Seaboard Central 2.0

[pdx1955]

Blending the tree colors could help too as trees are not usually a single color as autumn approaches. I'd add yellow leaves to the green trees and add some green and orange to the yellow to represent a few stragglers as well as ones more dried out that will drop soon. Leaf debris around some of the trees and some more yellowed grass could also make the colors a bit less stark.

Peter

[davefoxx]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. That was my feeling as well.  I don't have any paint on hand to experiment with, but I was considering applying the darkest green leaves that I have to tone the red down somewhat.  To get a look more along the lines of a tree beginning to turn red.  I really don't want to model the height of fall colors, because I'll have to redo everything on the layout, including grass.  That's not the direction I want to go.

DFF

[davefoxx]

I redipped the trees in matte medium and applied some medium green SuperLeaf leaves over the red leaves.  If anything, the trees are somewhat less garish.





DFF

[OldEastRR]

Are you putting off working on the town buildings till the very last?  Just  wondering. Their rawness is really becoming apparent as the rest of the layout gets more and more detailed. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

[chuck geiger]

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[Rich_S]

Dave, I was thinking you were trying to go early fall? This is the image I had in my mind concerning your Red Maple trees.



You can see, red, with some yellow and some orange. I'm not a horticulturist, but I believe Red Maple's change from green to yellow to red, which you can see in the photo above. Change the green to yellow and I think you'll be close to an early fall Red Maple.

[davefoxx]

Are you putting off working on the town buildings till the very last?  Just  wondering. Their rawness is really becoming apparent as the rest of the layout gets more and more detailed. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

In time.  I tend to focus on what I'm comfortable with.  Once I figure out a dilemma or become satisfied with a new method, then I jump in.  Besides, I'm kinda busy with life and trees right now.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Dave, I was thinking you were trying to go early fall? This is the image I had in my mind concerning your Red Maple trees.



You can see, red, with some yellow and some orange. I'm not a horticulturist, but I believe Red Maple's change from green to yellow to red, which you can see in the photo above. Change the green to yellow and I think you'll be close to an early fall Red Maple.

Wow, Rich, that's a really pretty picture.  Even I can appreciate the red in that shot.  I'm hesitant to go with yellow only because I fear that it will turn the layout into that autumn caricature that you see on layouts set in the fall.  We'll see.  I'll keep playing with it.  I need to order some more SuperLeaf products, because I'm out of Olive Green and almost out of Medium Green.  If there's a yellow that's not "in-your-face," I'll consider it.

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

The next batch of twelve trees are flocked and hanging on the clothesline.  While waiting for them to dry, I've been roundy-rounding it this afternoon and really enjoying the layout.  Here's a a crappy video for you of a Hamlet-Richmond local in the hole waiting on a coal drag:

If you get anything out of this video, it's that the trees really do begin to give a finished look to the layout, despite there being much to do, and separate scenes are becoming apparent.

Oh, and here are my rebuilt SD50s.  That ended up being a chore in swapping more than just the mechanisms.  I ended up moving the original trucks to the new mechanisms to get rid of the tap-dancing middle axle on the new trucks.  Apparently that problem hasn't yet been addressed by Atlas.  But, the new mechanisms work much more smoothly than the seventeen-year-old ones, and these SD50s no longer slow down in the sharp curves of the layout.  Yay!

DFF

[mcjaco]

If you get anything out of this video, it's that the trees really do begin to give a finished look to the layout, despite there being much to do, and separate scenes are becoming apparent.

Well if you'd just finish those buildings.......







I like the red trees.  Nice touch of early autumn. 

[davefoxx]

Well if you'd just finish those buildings.......

D'oh!

I like the red trees.  Nice touch of early autumn.

Thanks!

[chicken45]

Never go full Popp.

[Missaberoad]

Never go full Popp.

[Missaberoad]

Imho, try to avoid too much red the green and muted yellow look good together...

That being said...

it looks great to me.   

DFF

At the end of the day this should be the final goal...

[basementcalling]

Dave, try browning the red tree a bit and then add a heavier recoat of green leaf material but leave a few brown spots on the branch ends and it will look very like a tree dropping some leaves from dry conditions. A few trees do it every year.

Rich's photos are awesome and show again why we ought to work from pictures. My brain fills in a wall of green on trees, but if you examine even full summer shots closely, you will see a subtle variety in colors.