I decided to work on the trees that line the commercial district on my layout. I’m using some WS plastic tree trunks, and of course they need a coat of paint.
Therein lies the issue.
In Western PA, where the layout is set, the species of trees tended towards gray or gray-brown trunks. I’ve tried mxing up some paint from craft acrylics, but nothing was satisifactory. Anyone out there got a gray-tree paint they use that looks right?
Try giving it a coat that is a bit brown, then give it a thinned wash of black over that. The black should settle into the nooks and crannies, making them stand out more.
Steve S
Using spray cans I did a primer grey followed with a dusting of brown and a even lighter dusting of black. I think I nailed it pretty good.
I would go with a darkish brown, or no brighter than a medium brown, as my base coat, mostly to ensure the shadows stand out, but that they’re not black. Then atop that, I would wipe the surface ‘bumps’ with a light grey. I would use a piece of paper towel or something that wouldn’t have bits of lint entering and lightening the shadowed grooves. Just a light wipe here and there to simulate the thicker older outer bark.
There are some pines that are darker, and some that are clearly mostly brown. So mix -em up, but not amongst each other, They grow in swaths.
-Crandell
We have talked similar color questions before… what color are rocks, fields, concrete, roads, and of course trees.
I’ve done a lot of car trips over the years, and can tell you that pretty much any color you want can work. Of course you want them muted and flat, and for trunks I would go browns/greys and for summer leaves greens tinted dark or light, and for the fall, reds/oranges/yellows/browns.
Stepping out the front door and really observing colors can be a real eye opener ! I remember trying to mix a good concrete color at the bench - I then took it outside and layed it on a slab of concrete … wasn’t even close ! Same goes for trees, telephone poles and even grass. What our mind / memory says is correct can be really different than what it really is.
Like anything else, a close observation of the proto-type goes a long way towards making things look more realistic.
Mark.
What species of tree are you modeling - and when?
Birch bark is virtually white, with black lines at section borders and black dots at defects. Aspen is similar, but greyer.
A few foreground trees might need great detail, Background trees can get away with grey-black trunks and branches - or even flat black if they’re in the shadow of a thick canopy of leaves.
Forced perspective background ‘trees’ can be represented with clumps of fine-textured ground foam on grey-died cotton balls supported by black toothpicks. In my case, the latter assemblies, once in place, will get a light overspray of blue-grey. It’s humid in late summer in up-country Japan.
Remember, trees and buildings are scene setters. They only serve as background to the trains.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
LIONS open some shades of gray and of brown and put them on different places on a plastic or cardboard scrap. Him mixes not the paints but dabbles a bit from each puddle until the effect is correct. You see, a tree does not have a color, it has a variet of colors that the eye sees all at once.
ROAR
Nittany Lion: "Anyone out there got a gray-tree paint they use that looks right?"
Try to make a kind of grey that’s made of 2 complimentiar colors , in our case like ( dark)red and dark)green…add a little ivorycolor to lighten it a litlle bit up and ready is your grey.
try to avoid black and white as a grey…basicly If you want to be the grey more tending to brown…add a litlle bit some more of the red / color…more to green add some green to it…
I’d forgotten I’d posted about this.
The last picture here, that is “tree” color to me. I think we were mainly maples and oaks or something. Rather generic “tree.” I wouldn’t have thought to try non-black or white paints to mix for a gray, even though I know from color selection in graphic design software that any color isn’t very far from gray.