Making Trees - A Tedious Process

I have tried many techniques while making my own trees. I have used wire, bamboo skewers. dead twigs: you name it, i have tried it. Honestly, I do not like the look of the wire technique, so I shy away from that process.
I have been buying a few trees on eBay, but the good stuff is expensive, and the cheap stuff looks cheap. So, once again I pulled out my blades and bamboo skewers. I have a bare tree nearly done, it needs lichen which I have ordered, so finishing the tree will be a few days. Anyone else find this process tedious?


A bare tree waiting on lichen.

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I gave up ALONG time ago on this subject, lol!

I've found Moose Creek Trees about the best so far for realism and price.

 

I had that same problem on my previous N Scale road and never conquered it, so am eager to read the responses here.

 

Any tedious process that concerns my model railroad I consider as an opportunity for some Zen bubble time.

I just get into the groove, shut out everything else (the bubble) and hop to it. Any obstacles or difficulties can be overcome with some little gray cell action.

Though I do sometimes end up with fingertips coated in glue, or the occasional blood spill. Occupational hazards. But at least I'm occupied!

 

i 3d print my trees now and finish them with moss i pulled from some red wood trees long ago.

 

@Kurt Moose Where are you getting Moose Creek trees ? They are great ! The original maker seems to no longer exist , but someone has picked up the larger sizes . It's the smaller sizes that are missing . Mike

 

Oh, dang! Haven't bought any in a couple years, I first saw them( and bought ALOT!) at the Monroe, Wa trainshow . They had a good display and I grabbed a bunch of the smaller ones since I model in Z-scale.

Bummer to hear they're out of business, good lookin' trees.

 

So, lichen arrived and I placed some on my tree.3 days and I am ready to move on to phase 2 of the lichen process. Maybe it's just me, I seem to take much longer doing this than others. perhaps I do not find the enjoyment some do in building trees. Don't get me wrong, I do like the finished product, it's getting there that I find tedious. I feel I am much too picky in the process.

 

The tree is now finished. I feel I left a bit too much brown showing through, but that will be OK as older trees tend to brown and wither. Also, my original plan was to sculpt a Maple tree, this one looks more like a Dogwood, minus color variation.



I took another photo after filling in the tree a bit more with flocking, (front view) I also used my phone to shoot the image, and put aside my 8 meg PS.



The basic shape of this tree.

 

Wow, that looks FANTASTIC! I forget, which scale are you working in?

 

thanks Hardcoaler. I am working in N scale.

 

Very nice!

 

Thanks Moose. A side note: I am modeling the Milwaukee Road also but in N scale, my layout will also be pushing Burlington and Rock Island on occasion, maybe even Great Northern.

 

Oh, nice!

 

Good enough to have a picnic under it! Nice work.

 

Thanks Mike.

 

Really nice looking stuff!! I admit, I gave up. I was going to buy one of the "build a tree" kits... almost did it, then I ran a cost-benefit, and figured out I could buy trees, repaint or touch up to get the look.

 

Scenic Express still has the "Super Trees". I have started using them and have done about 40+ trees already. Basically use this method. Pretty simple. With HO I can get a ton of trees from bag of armatures. Having worked with them, they would be great for N scale as well, and one could get even more trees (N Scale) from the same bag.

 

this is the one that always blows me away, hoping to try this when I get to that part.