Best Of Interactive Scenery Clinic Week1: Ground Cover: Trees: Shrubs

[Ian MacMillan]

I am using Candy Tuft for my trees. I get it at Michaels, and one pack has created about 6-7 trees on average, at $4 a pack. Not too bad. I bind the trunks with floral tape, and then spray the trees with a basic cheap forest green. I then go back and air brush shades of greens, reds and yellows. The finish it up by building up the trunks with gray/brown, and paint the branches.

Here are some in their mocked up phase. Built up and basic forest green spray paint.

[CVSNE]

Now that I've finally got the posting pictures thing figured out I'll add two shots -

The first was taken on my HO scale Southern New England layout back in Longmont, Colorado. Trees are Supertree armatures glued to various twigs to make the trunks (trunks are terribly visible in this picture).  Undergrowth is a combination of shredded real leaves, tea leaves, and dyed sawdust.



Second shot is the N scale Maine Central-inspired layout I've been building for a book project. Trees are again Supertrees with a variety of earth and clay tone Scenic Express fine ground foams:

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Wow Marty, that first photo looks awfully familiar:

[Rowan]

What a fantastic thread. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CPGUY29]

Cant beat Supertrees painted brown/grey and covered in groundfoam...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Cant beat Supertrees painted brown/grey and covered in groundfoam...

I want to see more of this!!!!

[wm3798]

Grampy, you need to expand a bit on your technique...  I love what you've put up on the MR Board, and I'm glad that you've started posting here.  Please, allow us a peek behind the curtain!
Lee

[Dave V]

OK, guys...  As I was building my Enola Yard extension I realized I needed trees.  So instead of continuing with the Woodland Scenics trees that are clearly too short, I finally broke down and ordered 2 boxes of Super Trees.  They should be here Monday.

The plan will be to replace foreground WS trees on the original layout w/ Super Trees making more WS trees available for background at Enola.  Super Trees will also be used in the foreground along route 11/15 where it parallels the yard.

I'll post pics when I've got something.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think you're going to find something very interesting with the super trees.

They're going to make the layout look smaller.

I think this is partly because of their proportionality, and partly because they really are going to make it look more realistic.

It's a VERY good idea, but you should be prepared for it when it happens.

[Dave V]

Hmmm.....    Ummm....  Yeah.....



Yeah, Ed, they do make the layout look smaller.  MUCH smaller.

This tree is taller than my mountain.  It makes my 15" radius curve look like the track for a mall kiddie choo-choo.

The good news is these are more proportional to the trains and buildings.  The bad news is, the terrain and track are NOT.  I sense a very slippery slope here...

A good compromise is trimming these down.  They'll be much taller than the WS trees but still shorter than, say Tuscarora Mountain.

Now I need to git me some matte medium and some more leaf foliage, along with a ton of clothes pins.

[John]

ROTFLMAO

[Guilford Guy]

Is that a tree or is your layout just happy to see me? ;D

[DKS]

Hmmm.....    Ummm....  Yeah.....

Yeah, Ed, they do make the layout look smaller.  MUCH smaller.

This tree is taller than my mountain.  It makes my 15" radius curve look like the track for a mall kiddie choo-choo.

The good news is these are more proportional to the trains and buildings.  The bad news is, the terrain and track are NOT.  I sense a very slippery slope here...

A good compromise is trimming these down.  They'll be much taller than the WS trees but still shorter than, say Tuscarora Mountain.

Now I need to git me some matte medium and some more leaf foliage, along with a ton of clothes pins.

Imagine what happens when your layout is a measly 15 x 36 inches. A properly-scaled tree makes it look like a window planter.

Trees pretty much have to be proportioned to fit the layout, despite the fact that they may get pared down to the size of a shrubbery.

We want... another shrubbery!

[wm3798]

I've found that 40' to 60' is a good compromise height for trees.  Taller than the line poles, top well above the trains.  Put them up on a little rise, and they get to about 60' to 80'...



Lee

[Dave V]

I bought two big boxes of them ($19.95 ea. at MBK!)...  We'll see how much is left when I use what I can.  If it keeps I may just save it for "the big one."