Hello again.
A sort while ago I was browsing Ebay (as you do!) and stumbled upon a couple of listings which caught my attention.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351506263843?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291560823046?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Now one of the things which has been annoying my about the layout is the lack of trees so I hatched a plan to 'bulk out' the layout in a few places with some more generic trees. The thought was that maybe these cheap trees could provide a good armature to use some more 'realistic' methods upon.
Once the trees arrived the first thing I did was to remove the existing foliage, fortunately it was possible to pull the foliage off the armatures by hand, it seemed to be glued in place using a hot melt glue gun or similar.
This left me with a plain plastic armature which I could then start on. The next step was to add some more realistic bark and being a fan of the Bark powder by Treemendus (
http://www.treemendus-scenics.co.uk/tree-kit-order/) I needed a way to glue this onto the armature.
The method I ended up using was to buy some cheap varnish in a big enough tin so I could dunk the whole armature into the tin. Once the majority of varnish had dripped back into the tin the next step was to apply the bark powder. I did this by using a small sieve (a bit messy).
It was then onto the foliage. The tree needed bulking out so I decided to use some Woodland Scenics Polyfibre (
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/GCPolyFiber) which was dotted all over the armature. I found it wasn't necessary to glue it in place as the texture on the armature held it in place.
This was then given a spray of some Peco scenic spray adhesive (
http://www.osbornsmodels.com/psg-11-peco-scene--layering-spray-400ml-39767-p.asp) and covered in various ground scatters.
Once the glue had dried all the trees were then given a final trim and then added to the layout. The main bit of the layout I wanted to cover up with trees was the area to the left to cover the hole in the backscene.
So there you have it. Total cost for about 20 trees from China is about £5.00.
Please, let me know what you think...
Julia.
Hi, they look good and thanks for the links. I need to do something similar on my layout to hide the exit so this has given me the incentive to have a go. The bark powder looks to give a good texture - does it need painting or is that just as applied? I've decided to go for an autumnal look so the trunks will be visible and need various moss and lichen colours applied as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adrian.
DeleteI have used the bark powder unpainted as I was happy with the final colour but I cannot see any reason why someone could not paint it afterwards. I would suggest spray painting them as it could clog up a paintbrush quite easily.
J.
P.S. Your layout is looking fantastic!
very nice indeed
ReplyDeleteThanks Nick.
DeleteIts reassuring to know that I am going in the right direction.
J.
Brilliant. They really look good and considering their providence, well worth the investment.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kevin :)
DeleteHi Julia they look great thank you for sharing this with us
ReplyDeleteRegards
John
Thank you John. I hope you found it useful.
DeleteJ.
found it useful.
ReplyDeleteThe majesty, endurance and strength of trees imparts a cathedral like quality as they help us to experience a primal connection with the earth and our most deeply held cultural and spiritual values. His comment is here
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