I downloaded a “how to” from MR on how to make trees, I was curious to see if there were any new tips or tricks in making trees. I have a large layout and I have been making trees the old school ways, but I am interested in is the part where they showed using window screen and making trees for background applications to help with depth and fleshing out woods in a mountain scenery use. My question is has anyone tried it and what type of results did you get? How tall of a tree can you make with the window screen before it gets too big or looks too bad to be used on your layout? I have some metal window screen to use but was wondering if the plastic screens were better? What if any bracing and supports did you use to hold it in place? I was thinking of using 1"x1" fir strips to hold it in place on the back edge of the layout, but was wondering if I should buy some of the cheap chop-sticks and cut them and attach them to the trees for the ones mounted in the woods? Any help would be appreicated, thanks.
For background trees I use Architrees that I pick up on e-bay, for the cost they provide pre made trees for little more than materials cost, one note, only get pines from them as the firs meed another coat as they don’t look real and the other trees are not near as good!
For my 24’x24’ around the room HO layout I needed about 500 trees. For foreground trees I use sage for the trunk and glue on Super tree sections to fill out the branches. I then spray with adhesive and shake the tree in a bag of WS varied colored turf. The result is very realistic. For mass canopy of trees on a hillside, I use stained double pointed 4" olive skewers for the trunk. I push 5-6 circles of furnace filters on and spray with adhesive.The trees are then shaken in a bag of WS blended turf.One can glue trunkless WS clump foliage to fill in gaps. I driil holes in the plaster coated hillside , and after vacuuming, spray with varied colored brown. This way, there is no white drill powder, and the trees are removable for change of season, green to Fall colors. Bob Hahn For distant conifers I layer varied colored green sprayed thin sheet of sponge packing, that has been cut in pointed grouped conifer shape.
Metal is best. Rusty steel is better than aluminum. 1-3+ inches tall. Depends on what is in front of them. Vary the tree heights within a strip (which can be as long as you want it to be).
No bracing, the fan folds not only make them look three dimensional, they also make them sturdy. Glue directly to the backdrop. Also meant for backdrop and transition only. Not the best for fore or mid-ground.
… I am interested in is the part where they showed using window screen and making trees for background applications to help with depth and fleshing out woods in a mountain scenery use. My question is has anyone tried it and what type of results did you get?
How tall of a tree can you make with the window screen before it gets too big or looks too bad to be used on your layout? I have some metal window screen to use but was wondering if the plastic screens were better?
What if any bracing and supports did you use to hold it in place?
