The Tree Modeller

[BWsTrains]

The Tree Modeller

 

This is my first RMWeb Blog so please bear with me. Any constructive feedback regarding style / content will be greatly appreciated.

 

A key element of my rural GWR layout was to have great trees. Apart from the fact that I love trees and had the obvious need in my chosen setting, I wanted to separate the rural and town sections of my small layout and felt that good tree placement would do the job. From searching various internet resources, it was clear there are many choices and after much dabbling, I’ve come to something that works very well for me.

 

Firstly, what didn’t work for me:

1. Commercial trees – expensive, look alike and not that lifelike. The ones I bought, now are consigned to the background.
    
2. Commercial Tree Skeletons – this seemed a promising path until I settled on something better and lower cost – see below. Potential limitation of the commercial variety is availability of size / shape to meet ones’ requirements. An Elm is not an Oak or a Beech.
    
3. Copper Wire framework. This is popular and produces stunning results in skilful hands. For me the challenge was artistic, I just couldn’t make a progressively unwinding web of wires end up looking treelike. Since others can do it, don’t let me deter you but I found it a demanding route. In one case, needing to make a weeping willow shape this was best managed with a wired structure otherwise I needed something better suited to my skills.

 

Then there is the plant framework – why ignore what nature provides us?

The beauty of finding a plant source is not just the “renewables” argument; it’s that plants do scale; a broccoli head is a mini tree in structure as my granddaughter reminds me while she eats her mini-trees.

 
“a tree is approximately self-similar. That is, a small piece of the tree looks somewhat like an entire tree. Secondly, while a tree is a large, complex object, it is formed by repeating a simple process over and over again.” (fractalfoundation.org/OFC/OFC-1-1.html)

Looking around my garden I’ve found a wealth of plant substrates that work when scaled down simply because of the Fractals factor. In this Blog I’ll share my path to making what is for me a very satisfying end product.

In following posts, I’ll follow the construction of a 15m (50 foot) Oak tree from scratch with the learning gained along the way.

Edited December 1, 2016 by BWsTrains

[kandc_au]

Probably one of the biggest failings I have seen, is trees on layouts, that are to small!

Seems people are afraid you won't see the trains.

 

Khris

[hayfield]

Start with a small example then build up in size, wire armatures are not that difficult especially when used in conjunction with foliage mats 

 

Buy a book about tree modelling, Wild Swan make a good series of modelling books

 

Modelling Trees Part One - Broadleaf Trees

Modelling Trees Part Two - Conifers

 

Modelling Grassland & Landscape Detailing

 

http://www.titfield.co.uk/Wild-Swan/Model-Techniques.htm

[aberdare]

I look forward to seeing the results of your work as I also think trees need to be as realistic as possible and it is something that I aim for on my own layout, I use both the copper wire method and natural. I never really followed any particular method as I just looked at what I had available and dived in, after all each tree is always a unique item in itself and am always fascinated to see the odd way some grow.

 

My wire examples start around p9 post 214 ( I think) of my thread and end on p13, natural ones appear later if you are interested.

 

I hope you achieve the look you are after, best of luck

 

Jim

Edited December 3, 2016 by aberdare

[john flann]

Colin, your first blog. Well done and nicely presented. I can see with that approach you are going to be a real asset to this on-line community.

 

What you say makes a lot of sense and I look forward to the threads continuance.

 

I use the unravelled wire cable form of tree-and have the punctured fingers to show for it-like you I experimented with other forms and was never satisfied. I make mine in batches creating the wire forms mostly in the summer when I can  sit outside in the shade of my trees (!).

 

Trees are, of course and as others have remarked all individual, that is part of their beauty and attractiveness, and with grouping gives a lot of scope for individual treatment. I don't make mine of any particular species, it's the finished shape, texture and colour that I'm looking for.

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by john flann

[MarshLane]

Nice first thread entry, well laid out and positioned. I'm looking forward to following this, trees are one aspect that I've never got right, and being an O gauge modeller, do seem to be somewhat massive! Hoping I can pick up a few tips as you progress.

 

Rich

[BWsTrains]

Thanks to everyone for the useful feedback, it was rewarding to get so many visits on day 1.
 
As Hayfield has kindly pointed out, there are many excellent resources already available and my modest goal here is to share what has worked for me. Not being very artistically gifted, (I leave that aspect to my 4-year-old granddaughter, of which more later) I found using nature’s work perfectly suited my specific needs.
 
Groundwork.
I knew exactly what I wanted having seen the large Oak, Beech, Elm and Chestnut dotted around traditional farm fields on our travels around West Country lanes last Spring. It’s important to view these leafless to see all the structural elements but fortunately we have many fine Deciduous trees here in Melbourne – it’s not all Gum Trees and Koalas. So much photography of bare trees was done over Winter. Photo – Elm on Victoria Parade, East Melbourne shows that side branches tend to be semi-weeping even while the main tree is upright in character.
 

 
Resourcing
OK research done, I moved on to the materials. I’ve found that small perennial plants provide an excellent source of mini skeletons. Lavender, both French (FL) and English(EL) have a hard, shapely wood that works for the smallest (2m) Apple Tree (EL) right up to 20m giants (FL). I think FL would work well up to O Gauge Scale; my stockpile of prunings is shown (the bricks are 29cm /11in long to give scale)
 

 
Here is freshly cut EL with its mini-tree shape clearly visible.

 
Other bonuses of Lavender are it grows here like a weed (FL anyway), has a bark that looks like tree bark in miniature and even freshly cut the wood is very dry. Further drying is a good idea before gluing, I remove the top green wood and leave the skeletons out in the sun for a while.
Another good plant for smaller skeletons is Golden Diosma (correct name “Coleonema”). This has great skeletal shape but takes a while to dry. However, there are often useful dead branches to harvest underneath the canopy.
 
My other materials are routine but listed for completeness.
 
Glues: I use epoxy (5min), hot melt glue, superglue and spray adhesive, solvent based.
I’ve found the modeller’s ubiquitous PVA to be troublesome and of little value as Lichen is treated to retain moisture and PVA doesn’t set well on it. It’s also too heavy and causes sagging. Is handy though for bulking up undersized trunks with paper towel

 

Acrylic Gap filler: I use three colours, white, mid grey and dark brown that can be blended to the required shade of tree trunk
 
Wire: Salix Associates - Black coloured copper (0.3mm) very fine – almost invisible and can be wrapped around upper branches and attached Lichen to hold bigger clumps in place before adding leaves. Also useful to add semi weeping extensions to main branches. Plain copper I found hard to paint with acrlyic and bright reflective spots were annoyingly visible.
 
Foliage – all standard stuff.

• Lichen, 2 green shades, lighter for canopy top, darker for lower down.
• Leaves, Noch leaf (07142, 07144) that tend to stick to the outside of Lichen
• and if I want more opacity, Noch Field balk 08421 applied before leaves

Miscellaneous recycled items
 
4mm soft aluminium rod, conveniently obtained when someone throws out an old UHF TV antenna

Polyethylene tubing (OD 6mm, ID 4mm), of the sort grandchildrens handheld windmills are made of that break and are discarded. We seem to have more than our fair share of these but I'm sure like material is easily found elsewhere.

Edited December 2, 2016 by BWsTrains

[BWsTrains]

Building my 15m Tree Skeleton

 

Tree Support

One lesson I learnt the hard way was to install the tree support early on. My layout rural areas have some modest contouring 10-20mm deep, built up variously from hardboard off-cuts topped by excess Plasterer’s mix. Hence, it’s not that robust a base so I drill 6mm holes and insert a length of 6mm polyethylene tubing as a socket. The tube acts as a stable support for a 4mm diameter aluminium rod that I’ll insert into the base of my tree. Do this first as the finished tree will be far too fragile to withstand the rigors of end-grain drilling. Lavender is a very hard wood to drill so I cut the base dead square and hold in a vice to drill the 4mm hole. Drilling in stages, 2mm first then 4mm is easier to control. The rod of suitable length is glued in place with epoxy.

 

Shaping the tree core structure  

However helpful Nature has been, the shape selected is going to need some alteration and additions to meet requirements. In this photo the tree core is shown on its installed support and with side branches shortened back.

As one arm was just being shortened with its top end to be reattached I’m using a simple pin dowel and glue approach. Additional branches will come from other cuttings.

           

 

Didn't quite get that alignment right but after gluing it will be OK.

 

 

Next I needed to get the full structure set up. The tree will have a central leader and 4 main limbs around the trunk. From these come the main leaders that form the canopy. Two new Limbs will be added, one fits neatly into the “V” shaped gap at bottom left, the other will be cut into the other side of the trunk. Both additions will be shorter prunings from higher up the source plant that take advantage of the natural size scaling. Glued in place with epoxy and some overlaid hot-melt glue but ensure bark is removed first and you glue to solid wood .

 

One issue arising is that the main trunk is now too small for its limbs and eventually will need to be broadened. Oh! I did need that PVA for the paper towel after all!

 

The next 2 photos show progress

• after the 1st new limb is installed
• then the final core structure from front and above.

The thicker main leaders visible from above will be split to laterals using wire extensions.

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2016 by BWsTrains

[BWsTrains]

Final stage of assembling the tree structure.

I've now added laterals to flesh out the top canopy and the lower reaches and am happy with the shape I've achieved.

 

To fix up the undersized lower trunk I took a single paper towel folded it along one edge repeatedly to produce a thick strip some 25mm wide, choosing my folds so it became thicker along one edge. I soaked this in 1:1 PVA water mix and wrapped it around the trunk. Standard technique I guess.

Next I blended some of my 3 Acrylic gap fillers white: brown: grey 3:1:1 which gave what I thought was a fair colour match. The tinted gap fillers tend to dry to a different shade from the wet but "no worries" - I'll just touch up with Acrylic paint to blend in with the raw bark later. Before it dried, I ran a fork (of the disposable kind) thru the applied filler to give an uneven ridged effect - trying to simulate the bark.

 

To look at my finished bare tree, this angle best shows the shape of the tree.

 

While it's not seen from its "best" side, this sequence of photos from earlier posts may help visualise how I've built up the framework I wanted. Some trial and error was involved along the way but the step-wise approach, combined with having a reasonable mental image of what I wanted works for me.

 

 

Next up will be adding the foliage.

Edited December 8, 2016 by BWsTrains

[BWsTrains]

Foliage. I'm following standard techniques to fill out the tree using materials listed earlier. I’m looking for a result something like this:

 

 

I’m still finding my way with this phase, trusting that a good underlying skeleton will help deliver what I’m after. On a tree this large I completed the foliage in 3 stages:

1. Lichen to the lower laterals, a light spray glue and then some dark leaf, more will be added later but this way I can get leaves to all sides of the lower canopy
2. Rest of the Canopy with lichen, a light spring colour for the top so that any view through the foliage will give a lighter look. More dark green lichen at sides and down
3. Three treatments of spray then foliage, first dark leaves from all sides, second light leaves from above then a final lighter dose of dark leaves again
4. After each application of leaves, the tree is inverted and excess shaken off (can be reused after sieving). This typically turns up some lichen that is less than perfectly attached so I have my glue gun hot and ready for repairs.

 

The last photo is almost there. It needs a haircut to remove loose and misplaced lichen, any stray glue strings and the lower trunk needs a tidy and painting. Minor issues of no great import.

Looking at my almost finished tree I’m happy with the overall effect and its perfect for its role on my layout but what I can see is that I could have done with a little more lateral wood lower down below the lowest main limbs. The overall effect is just a shade too upright. I may still try to fix that later as an add-on.

Edited December 11, 2016 by BWsTrains

[BWsTrains]

In Place. This shot using natural light and a deliberately narrow depth of field, shows the Oak placed in the top paddock where it and its sibling to the left help create an effective block of the views through to the townscape behind (Upper Left side)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kiwi]

In Place. This shot using natural light and a deliberately narrow depth of field, shows the Oak placed in the top paddock where it and its sibling to the left help create an effective block of the views through to the townscape behind (Upper Left side)

ImageT13.jpg

Hi. Really enjoying your posts and certainly support the idea of using natural materials for the base.

But I hope you won't mind a little criticism. Things were going great until you added the lichen. Now, comparing the finished article with the beautiful real thing the model had lost a little of its promise. The issue to my eyes is in the lack of the light airiness of natural trees. The model has just a little too much density. I would either try something lighter than lichen (ie easier to see through) or use less in the core of the tree perhaps.

[BWsTrains]

Hi Kiwi.

 

no problem re the criticism it is good to get constructive feedback.

A couple of points.

 

1) When you see a normal tree in isolation against the sky, the gaps tend to stand out because the tree is backlit. That effect is very hard to emulate on a layout because of the direction of the lighting and your viewing angle (which tends to be from above ground looking slightly down)

 

So to a certain degree what you see is due to its setting, the way it's viewed and how I've photographed it . The photos were taken either with indirect (i.e. bounced from above) flash or in the last case with front day lighting. In both these cases the interior gaps in the tree just disappear being dark relative to the rest.

 

I just tested that by rear illuminating the finished tree and plenty of spaces reappear! They are there but can't be seen.  I don't have a solution for this as layout lighting is a given as is the angle you view it from.

 

2) Oaks are very dense trees, I'm looking at one from my study and very little sky is visible thru it even backlit. I erred on the side of well-filled in my design.

 

Your point remains valid. A balance is needed between the extremes, perhaps I should try to tease out the lichen, use less and add very little / no foliage to the inner sections. This may help.

 

Thanks again for your feedback     

[Kiwi]

<<...and your viewing angle (which tends to be from above ground looking slightly down)...>

 

Ah, yes. That's an excellent point, and a favorite issue of mine. :-)

My own layout sits at a challenging 1.25 mtrs, with a "letterbox" front meaning the view is tightly controlled.

 

Looking forward to your further developments.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Kiwi

[BWsTrains]

Kiwi,

 

your comments prompted a few outdoor photos. Below compares 2 shots (ground level and approx 20 degree elevation) both taken from roughly the same POV as the earlier posted photo of in situ.

 

Move slight higher still and all the gaps totally vanish because now you're viewing the canopy from above.

 

To the eye which is rather more forgiving than the lens, the tree does look good in situ to me.

 

My particular layout issue is that it's been designed for young (4-9) and old to see, use and enjoy. Hence baseboard height off ground less than ideal unless you're sitting down along with the grandchildren having fun together. Can't have everything

Edited December 12, 2016 by BWsTrains

[Kiwi]

<<... the tree does look good in situ to me...>>

 

'Nuff said. That's the only measure that matters.

:-))

[hayfield]

BW

 

Its great to see large trees in model form, as you say cameras can be very deceptive and sometimes unforgiving. Very timely for us in the UK as winter arrives its much easier to see the shape of trees without their leaves on, so a good reminder to go out and about and take some photo's. Also a good time to go out and see if there are any materials that could be put into use either as a frame or act as something to model.

 

Its a very good period in time for modelling scenery for the choice of products both in modelling terms and glues/fillers available, and the methods you have shown can either be copied or transferred to other mediums. Thanks for the very informative and instructive thread which is most enjoyable and thought provoking 

[BWsTrains]

BW

 

Its great to see large trees in model form, as you say cameras can be very deceptive and sometimes unforgiving. Very timely for us in the UK as winter arrives its much easier to see the shape of trees without their leaves on, so a good reminder to go out and about and take some photo's. Also a good time to go out and see if there are any materials that could be put into use either as a frame or act as something to model.

 

Its a very good period in time for modelling scenery for the choice of products both in modelling terms and glues/fillers available, and the methods you have shown can either be copied or transferred to other mediums. Thanks for the very informative and instructive thread which is most enjoyable and thought provoking 

Hayfield,

 

Thanks for the feedback,

 

One goal I have is to add some Hawthorn to the hedgrows in my layout but I have no idea what it looks like in winter to get the skeleton right. To be honest haven't even done the internet reasearch either. If you (or others) happened to pass some now bare, in your wanderings, would you please remember me and snap a pic or 2?

 

Here, it's turning warm enough that many other things are competing for my attention. May be a gap before much else of interest appears.

 

Thanks, BW

[BWsTrains]

A new challenge is born. Yesterday I was back on Victoria Parade, one of our main routes into Melbourne and took this iPhone 4 photo (so apologies for quality) of an Elm in full leaf, another of which was shown here (post #7) leafless in winter.

BTW Rail lines are for the famous Trams of our City.

 

 

Now with both views on hand I'll start on a new project but it will be at a slower pace than my pre-Christmas effort.

 

Regards,

 

BW 

[gismorail]

Excellent thread started here should be very informative to follow as it's an area which is not covered in as much detail as it should be as trees can have a big effect on layouts if done properly. 

[Shadow]

Sea foam is another good base for trees.

The ones I used (see here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71483-little-dunmow/?p=1844650 ) are home grown from seeds.

 

 

 

Edit to add link to seeds. :- http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_1235a_teloxys_aristata_sea_foam_seeds

Edited January 1, 2017 by Shadow

[Shadow]

Just to add that there was a thread about growing your own Sea Moss on RMWeb.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71243-seafoam-im-growing-my-own/

 

Edited to correct link!

Edited January 1, 2017 by Shadow

[Kiwi]

Sea foam is another good base for trees.

Unfortunately in New Zealand (and I suspect Australia too) that is a prohibited plant species, so not allowed to be imported or grown here. It's invasive and can harm native plant life.

 

So we have to find alternatives such as the lavender described by BWsTrains. I've also found Manuka a good substitute.

[Vistisen]

Trying looking at some of the work in this thread on another forum, some of the best trees I've ever seen

http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23011&whichpage=2

Edited January 1, 2017 by Vistiaen

[BWsTrains]

Many thanks for the various feedback, it has been good to have so many visits made to the Blog since my last post.

 

@ Shadow, Kiwi. On Seafoam / Tumbleweed, Kiwi you are spot on - for us antipodeans, quarantine rules it out. Even Lichen has to be bought here from a local Importer rather than via overseas online supplier.

 

@Vistiaen – thanks. As others have noted, there are many resources available and my intention here was to share my own approach and the learning gained along the way.

 

Kiwi earlier (#12) raised an excellent point about tree density that I’ve been thinking about. The problem with using lichen as the base for applied foliage is that it tends to produce a dense clumped non-see thru effect. Oaks can have a very dense canopy (when seen without back-light) but the Elms I have as reference (see #7, #19) have much thinner canopies with lots of foliage on short laterals and I’m not sure how to best capture this.

 

For a smaller tree, the wire structure might well work well with individual branches slowly opening out to give the required short laterals that can have foliage added directly. For my larger tree that seems like a daunting amount of detailed work, whether built as one large structure or with extensions to several main leaders. So, for now I’m still at the planning stage.

 

On Kiwi’s point about the “look” of my finished Oak, we had several visitors here including a couple of Architects and it was gratifying to receive some very favourable (unprompted, I promise) feedback on the appearance and effect of my large trees set in the layout. The eye is much more forgiving than the camera it seems.