Super Trees

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have made Super Trees in the past and really like the results. However, the most time consuming part of the process is soaking them in matt medium and hanging to dry etc. In Tony Koesters article he does not include that step. I thought that it was needed to keep the trees from drying out and becoming crumbly. Any experience with this or comments?

Thank you,

Mark

2

I have used them straight out of the box. Maybe I am missing something, but they seem to be fine, though they are brittle and do not take much abuse. Mine are only 5 or 6 years old, so I do not know how they will hold up after 20.

3

The soaking them in matte medium and hanging to dry is for straightening them. A lot of them have a curl to them and this process permanently straightens them out. It probably does aid as a preservative, but it’s not a requirement.

Mark.

4

I don’t use matte medium either, but as mentioned above, I think it’s meant to serve two purposes - to make them a little less fragile, and to help straighten the natural curve. I don’t find them being fragile a problem, but the curve does have to be dealt with. I do it with steam - very fast, and has lasted about 2 years for me. I expect that if they haven’t lost their shape in that time, it’s unlikely they ever will. You can see my method for building supertrees (very similar to Tony’s), including steaming, in my video here:

http://www.basrr.blogspot.com/2013/10/supertrees-start-to-finish.html

5

Ed,

Your video was very instructional.

MR video plus couldn’t have done it better

Thanks for showing

Bob

6

Nice video, Thank you.

7

Thanks freeway, am about to make some trees and your steam straighting method is just the ticket for

the concern I had about bent trees

8

Ed:

Excellent tutorial!

Thanks

Dave

9

Ed,

Very nice video. Might even get me to give Super Trees a try.

Thank you for sharing,

Richard

10

Thanks for the tip on the steam straightening! Very quick and alot less mess than dipping and drying.

11

I use Woodland Scenics premium trees and so far never had a issue even after they been in storage for several years.I never glue these trees in their holes since I like to recycle items from one ISL to the next as much as I can.

12

Thanks for the kind words on my video. I stumbled accross the steaming idea on Youtube, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ppKkUJtHI

I didn’t go so far as to adopt that modeler’s hot glue method of building up the trunk thickness - although I think it’s a great idea, just too much time per tree - but I did try the steaming technique, and it works well, and is very quick!

So many great resources out there…

13

Curved/bent Supertrees have always been a problem for me. The steam method looks very promising, better than soaking and hanging upside down with attached weights.

Thanks for the tip!

Jarrell

14

Ed, thanks for making and sharing the video; great job! I’ve got it in my favorites for when I get to that stage, maybe later this year (or next?).