I’ve spent the last few months trying to develop a technique for modelling fall trees that is effective, easy and cheap. The large maple tree I modelled for my Pete’s Pumpkins layout confirmed that I had finally settled on a process that was simple and effective, and I’ve started adding some hardwoods to the one corner of the Niagara Escarpment System. The key was in finding suitable dried floral stems that best represented the branch structure of the native deciduous trees. I found many samples that looked good for branches but lacked decent trunk structures until I noticed a package of cocktail straws at the dollar store!
The process is as follows:
- Trim a number of stems from the original floral sprig and insert them into the cocktail straw creating the desired tree shape
- Carefully apply heat (in my case a candle) to the straw until it starts to melt, and then quickly roll it back-and-forth between your fingers to create a tight, wrinkled trunk
- Trim the tree to shape
- Apply a coat of thick acrylic tube paint to the base of the branches to smooth any rough areas and fill the holes at the top of the trunk
- Spray the entire tree with flat black/grey/brown paint
- Mist the head of the tree with light coats of yellow paint and immediately apply suitably coloured ground foam
- Add successive coats of hairspray and ground foam until the desired density and colour is achieved
- Overspray the tree with quick blasts of red oxide primer to add colour variation
- Touch-up with the trunk by dry-brushing highlights onto it
The set of trees seen in the following photo took two evenings to build at an average of about a half-hour per evening.
0 thoughts on “Autumn Trees”
pcarrell says:
Rather then a cocktail straw, heat shrink tubing used for electrical work might work better. You could then use a hairdrier to shrink it. Other then that they look awesome. I think I’ll find this to be of great use on my own layout.
Model Railroader says:
I’ve looked at heat-shrink tubing and I still may use it – it was the cost that deterred me. I’m going to need to make about 200 more trees (next layout) and at about $1.00/tree it wasn’t reasonable…
pcarrell says:
You can buy it in bulk at an electronics warehouse. Fry’s Electronics sells a 70ft roll of 1/16 tubing for like $17. that would be nought for a whole forest. Here’s a link: [url]http://shop4.outpost.com/product/68264;jsessionid=kGohfX9EeQBQI91rrFiV+g**.node2?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG[/url]
Just a thought…..
What you’ve got going looks awesome though!
Scott says:
Great idea. I think I’ll give it a try this weekend!
Thanks,
Scott
Christian says:
But you don’t need to make the tree an autumn tree. You can also make it a maple or some other tree…. BUT THANK YOU
The ones at shops these days look to empty. There’s very little “leaves” in them.