Amoskeag Northern - Simonds Industrial Branch

[peteski]

These new N Scale Architect kits might be useful on this layout.

http://thenarch.com/products/curtain-wall-panel-system-twin-pack-kit-n

[poppy2201]

Ian, I love the trees and this is going to be helpful to me.  I just wish the Scenic Express site had an image of their Southern pine to visualize what they look like.  I'm going to need a ton of them.  If anyone has any closeup photos of these I would appreciate it.  You can post a reply in my thread, Genesee & Wyoming - The Bay Line.

[Ian MacMillan]

These new N Scale Architect kits might be useful on this layout.

http://thenarch.com/products/curtain-wall-panel-system-twin-pack-kit-n

Russ' new walls may get some use. But all the lines and joints have me balking. I have not seen it in person yet so I will reserve final opinion until I see it at Springfield.

Ian, I love the trees and this is going to be helpful to me.  I just wish the Scenic Express site had an image of their Southern pine to visualize what they look like.  I'm going to need a ton of them.  If anyone has any closeup photos of these I would appreciate it.  You can post a reply in my thread, Genesee & Wyoming - The Bay Line.

Thanks. I am using Busch "HO" trees for my pines. They range from 2" to 5". There are 30 in a bag, and I paid $21 for em. They are pretty much your straight up bottle brush that is flocked. I am planning on installing some tomorrow and we can see what it looks like.

[Ian MacMillan]

Trees, trees, and more damn trees! Conifer package came in earlier in the week, so it was time to mix those into the bunch as well.







Signals at the west end of CP-Pemi have been installed as well.



Hard to believe it used to look like this back in July.

[davefoxx]

Ian,

Goddamn, man!  That scene looks incredible, except one thing does bother me.  I think the pine trees are killing the realism.  Just my opinion, though.

DFF

[Ian MacMillan]

I dunno it looks pretty good in person, and once they all get locked in with deciduous trees it will look even better. Thing is, I have it modeled opposite of what it should be. For this area of the state at this elevation evergreens should slightly outnumber deciduous.

[davefoxx]

If you're happy, that's all that matters.  I used Heki pine trees on the Virginia Central to fill in the forest, but they were too perfect . . . too conical.  I ended up hating them.

On the Seaboard Central, it seems that I will have to build my pine trees by hand, because they will need to look like this:



Crap.  That's not expected to be fun, easy, or quick.   

[Scottl]

I've been contemplating how Sumac tree flowers might be uses as an armature for conifers.

http://david.jdbernard.com/wp-content/gallery/trees-and-shrubs/117FlameleafSumac.jpg

These are all over the place here and in winter they are easy pickings.  I think the outer flowers could be thinned and selectively trimmed, then painted and flocked to make a convincing, more irregular conifer.

[MichaelWinicki]

It's easier with deciduous, you have Supertrees and other ways to create good deciduous.

Decent conifers are much more difficult to make and ready-made ones seem to lack unless you're paying big-bucks for them.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yeah, those pines have been bugging me all day, they're just not good enough for the quality of what you've got going on there.

[Scottl]

The problem is that most model pines look like spruce trees, not pines.  Spruce (and some fir) have the general conifer shape and dense needles, while many pines have more open, irregular branch patterns, and many pines have longer, less dense needles.    I've started to think that the bottle brush armature or bumpy chenille that many people use can be good for spruce or fir trees, but it does not look like pine to me.  The photos that Dave posted above are a good example.

The best pine trees I have seen on a layout were done in HO based on some weeds that were pruned and spray painted.  I wish I could remember the modeler, but I think he was from Alabama and had a snow scene in part of the layout.  It might have been the "coal branch" and it appeared in MR a lot.

[Dave V]

They also have to be absolutely vertical to look right...

I tried WS "pine trees" on my son's North Carolina layout, but they would not be close to good enough for what either of you two gentlemen (Dave and Ian) need.

[Hornwrecker]

I too have been thinking about how to improve the look of the big bag o'pine trees that I have.  Since I've been refreshing the scenery on my layout, I pulled all of them off last week (amazing the amount of dust that they collected).

Looking at many pics of white pines on GIS, the first thing I noticed is that the Noch(?) trees are all too pointy, maybe clipping of the top 1/4-1/2" of many of them would help randomize the appearance.  Another thing is that they are too full; randomly clipping them to create open areas, and thinning them (barber thinning shears?), and limbing some upwards  would do much to improve their profile.  Lastly, the color of green is too dark, applying a slightly lighter green, fine ground foam from the top might help.

I've got a few dozen to experiment with, but unfortunately my camera went FUBAR today, so I can't post anything until I get a new one next weekend.

[Ian MacMillan]

Scott hit the nail on the head. I should have used the broad term evergreens, as I am looking to model spruce and balsam. The pines will come a bit later but they are less in numbers. Most of your evergreens around here and the area I am modeling, which is 1000'+ elevation are going to be conical firs and spruces as it is a boreal forest. There are some white and yellow pine, but they are not as dense in numbers aaround this part of the state. You will get the odd pitch pine grouping in some parts of eastern Carroll County, but these are isolated pockets and are protected as a rare forest. The larger density of yellow and white seem to be in soils that are less rocky and more towards the sandy range.

Here is a good resource by the USFS on tree types in the White Mountain NF, where I am modeling:
 http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_square/publications/research_papers/pdfs/scanned/OCR/ne_rp299.pdf

The top heavy and or irregular branch patters are the whites and red pines that I am most likely going to be using Grand Central Gems lodgepoles that I modify.

How it is looking now is pretty much spot on for a 1000'+ elevation near water in this part of the northeast. Here is a photo from 4th Iron on ther former Maine Central Mountain Division in Harts Location, NH to give an example.

[Hornwrecker]

Maybe lightening the tips of the spruce to show new growth, more noticeable early in the year, but I think this shows most of the year.  I have a few different spruce trees in my backyard, have to see if this still holds true in winter.  Cones are very apparent at the peak of spruces; no idea how you would duplicate this.  Have to dig out my copy of Trees of North America to throw out more ideas.  I'm really interested in improving the look, and getting the proper tree mix for the region I'm modeling, around W-B, PA.