Trees - How many on your layout? Just Curious

[CPRail_modeler]

0 on layout

40 Pine in bag

This is mainly due to not enough time. I’m also getting the new table so planting trees would be a bit of a waste.

[johncolley]

Wow, why count, I just keep adding trees until the scene looks “right”! I model the GN in the Cascades on HO Free-mo modules and my “Riverbend” module is a large (by model RR standards) 45 degree curve (72" r.plus easements and superelevated) around a bend in a river. It is roughly 2’x8’ and at last count there were over 100 trees, mostly various conifers, with some deciduous along the river banks. Also there is a lot of shrubs, bushes, and ground cover. To complete the scene I have added a concrete bridge Highway 2 overcrossing both the track and the river. Enjoy the doing of the project and you will enjoy the results! jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA

[yougottawanta]

I have a 9x12 layout built so far and have over 120 trees on the layout to date with a few hundred more hanging on the wall awaiting installation.Which is roughly 1 tree per sq.ft. Of course I intend to add more.

[ChrisNH]

Your all scaring me.

Maybe modeling Arizona would be better for me then New England!

Chris

[UP2CSX]

Your all scaring me.

Maybe modeling Arizona would be better for me then New England!

Chris

You’d be suprised at how difficult it is to model the desert. You’ve got a bunch of different colors and rock formation to get right. The desert actually had a lot ofplant life, just not many trees. You’ve got to model all the mesquite, greaswood, and sagebrush to make things look real. With an eastern layout, you can always thow in some more trees and underbrush to cover a mistake but desert layouts are a lot less forgiving.

[shawnee]

I have well over 100 trees and I’m not half done. There’s no way you can model a railroad in the south and not have a lot of trees. The problem here is about 30% are pines, 40% are decidious, and 30% is nothing but a huge tangle of Kudzu Vine. [:)] Mixing the two tree types together at the same altitude is tough to make look right so I’m cheating by having some small hills and having more pines up there. The Kudzu is a real challenge. It’s all over the place here so you can’t ignore it. I’m using WS foliage mats and stretching them out to give them a vine-like appearance and running them up trees and utility poles but it still doesn’t look right. Any other southern modelers out there that have a better answer?

I would think that polyfiber “pirate’s beard” stuff, painted green, stretched, and sprinkled with foliage, might be a good option for the dreaded Kudzu. It’s easy to stretch and make the polyfiber climb stuff just like the evil vine.

[tomkat-13]

100’s

I make my trees from a plant called “Forget-Me-Knots”…In the late fall after the plant turns to seed and the plant looks tree like. I cut to different hights and layout by size. I use cheap hair spay on the tops and sprinkle a green ground foam mix on. You can build thicker trees (“building on”) by adding more branches. Just take smaller ones, use a pin poke a hole into a bigger trunk & add white glue. Also I like to plant them in odd numbers ( 1-3-5-7-ect) seems to look more natural.