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Trees for Farthing - Mark One


Mikkel

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Projects over the summer have included trees. The original inspiration came from the tree-lined perimeters of Reading’s Vastern Road and King’s Meadow goods yards.

 

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Vastern Road yard, Reading, 1948. Source: Britain from above.

 

 

The trees here were quite close to the track along some sections. Earlier photos from the 1900s show larger trees, so they must have been a feature from at least the 1880s.

 

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Vastern Road yard, Reading, 1948. Source: Britain from above.

 

 

Apart from a bit of dabbling ages ago, this was my first real attempt at trees. It does show! But for what it's worth, here's a summary of how I did them. The basic armature was made from Treemendus 0.5 mm wire, cut to 150 mm lengths of which I used 45 per tree for my purposes. Similar wire can be obtained from florists.

 

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To form the trees, I used the method suggested by Treemendus, whereby one wire is twisted around others (rather than twisting all wires). This is certainly a quick method, but the outer wire does show.

 

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Treemendus recommend using masking tape in order to smooth out the trunk and main branches. This helps, but also adds to the thickness. Accordingly, I may use fewer wires per tree for the next batch.

 

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Once done, the armatures were coated in Treemendus bark powder. This can be sanded for a smoother look.

 

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For the crown and foliage I diverted from the Treemendus approach and instead used Heki sea foam, each piece glued to the armature with superglue. The pods can be removed, but I didn’t bother as the foliage I used conceals it.

 

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The crown was sprayed with a few quick coats of light brown/grey. I used Liquitex, these are low-toxic water based spraypaint for artists.

 

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Foliage was added using “coarse turf” from Woodlands scenic. This is the “burnt grass” shade.

 

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The foliage was attached using Hob-e-Tac- glue, non-toxic and very sticky.

 

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The foliage sticks to the outer reaches of the seafoam, leaving a nice natural branch structure behind it. 

 

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A coat of Woodlands “scenic cement” was sprayed on to further stick things down. This darkens the foliage somewhat, so I only did one coat. 

 

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As these are planted urban trees, they needed to be fairly uniform yet individually different. It helped to build them alongside each other. 

 

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I found that it was possible to make up individual bits of sea-foam twigs and retro-fit them to the trees. That way, any areas that I was unhappy with could be improved.

 

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The species is nominally London Plane-ish, although I admittedly concentrated more on just learning the techniques. I did try to indicate the mottled/patchy look of the bark with a paintbrush, but it doesn't show up well and needs more work.

 

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The original plan was to have 3-4 trees at the front of the layout.

 

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I liked the views beneath the canopy.

 

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And the shadow effect when the sun came in through our windows.

 

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But from a distance the layout seemed too “front loaded” and forbidding. Trying out various configurations I was struck by how the different positioning of trees can give very different impressions. E.g., compare these two photos:

 

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In the end I opted for the arrangement seen below. This gives me street trees but also an open view. It requires an extension of the layout at the back, featuring another road and - you'll be relieved to hear - a backscene. This is currently being built.

 

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It's all been an interesting exercise. I will probably keep this first batch of trees for the time being, but have started experimenting with alternative methods, including natural plants. More on that later.

 

 

Edited by Mikkel

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I recently had a 3D-printing disaster.  The model slipped on the printer bed in my absence and when I returned I found this.  A new way of building rampant undergrowth, birdsnest etc. :laugh_mini:

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12 hours ago, MAP66 said:

The trees are superb. For the camouflage look for the bark, try experimenting by flicking on paint from an old toothbrush. With a bit of practice you should end up with the required colours in flecks of paint as opposed to trying to apply by brush. I will confess that I haven't had the opportunity to try this method myself but I have seem some exceptional results from a book on model tree making.

 

Many thanks Mark. A long way to go before they reach your level of refinement. At first there is the excitement of being able to make something tree-like, then comes the realisation that on closer inspection it's more complicated than you thought. I suppose that's called learning!

 

The toothbrush trick sounds fun, must try that. The walls need decorating anyway :)

 

I bike past these Plane trees (sic) daily on my way to work, and was amused to realize that they have similar shapes to mine. I'd like to say that's deliberate, but it's not. The crowns are more compact than most Plane trees I have seen.

 

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10 hours ago, bgman said:

Mikkel,

 

You will of course be adding a few bird nests won't you ! 

 

Good idea! :D I do have a plan for a trainspotting youngster sitting on a branch. It will require some figure bashing though.

 

 

7 hours ago, MikeOxon said:

I recently had a 3D-printing disaster.  The model slipped on the printer bed in my absence and when I returned I found this.  A new way of building rampant undergrowth, birdsnest etc. :laugh_mini:

1343937281_IMG_5753800x600.JPG.fdf59ad59370afaa79288a72d15c17d3.JPG

 

Very arty. You could chop it up in small bits and sell each bit as a birds nest on Ebay: ****LOOK***** OO/HO TRUE SCALE MODEL BIRDS NESTS **** AWESOME LIKE REAL****IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS****ONLY GBP 15.00****

 

Edited by Mikkel
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Thanks Mike, still lots to learn.

 

I have been admiring your modelling and photography in the October BRM. I knew what was coming, but even so I was once again amazed by the extraordinary views that you have created. Whatever next?!! 

 

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On 31/08/2021 at 14:17, MikeOxon said:

I recently had a 3D-printing disaster.  The model slipped on the printer bed in my absence and when I returned I found this.  A new way of building rampant undergrowth, birdsnest etc. :laugh_mini:

 

 

Looks like the creature from the Black Lagoon, to me.

 

Back, if I may be excused, to those Vastern Road trees. I'm afraid I cannot yet confirm the species but one point of note is that they are now pollarded, and have been for at least the last quarter-century. I can't quite decide whether they were already pollarded in those 1940s Britain from Above photos.

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Thanks Stephen, that would explain why they don't seem to have grown much in volume. 

 

Of course at the King's Meadow end in 1905 things were rather different, as this heavily cropped image shows. But that was also more of a park, if I understand correctly.

 

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Edited by Mikkel
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My wife kindly took a couple of photos as I drove along Vastern Road, Reading, on Sunday afternoon. 

 

The 'blotched' bark, clearly visible on the nearer trunks, shows that they are the hybrid known as 'London Plane'.  This tree is a hybrid of American sycamore and Oriental plane, it was first discovered in the 17th century then widely planted in the 18th.  It's special characteristic is that the bark has large scaly plates that peel off to reveal new creamy bark beneath.  This constant renewal of the bark enabled it to thrive in the smoky city streets of 19th century London and in close proximity to railway yards in steam days.

 

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Mike

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Excellent, please pass on my thanks to your wife, Mike, very kind of her! The leaves also look like Plane as far as I can see.


It seems I’m in luck then. As discussed in the workbench thread, the Victorian fondness for London Plane was the reason that I tried to make the bark look grey and a bit mottled. But I wasn’t sure what species those at Reading were.


The two right-hand tree in your wife’s first photo even have a shape fairly similar to my model trees. It’s interesting that some are not pollarded, while others are. Perhaps the pollarded ones are those close to the buildings.
 

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3 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Perhaps the pollarded ones are those close to the buildings.

 

That is correct. Otherwise by now the canopy would be overshadowing the buildings. 

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Re. the Vastern Road plane trees, a sign of the times: just around the corner on Forbury Road (alongside the former SER goods yard) the Borough Council have recently planted new trees along the central reservation. They're palm trees.

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Sigh! Climate change or not, that brings out the grumpy old man in me. Although on reflection, plane trees aren't native to Britain either.

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On 28/11/2021 at 21:47, Compound2632 said:

Re. the Vastern Road plane trees, a sign of the times: just around the corner on Forbury Road (alongside the former SER goods yard) the Borough Council have recently planted new trees along the central reservation. They're palm trees.

I shall look out for these on my next visit.  To their credit, Reading has an extensive Tree Planting Strategy - see https://democracy.reading.gov.uk/documents/s10637/Appendix 2 Draft Tree Strategy.pdf

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