Shadow Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Hi all, This is my first attempt at making my own trees, so bear with me, It's going to be a bit of trial and error! I was recently doing some tidying up of the garden and was trimming back the winter growth from the plants when i noticed this plant. Thought they could make good trees, so here's the results. They are the dried flowers from a plant called "Heavenly Bamboo" (Nandina domestica) Not as fine as sea foam though. Firstly, I painted them a darker colour than original (orangey brown) with poster paints mixed with PVA. Hoping that this would help strengthen them. Added some neat PVA to the tips, and then added some "Woodland Scenics Poly Fibre (F178). Going to let them dry overnight, and then add some Model Scenics Foliage tomorrow. Just planted in a seed a tray as it was on the table! Not bad for a first attempt so far I think. Looking forward to tomorrows play! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Well, here are the results, some good, some bad. Room for improvement. A bit more practice I think, but encouraged by the first attempt. For the first three I used three different colours. Turned them upside down, sprayed with hair spray, and coated in medium dark forest green foliage. Then sideways, and covered with fine moss green, and then from above with light green. The ideas was to get some shading to the lower areas, and lighter on top. Don't think it worked to well, will have to play with different colours. Also, the dark green was medium, I think that this was to large., fine next time. The next pair (and an offcut!) I did in just fine Moss green. Looks better I think. What colours and grades do other people use? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 The trunks are probably too narrow for the height of the trees and the amount of foliage that they carry. I have just started on a couple of specimen trees for my layout. In the background I use Heki poplars and silver birches with extra foliage but I like the challenge of a couple of better examples. I like the base foliage you have used. I took a few photos as an aid rather than as examples to model to show the variation in foliage density and colour on the various different places within one tree. See photo taken in late summer of a mature oak. I find it quite amazing how much variation there is in the colours. Commercial oak leaves are way way out. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 Bernard, That's a very valid point point about the thickness of the trunk. I had not thought about! Time to make some more... Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted June 9, 2013 Author Share Posted June 9, 2013 Bernard (again!) Have you got any photo's to show? Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazmanjack Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 Just out of interest, the pic below illustrates the 'cheap Chinese trees' in position on my son's layout. My advice to you on using the Nandina twigs (old flower heads) is to cut off the laterals, no longer than 30mm and use them as sapplings in the understory or at the front of the tree line. Just paint with glue and add the fine flock. Careful not to paint the trunk. Mix two shades of green together (light & mid green). Here is an example, The plan green trees were made for my old Australian HO layout and the taller two tone as an example of a taller sappling of a deciduous tree. If you are mass planting and you cannot see the trunks, then the Nandina isn't too bad. But as Bernard has already said, the trunks are too narrow, so I would use these trees as a back planting, where you only need to see the foliage. Then again, the cheap Chinese tress are ideal for that. As stand alone trees, the old method of twisting wire is still probably the best. Here is a pic of a Cedar of Lebanon (left), a Beech frame and an Ash (right), that I made recently standing proud of a loco to show height. Cheers, Gary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 The basic structure for a large oak based on my previous photo. Needs a few more twigs and possibly one more lower branch before getting on to foliage. Heki poplars with extra leaves. Heki silver birches slightly modified. I am quite happy to use these in the background but like the challenge of the odd larger specimen tree. Sorry for the poor quality photos, used flash just so I could post something while the thread ids active. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 The Heki trees look nice. I have used the Woodland Scenic kit but not had much success. Despite twisting the branches etc... they still look quite flat. Keeping the flock on is a whole other story. I may try making some trees from weeds. I have also heard hydrangea stems work well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazmanjack Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Hydrangea flower heads (not stems) once dried are ok, but as per the Nandina, the trunks will still be too narrow. Phil C. (of Pen Y Bryn fame) uses hydrangea and has added extra foliage to his tree, see here ; http://yourmodelrailway.net/view_topic.php?id=10077&forum_id=21&page=8 Cheers, Gary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 They are thin, about 1mm to 2mm (scale 3-6") (more like a twig than a trunk!). I've been painting a couple with PVA to see if that thickens them up. Will do a few coats and see. Anyway, as they are mostly going to be hidden in a bank of trees and foliage that goes to ground level, I may get away with it! Here's a quick example Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed a/c Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 They look s good as a group shadow. The flower heads from sedum plants can also be used in a similar fashion to the Hydrangeas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazmanjack Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Planted together as a cluster they look very good. Something I experimented on with the 'cheap Chinese trees', was to thicken up the trunks with holloweds out natural branches. Ofcourse these were dried out, cut to length and drilled through the centre with a 3mm drill bit in a hand drill. here are two pics of how this turned out - ^ a close-up of the short trunk, sorry if not clear, but still gives an idea.. ^ further away showing the 'thick' trunk. This tree also has added flock/foliage of a different colour. Cheers, Gary. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campaman Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 A simple way to thicken the trunk is to paint on neat pva then sprinkle on some sawdust Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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