would be closer to correct. I’m with the other who’ve commented on the lichen being better suited for use as brush or ground cover. However If you wanted to model a southern Cypress tree that has all that moss hanging off of it then your lichen trick would be perfect.
I must have read your mind, as I did do a little pruning. As far as the trunk size, it’s closely modeled after the tree in my neighbor’s back yard, and it scales out to 21" in diameter.
I really like your pictures, specifically the “dunes”, currents and muddy banks and blended water coloring. Have you got more pictures to reference, different aspects of the rest of your work?
[#welcome] to the Forums, Brendan, and thank you for the kind words.
There a few general layout pictures HERE, some “water” pictures HERE, quite a few layout pictures in THIS THREAD, and a bunch more water and bridge views HERE. If you scroll down the page in the last link, there’s a very brief explanation of the “water”.
After I built this tree, I realized it was too big to fit in the field next to the farmhouse where I originally wanted to put it. So, I put it on a hill next to the train tracks.
Planting it on the hill worked well, because this tree was getting a swing put on it.
