Any suggestion which brand or manufacturer of Conifers or Pine trees would be the most realistic. I have been told that 'Architrees' is probably one of the best around for value. I need about 100 trees for my 'n scale' layout.
Hey man...what a weird name you have. Cam PS...I buy those little Heki flocked pine trees with 100 in a box...apply a light sprinkling of very fine ground foam of various greens and start planting. A box is available for under $14. Here's an example...scroll down to No.309 http://www.blwnscale.com/Heki%20Trees.htm Cam
welcome aboard! I'll try to find the site, I remember a guy making trees with wooden dowels and wire. looked really nice.
For the money I don't think you can beat the Architrees. There are better trees out there, but they cost a lot more. The Heki trees are cheaper, but they need a little trimming and some ground foam glued to them to take away the "plastic" look. The Architrees cost a little more than the Heki, but I think they look OK as is. Architrees on the left, un-doctored Heki on the right
I'm using WS pine tree armatures and conifer green clump foliage to make my trees. So far, I have 215 planted, and about 250 made. It is a horribly boring job. And I've got probably at least another 100 to go, more like 200. No one, no matter how much beer I offer, will help me It's not as bad as it sounds. I can do about 9 of the 4 to 6 inchers in an hour and 13- 15 of the 2.5 to four inchers in an hour.
I use pine trees from a German Company called "NOCH" in combination with Woodland Scenics Pine Tree kits. The NOCH trees are pre-flocked and available in bulk packs. I think I have about 500 on my layout and could still use more.... Cheers Dirk
I have been looking for ideas on this too Dave. They are a very difficult tree to model because their sparse open foliage allows so much of the trunk and branch structure to show. Although after last years hurricane season, I would just as soon never see another one!
Dave and Nelson -- I've wondered the same thing. About the only process that I have been able to come up with is to use WS armatures, clip off the bottom branches and other random selected branches starting about about half-way up the trunk -- then apply the foilage. Nelson - I hear you...I am waiting for the day that one of the very tall Georgia pines in my backyard cleaves my house in two! Hal
Hal and Nelson - Yep, I bought some of the long WS pine tree armatures with that thought in mind, don't think so. Not only are the branches typically high on the trunk, they can also get lenghty on these pines. One thought that I've had is to make some wire armatures ~10"-15" long, start the branches high in the tree, coat with epoxy and add texture.
Here's an idea for making armatures. I work on aircraft for a living, and we do quite a bit with lockwire (safety wire). It's also used on quite a bit of racing equipment. You can find it online at various places and it comes in .020", .032", and .041" diameters. the .041 would work well for lower branches, .032 for mid level branches and smaller trees, and .020 for high level branches and saplings. It's very malleable, and cuts easily with a pair of diagonal cutting pliers (dykes to you military types) or a leatherman. You could make trees out of wooden dowels available at hobby shops, art supply stores, and pretty much any hardware store in north america. You'd just need a very small drill bit to cut holes to mount the wire, then glue/epoxy/putty the wire in place. For saplings, you could even go so far as to use toothpicks and just twist the lockwire around it and putty it in place before you paint. (I say putty, because it takes paint much easier than any glue I've ever seen.) Added after the fact: One more thought, you could even use twigs and small branches from real trees for that extra realistic appearance.
Glenn, I think he only sells these through eBay now, he seems to have let his web site go away. He goes by the eBay id of "treedad". He has a regular store site on eBay though, http://stores.ebay.com/Architrees-Scaled-Scenery-Store , but the auction prices are generally better. The problem now is they are becoming more popular and it is getting much harder to get a good deal. When the train stuff starts to slow down for the summer, the deals may return. Last year you could get the 50 packs for less than $15 or so and the 100 packs for less than $25. Now they routinely get bid up much higher. You have to watch real close to get much of a deal right now.
McC - in re.: your 4:22 p.m. - Thanks, why didn't the use of dowels occur to me! much easier than twisting 10"-15" lengths of wire and then having to texture the wire. Oh well, project #2,479 is on the books.
Dave -- Good points all. If you do make your own armatures, please be sure to let us know how it comes out! McC -- Thanks for the tips! Regards. Hal
I'm having a heck of a time with pine trees. Tried the "tape against a wire" gambit. The "branches" all bunched up in the middle of the tree. The result looks like a sea anemonie, which could be useful, but that wasn't what I had in mind! Can someone fill in the gap between "it looks like this before you twist it" to the "here's the finished tree" part?
