I’m almost to the point on my layout of putting down the trees. In your own opinion who makes the most realistic trees available?
Ummm, I really like the ones the Earth seems to grow… Oh, you meant model trees, sorry… [;)]
I actually like different trees from different manufacturers. For example, Grand Central Gems, a local company makes fabulous hard wood trees, but I don’t particularly like their pines. On the other hand I really like the pines from Woodland scenics, and don’t care much for their hard woods. There are also a number of companies that make kits which allow you to build a great number of trees affordably. And on the other end of things are companies that specialize in museum quality trees, but they are super expensive.
Take a look at the Scenic Express website if you haven’t already. They seem to have a pretty good selelction of products. Here is a link: http://www.sceneryexpress.com/default.asp
How makes the best trees? . . . God
I was just fixin to post that.
Check these guys http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/ .I don’t know what your budget is but these things are out of this world. Theres a link to the Bear Creek layout on you have to see.This guy is the definition of “master modeler”
There are a lot of small companies selling model trees. Here is another one:
That’s my buddy Charlie Comstock who’s doing the Bear Creek layout. And I have to agree, Charlie’s one top notch modeler.
I’m speaking with Pete Vassler of Canyon Creek Scenics about doing some video demo of his trees and posting it on the web.
CCS’s trees are the best conifers I know of.
But the best decidious trees are Supertrees and Supersage from Scenic Express. See: http://www.sceneryexpress.com … their web site has seen major improvement in the last couple months, and their hardcopy catalog is simply amazing in the variety of scenery materials they offer.
(click here to see a larger version: http://mymemoirs.net/model-trains/images/post_photos/Photo_20.jpg )
I also talk about how to make some good looking trees quickly right here in my Scenery FORUM CLINIC on here. See: http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=7&TOPIC_ID=32122
I agree with Joe on the scenic express printed catalog. I’ve been a printer for 20 years and that thing blew me away when it came in the mail. That’s some high quality color printing worth sending for.(order a catalog, support a printer-WE spend money on trains too!!!)
If you aren’t made out of money, and the conifers don’t have to be that large. I recommend what some of the people here call ’ Aggro trees’.
They are made by YOU and only cost you a few cents each.
Hang on, I’ll have better pictures of these trees tomarrow.
Heres how to do them.
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=26674
Sorry Aggro, Your exceptional trees and talents slipped my mind. ( A momentary lapse of reason[8D]
Aggro:
Those are some great looking conifers. How long would you estimate it takes you per tree to make one? Or put another way, how many of these babies can you turn out in an evening?
In the case of my version of decidious supertrees (once I’ve soaked the sprigs and hung them to dry overnight), I do them 5 or six up at a time on a slab of stryofoam, and I can do a gang of trees like this from raw to ready to plant in under 10 minutes, so that’s about 2 minutes per tree. It’s easy in an evening to get a 100 or so trees that I can plant, and they all look just great.
Keep the nice photos coming!
Of all the furnace material I tear up, about half is usable on tree. I spent alot of time disgarding useless pieces. Sometimes it took like 20 min per skeleton. Once I had a dozen +/- skeletons I air brushed the batch. After they dried for a few days, I cheap hair sprayed and flocked them. It streched out for a while, but I did other project while the paint dried throughly.
I don’t need trees 200’ scale feet tall. I use selective compression. [:)] Make the trains and my bedroom layout seem larger.
I second, or third the vote for Scenic Express Super trees! I have not tried super sage trees yet, but they looked mighty impressive on the scenic express booth at the NTS.
Senicexpress makes really good trees when done right. If you want to look at a good way of making them go to www.fcsme.org they have a really good seminar on there web site.
Here are some better photos of said trees.
Aggro’s right, his method of making pines and evergreens is really top-notch. I’ve tried them for use on my ‘higher’ elevations (a theoretical 4,000-6,000 feet above sea level in the Northern Sierras of California) and they work beautifully. I tend to ‘overflock’ mine a little, since the Fir at those elevations tend to have pretty thick foliage, but the technique is the same. They really work, and after you get used to building them, you can turn them out fairly quick.
Tom[:D]
Here’s an unfinished scene on my new extension–the “Aggrotrees” are the forest to the left of the bridge.
I found the Canyon Creek site a while ago, the gallery pictures were actually taken on the Bear Creek Layout.
As for the trees they are nothing more than “Aggro’s trees” made for you by someone else, granted there is a lot of labour in there to pay for, and some people will. But their supplies for making your own are a bit pricey.
hmmmmm, 5x 10" tapered dowels, a little piece of furnace filter(uncoloured) mini bags of foliage, and little paints. $39.99!
Think I’ll go to walmart and get the same stuff for less than $10 and be able to make atleast 100 trees.
Hmmmmm foliage material, brown painted furnace filter to you and I, however…
24"x30"x1" Walmart $2.99
10"x10"x1/2" Canyon Creek $9.50
http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/frm_supplies.htm
If you want someone to make them for you, the price is right I guess due to the time involved, but if your gonna make them yourself, do the RR a favour and go to Wal-Mart for the supplies, think of all those extra boxcars you can buy with the money you save.
One of my own pines.
Have fun & be safe.
Karl.
God!
Karl:
Well, yes and no.
I happen to be talking with Pete Vassler of CCS at the moment and making a video piece on how they make their trees and it’s not quite that simple.
One of the more time consuming parts of the entire process, Pete tells me, is separating the furnace filter material out into 3 sub-layers from the original furnace material. One of CCS’s secrets is that using more layers of furnace filter material that are thinner yields more realistic trees.
Also, they take the time to scribe and shape the trunks so you get a more realistic taper and great bark texture already on the dowel.
And you also get their excellent instructions sheet loaded with lots of little tips that add a lot of realism to the final tree.
So the kit is far more than a bunch of cheap raw materials at a steap price.
Considering what you get and the prework that went into the kit, it’s a premium item for sure, but CCS is not gouging the poor uninformed model railroader as you suggest.
Who makes the best trees?? You Do. Agrro makes great spruce, balsalm. Dowels and dried weeds make White Pine and Norway Pine. Garden Weeds and florist tape makes elm trees and oak. Even my first tries looked better than the stuff I’d buy, it cheaper(a lot) and its fun to make. “Only God can make a tree.” be we can sure model them. Be brave and surprise yourself.
Here are some of my first tries. Wait until I learn what I’m doing.
