OK, so dad gets ahold of a couple of bags of Woodland Scenics tree kits. I know he followed the instructions, as he’s a stickler for the details. Everything’s by the book… So… the foliage doesn’t stay on the trees. It falls off like crazy. Out of 50 trees, only 7 of them are usable on the layout.
Anyone have any “tips” for working with the WS tree kits, or have any other brands of kits or ways to make trees that are fairly easy, but still look good?
Last night working with the WS trees was one of those times where MR wasn’t any fun, it was frustrating [xx(]
What kinda glue were you using to hold the foliage to the branches?
Did you let the glue dry first BEFORE placing any foliage on the branches?
If you were using something like Hob-E-Tac (i.e. a white glue that is tacky when dry), you MUST let the glue dry completely (clear) FIRST before attempting to attach your ground foam. I made this mistake the first time. You can’t add it while it’s wet because the ground foam absorbs too much of the glue and leaves it virtually ineffective.
Also, spraying your tree when you are done with a cheap hair spray (e.g. Aqua Net) will lock everything together. Don’t be surprised though if, on occasion, clumps of foam (which I affectionately refer to as “bombs”) drop off your trees from time to time. You can usually stick them right back on. Reapply glue only if branch has lost its tackiness.
Hoping that will make things go a little less frustrating for you and your dad…
I do exactly what Tom describes, and it works great. Add rubber cement, let dry, swi***he armature around in a bag of clump foliage, and zap it with Aqua net. I do two additional things though:
while the Aqua Net is still wet, sprinkle on some Woodland Scenics medium turf. This helps add bulk and texture to the clump foliage. Zap the tree a second time with Aqua Net.
Since my layout is foam, I cut off the little nub on the bottom of the trees, drill a hole in the bottom, and add 3D finishing nails (ACC’d in, and with the heads cut off). That way, I can just spear them into the foam.
We had used the Hob-E-Tac stuff, and let it dry, then he swished the branches in the bag, and then we sprayed them with the matte medium that came with the woodland scenics kit that dad bought. So hair spray is the way to go, huh? We’ll need to try that again once we’re over our frustration…
The key is to let the Hob-E-Tac dry CLEAR. That’s when it becomes tacky to the touch. You might also, after swishing the tree in the foam, gently press the foam in place for better contact. It will have less of a tendency to want to drop “bombs” that way.
Ray,
Thanks for the additional tips. I’ll have to remember the 3-penny nail trick.
