I have finally finished my first mountain!! Yaaaaaaa
It looks pretty good, I used the rock molds on the side walls from WS. And the base was sprayed with foam insulation and painted dark green.
Now I’m ready to tree it up. What type of glue do I use for the trees and underbrush?
The trees will be attached to the foam base.
I use a small screw driver and poke a hole in the foam. Then I add some white glue to the base of the tree and stick it in. On under brush, do you mean grass or small bushes?
Cuda Ken
Motley:
To fasten the underbrush I use regular white glue. Others use WS Scenic cement or Tacky Glue. All work. I’m sure that you will get some other answers since everyone has a preference. As to trees, it depends on the type of tree and its trunk. Some folks simply make a small hole in the foam and insert the tree trunk sometimes with glue and sometimes not. If the tree has a base you could glue it down and then add a little ground cover to make it look “planted”.
Joe
Good point, Ken.
You reminded me that I have also used your method as well as another method where I drill a small hole (I use a plywood base) and hot glue the trees into the hole,
Rich
Tacky Glue!
Nick
Thanks guys for the help. I’ll post some pictures when I finish her up!
Michael
Michael, looking forward to seeing them.
Cuda Ken
Add another vote for plain Tacky White glue. tacky tends not to dry as hard as Elmers so it sill retains a little “give” while still holding good.
Another question, what kind of trees and colors should I get?
I’m modeling the rocky mountains, so I would think the pines? They have dark, and medium green. Should I get a mix of different? What about the underbrush, vary the colors?
Thanks,
Michael
Michael,
Birch and aspen for sure. The species of pines depends somewhat on the altitude. If I were you, I’d head up I-70 or US 6 / 40 and take some pix.
John Timm
Far as color it depends what time of year you are modeling. Far as the Rockey’s, I have never been there.
I model (if you can call it that) summer so I use a lot of dark green with some yellow deeper in the trees. I all so use a couple of different colors of dark green. My self I like Super Trees and made some furnaces filters pine trees. (you will need to do a keyword search to find some links and good luck)
On super Trees, few tips. Paint the trunks and some of the branches a dark color, I use gray. Pack in some ground foam to fill the center. I all so use cheap hair spray to hold the foam on.
Cuda Ken
Aha I see now, wow I was going to just get one kind of tree. I guess I should pay more attention to my surroundings! LOL
That looks awesome Ken, I want that look for sure.
Great idea about the Berch and Aspens… those look pretty.
I’m actually pretty close to the foothills, I’m north of Denver, but southeast of Boulder.
Much appreciated,
Michael
It’s amazing what we see when we look at what we are looking at. When I was planning to make some rock molds I looked at the ledges along the Interstate. Everything from very dark brown to light gray, some with streaks of white quartz layered in. Some, when it was blasted left fairly large flat spots, other places it is like crumpled foil (guess that’s why some folks use that for a mold). Trees are the same. They are all green (in summer), but a closer look different types of trees are different colors of green and even the same type tree can vary if they are growing in a different soil. Yes, when we look to copy something we see a lot more than we saw when we just looked.
The one suggestion I did not see is that when you first paint your layout you can sprinkle on some of the basic ground foam onto the wet paint, saves some glue. Texture and variety of color make a big difference in the appearance of your layout.
Have fun,
I believe this a great question that is properly posed on this forum - you want an answer; this may be trivialised by the “intermediate” or “advanced” modelers, but where does a newbie go? Keep asking your questions
This “newbie” “simple” question has evolved into a more “intermediate/advanced” maybe even “profound” thread.
So, yeah, keep asking these kinds of questions.
All I can say is that without all of your help, I would be completely lost, and would have a crappy looking layout.
Another question: The look I want is to completely fill the base with trees and underbrush. Because of the spray insulation foam. Should I use the clump foilage too? Or should I not worry about filling the entire base and keep some bare spots?
Here is a pic of my mountain right now. (sorry for the poor quality phone pic, need a new camera)
Thanks,
Michael
I have two ways to fasten my trees.
At the layout I drill a hole and “plant” the trees.
At the modules I drill a small hole, inserte / glue a brass tube for the tree. The tree has a piece of wire for roots.
This way these trees are removable for transportation.
Wolfgang
Where man is going to be and there are trees I would not add brush and dead fall. People like to keep the areas where trees are net. Where Nature rules there will be a lot of weeds, bushes and dead fall. I would all so add any ground clutter before you add trees.
In this photo I used a lot of clump bushes and dead fall.
Woodland sells Deaf Fall Forest Debris # EX896B. I use it and really brought the woods a live.
I not sure what you are asking here? Are you wanting to keep the board from looking to flat? If I am guessing right, you can use foam to add some height. Cut some foam and sand to the shape you want and use either white glue or latex to hold to the board. Here I added a small hill next to the track.
Where the tree is sitting became this area.
From the looks of it you are building a engine house in the center of the board. How much switching are you planning on doing and how long will the reach be? Reason I ask is you don’t want a lot of tress in the area you have a long reach.You will flatten out your tress.
What you have done so far looks pretty good! Much better than my first try.
Cuda Ken
Ken,
Thanks for the suggestions on the dead fall debris, I will definitely get that. You do amazing work, I love your tees!!!
You see in my pictures is my yard and engine house and transfer table. I won’t be reaching over any trees though, I will probably just put some ground foliage and a few scattered trees along the rock wall. I have plenty of reach space to the yard tracks, they will extend a little further closer to the back wall of the mountain. I also have two cutouts on the rock side wall for access to the track.
Thanks,
Michael