Trees and shrubs etc.?

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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Your expert advice appreciated:

Our current layout is 027 Tradional Toy Trains with Plasticville structures.

We are planning an entirely new layout with a much different focus. It is our intention to build, in the ture sense, a model railroad with complete scenic enhancements ie. landscape, scale structures and authentic looking track beds etc.

Putting together a budget, we have checked out the “Scenic Express” catalog and have been looking at LifeLike products as well as eBay listings for both domestic and international scenic offerings.

Based on your experience, what direction (Keeping in mind the “best bang for the buck” scenerio) should we be directing our efforts?

Also, would you have any suggestions as to where we should look should we decide to go the ‘Do it yourself’ (making trees, rocks etc.) method?

As always, many thanks.

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As I’m sure you know O gauge scenery and accessories do no fall in the lower price ranges. I would suggest eBay for the best bang for your buck, even then it’s going to be big $$$.

I have not seen many trees in O gauge that are true to scale. A 48’ tree in O gauge would 12”, the pine trees on my HO layout are scale 50’ to 90” and finding 11” to 12” trees is both tough to find and expensive. I have over 600 trees on my 10’x14’ layout. I expect you would do better making your own trees with material from Scenic Express or Woodland Scenics.

Many years ago (20?) I bought some 12” tree kits from Fine Finescale Forest Products for about $2 per tree.

I would say that the lowest cost would be DIY and for me that’s the only way. That’s the most fulfilling part of model railroading for me, doing it myself.

Mel

Modeling the

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Past issues of Model Railroader are full of articles on making scenery, perhaps more than any other subject. There are also plenty of webpages which offer instruction.
I use some products from Lifelike for scenery, there are other sources too.
Woodland Scenics is a company which specializes in scenery. I use many of their products. Their website includes instructions and videos on how to use their products.

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I just got home from the 3rd annual Crawfish Boil Louisiana brought to Minnesota by bent stillery in Roseville St Paul what a great time.

I seen your post I will help you out with trees. Google Luke Towan Trees. Luke is a very likeable Australian guy my inspiration for trees. You will like him and he is easy to follow in his videos. Thanks

God bless our veterans for keeping our country free

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RR_Mel, Lone Wolf and Santa Fe, Track fiddler:

Thanks, so much, for your replies.

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While this thread is on background trees and is for HO, there is some info on making your own trees using natural branch structures that you may be able to find locally, combined with polyfibre available from various sources, and ground foam. You can get various sizes and colours of ground foam from Woodland Scenics, or make your own using cushion foam, craft paints, and a blender that’s yours, and not the one your wife uses in the kitchen. [:P]

Wayne

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Wayne: Thanks.

PS…“Blender”!..Unfortunately, been there, done that[:-^]

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Hi,

Yesterday I finished (and planted) 10 of the Woodland Scenics “tree kits”. I’ve built several of these many years ago, so this was like starting anew. The kits come in various sizes and for evergreen or deciduous trees.

They can be a bit difficult to build them, and it can be time consuming and certainly messy. But the end result can be notable.

In stages - ala mass production - I first bent out the branches, glued on the bases, painted the base/trunk and bigger branches with a brown/black wash, applied all purpose adhesive (527 brand) to each of the tips starting at the top, and then applying WS clusters to each branch end.

I let it sit overnight, and came back for touch up, and then wet down with a spray of Dull Cote. The next day they were ready for planting, but there were still a few spots where touch up was needed.

While I have some in foreground scenes, I like them better in the background.

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Just curious about you’re technique. Are you happy with you’re results using 527? I’ve tried several different brands and types of adhesives over the years and always end up going back to Woodland Scenics Hob-e-Tac.

I have a bit over 400 of the WS 6-8” pines (TR1106) on my layout with about 250 more still in baggies left to build. My tech

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I use the “527” for a lot of scenery items and it is good - not great however. It can get stringy, but gets the job done. Another I’ve used is in a grey tube called “E6000”. Sometimes I like it better but it may just be because one or the other set a bit longer before I applied the foliage.

The Dull Cote spray does help keeping the foliage from shedding small pieces and that is a big plus for sure.

Like a lot of the scenery things we do, there is a prototype for everything. While most of us would like perfect looking and symetrical trees, few in nature are actually like that. Said another way, its hard to screw this process up.

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I’ve been using Amazing Goop for about 8 years and the 527 appears to be very close to Goop with 527 being a bit thinner mix out of the tube.

I tried one tree using 527 and it did work but again I find WS Hob-e-Tac better. The main difference is Hob-e-Tac is applied with a brush and it takes about an hour and a half to become clear, it has a much longer working time. For me the longer working time is much better than either Goop or 527 for foliage.

Thanks for the advice, 527 does have it’s place on my workbench along with Goop. The thinner 527 has it’s advantages over the thicker Goop.

Thanks again Mobileman!

Mel

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My philosophy is this: it is called MODEL railroading, so why buy it if I can model it myself. Along that line, I just made a video on making cheap and easy pine trees by the dozen that can certainly be adapted for O scale. Here is a link.

https://youtu.be/9wdSKMOV8dY

Hope it helps, and good luck.

Ron

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I make trees using goldenrod stems. I wait till after the first frost when the Goldenrods are dried and brown. I then harvest the most “tree like” stems. They are trimmed up, and most of the “fuzzy” stuff knocked off. I then take spray paint (browns or green for summer, primer red, tan and green for fall) and spray them and then immediately dust with ground foams (greens for summer, red, yellows and greens for fall).

If is messy to make them nd they are only available once a year, but they are cheap and can make trees 6-12 inches tall.

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My grandson and I are going to start making trees for his “O” scale MTH train layout.

I’m going to use the same method I did for HO scale, using armatures from brush and shrubs, found growing localy. While searching for the right branch structures for HO, it amazed me how many I found that would be perfect for O scale.

I spray the armature with a coat of adhesive, ( many to choose from, I use 3M Super 77, and I’ve also used unscented hair spray), then I ad peices of polyester foam fill, to “fill” out the trees, simulating smaller branch structures.

Once I’m satisfied with how it looks, I give the whole tree light coats of dark gray primer spray paint, using very light, kind of like “whispy” (is that a word?) puffs, until I don’t see any more of the white showing on the fiber fill.

At this point, the tree looks real good for winter time bare trees.

Once I’m happy with the over all color, and after the paint has fully dried, I start adding the ground foam foliage, using light coats of 77 to keep it place. once again, little amounts at a time to slowly fill out the tree. The fiber fill gives a nice “fluffy” tree, with out using up so much foliage.

Once that is done to my satisfaction, I seal it all with either light coats of 77, or the unscented hair spray.

The 3M 77 does kind of have a “whitish gluey” look if you use it too heavily, so light coats is the rule.

This seems like a long process, but it real isn’t, and I do about 8 to 10 trees at a time, with the trunks stick into a piece of foam board, to support them during the process, and for final drying.

It’s worth a try, if your not satisfied, you can always go the manufactured products like Woodland Scenics.

I also try to scratch build something, until I get satisfying results. It’s part of the hobby for me.

Have fun!

Mike.

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Am still reading. Many thanks to all for your ideas and suggestions.