I have purchased close to 2,000 cheap neon green Chinese made trees from eBay over the years. They are not much to look at right out of the package, but with some re-working, added ground foam and a lot of patience, they make very affordable trees, especially if you need a lot. They are not the quality of "Supertrees," but they make for a decent scene. Photos below show them out of the package and about 1,800 of them in bins awaiting installation. The last few photos show some installed on my N scale layout. Buy trees for a larger scale than you model. These are mostly HO scale trees, used in N scale.
I've purchased a few packages and I'm using them for backgrounds and "white space." It was hard to beat the price when I bought them although I've observed higher prices since then.
Very interesting advice! Thinking on it, many folks installed trees do seem a bit small. What are "Supertrees"? That name is not coming into mind right now.
Not sure if they are an advertiser here. I don't want to get in trouble for breaking policy but Super Trees are from Scenic Express.
Such trees are good when they are new. The low purchase price is tempting. After about 1 year they start to crumble. Then you have these crumbs in the trucks of the locomotives.
That is actually my plan. Eventually I would like some Supertrees in the foreground and can relocate some of the smaller ones to the background. THey serve their purpose for now though.
The 'clump' trees from China do start falling apart after about a year. Barely brushing against them will leave clumps laying on the ground. I used them around my bridge outside Jeans Valley and when vacuuming the layout I am constantly picking up little clumps. .
i had good luck with china trees from wehonest on ebay .. they have stood up for seven years now, mind you i bought [mostly] the ones that look like fir trees , no big clumps, mostly in the three to four inch range
Having no experience with the China trees, I wonder if you give them a coat of hair spray when new would prevent debonding of clumps later on in years.
I re-colored mine by dipping them in diluted matte medium and sprinkling on appropriately colored fine ground foam. They are holding up very well. I also removed a lot of the loose foam from them when I shaped them, prior to the matte medium bath.
I was just thinking the same thing. Of course now it may be to late as most of mine are finally glued down.
I have some smaller trees on some of my NTRAK modules........I figured cheap was good since they take a beating in that application. Can't remember who I got them from, but I use "wehonest" from time to time......have some street lights on order right now, Most of these were purchased 7-10 years ago and overall, they shed less than most of the other brands. My biggest issue, is they bend easily (lots of handling ) so every setup, I have to go thru and straighten about half of them.........shouldn't be an issue on a home layout.
In portable modules like N-Trak and T-Trak, bendable trees are actually good. The alternative is breaking!
They look really nice to me! I think things fall off of most trees? Not a big deal for me. I bought the WS ones and some on Clearance from Michaels. Great price on all of them. Got the WS ones when Hobby Lobby was offering 40% OFF coupon!
I have a large cardboard box full of the "economy packs" of WS trees purchased exactly the same way, plus "clearance" items (no need for a coupon). When both Hobby Lobby and Michaels started selling their own brands of very small trees not unlike the smallest marketed by Woodland Scenics, I grabbed those when they were marked down to more reasonable prices at the end of season.