Hart of the South Palm Trees

[tom mann]

This is the coconut palm kit from Hart of the South.  What a neat looking tree and ingenious kit!  The one thing that I would add to the kit's directions is to wash the fronds after applying powder to make gluing easier.  I also had trouble getting the fronds to droop using the hair dryer technique.  Paint is a mix of reefer yellow and Avon blue for the fronds and roof brown and a black wash for the trunk.  The model is about 7" tall.





So, deciduous trees are out for me with regards to O scale.

[3rdrail]

That's a neat looking palm, Tom, one of the best models of a palm tree I've seen. But 28 feet is a very small palm tree. That thing's more HO size. For O the whole tree should be larger, as least a foot high, or the trunk shorter for a dwarf variety. Just IMHO, but I do live in Florida and have two palm trees in my front yard.

[TrainCat2]

To a Florida boy, that is a great looking palm tree. However, it looks like it lost all of it's nuts.

Is this a post-Andrew palm tree??

[tom mann]

That's a neat looking palm, Tom, one of the best models of a palm tree I've seen. But 28 feet is a very small palm tree. That thing's more HO size. For O the whole tree should be larger, as least a foot high, or the trunk shorter for a dwarf variety. Just IMHO, but I do live in Florida and have two palm trees in my front yard.

Gregg, I bought the kit a long time ago before I was in O scale...so I would probably buy a larger size today.  The beauty of it is that it doesn't take up a lot of room.

[tom mann]

Oh guys, what about the coloring of the fronds and trunk?

[3rdrail]

How far do you want to go? Knowing your penchant for ultimate detail, the colors are quite good, but the fronds are too uniform in color. The very tips of each spike should fade to a yellowish tan, more on the lower fronds than the upper, with very little tan on the newest fronds.

In other words, hours of hand painting on each tree. 

[tom mann]

Gregg,

Maybe not hours, but I may be able to achieve this blending effect with the airbrush for next time.  In fact, I may paint the fronds before installation to make this easier.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, back when I was doing FEC in HO, I would've killed for some good palms like that.

[BillD53A]

The tree looks good.  Try giving the fronds a wash of darker green...maybe something like Pullman green.  Here in Florida, the trunks are pale...either a pale concrete gray or a bleached-out khaki.  After you paint the trunk, give it a wash of brown. 

Here in Florida the green colors are bright...but I am not so sure that looks right on a model.   Yours look good. 

As a frond grows, it is rolled up so it looks like a spear, and shoots straight up from the top of the trunk.  As time goes on it unrolls and lies flat, then it continues to drop until it lies along the trunk.  As the fronds pass the horizontal they begin to die and turn tan.  The farther down, the more tan.  I use twine to represent the dead fronds on trees.  Bill

[chuck geiger]

These are my homemade palms:





How make em:

You will need to go to a party or craft store and purchase a small bag of plastic palm trees, these are used for decorations. You will have usually three trees in a pack for a buck something. Take them off the plastic trunks that come with the package. Set aside for now.

1.) Use small dowels, sticks or chopsticks, anything that will resemble a trunk.

2.) Wrap the sticks with pieces of brown paper bags cut into small strips dipped in glue and water.

3.) Wrap at a slight angle.

4.) When dry, paint a grey-tan color.

5.) For effect take a fine point black marker and turn the trunk and let the pen follow the outline of the glued paper on the trunk.

6.) Now to the fronds or palm leaves. You will need to bend them. For the bottom fronds bend them down, leave the ones in the middle alone and bend the top ones up.

7.) It will take about 4-5 to do one nice palm.

8.) Set a small nail or brad into the top of the dowel, stick or trunk.

9.) Attached the formed fronds to the trunk with tacky glue.     

10.)      Let the palm dry overnight.

11.)      You will need several shades of green, light, medium and dark. Start with dark paint and shoot the fronds lightly on all angles, then medium and light.

12.)      Let it dry.

13.)      Now you need material to resemble dead fronds at the top of trunk under the fronds. I found that dead leaves, even tobacco from a cigar works great. Glue the material just under the fronds.

14.)      For effect, dry brush some red and tan to the edges of the fronds and there you go.