RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted June 18, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 18, 2012 Still experimenting with tree making as Balcombe will need around sixty plus! All the early experimental efforts used on Netherhope will be used at the back of Balcombe Viaduct layout as I'm only 75% happy with them so far. Hopefully the more that I make the better they will be. This one is the first silver birch that I've tried. Still not quite right yet. Too thick foliage I feel and the trunk needs to be a lighter colour, also as important is getting the armature right as with a silver birch all the branches are quite visible so a more detailed one is called for. This one turned out a bit on the large size, although they do exist at 20m+ tall, I've never seen examples of that size. They are more like 5 >10m around here, so some smaller ones will be next. Not sure what sort this one is yet! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Hill Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Hi John, Try a very light and fine scatter on a postiche (dolls hair) base this base should be light and airy and made away from the armature add the scatter (don't put to much glue on the postiche I suggest a matte medium sprayed on with the lightest of touches) and leave to dry .This can then be stuck to the branches much as a tree grows branch by branch.Talking of branches whilst the tree is naked turn the ends of the branches down a little this will help to make the finished tree look light and airy.Some examples of birches appear on my website: www.simplyscenery .com Tony H. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted June 19, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 19, 2012 Hi Tony, Many thanks for the advice and the link. Some lovely work in the gallery. I particularly like the birch and the willow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TomE Posted June 19, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 19, 2012 Hi John. I would recommend taking a look here: http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23011&whichpage=3 And here: http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5015 For tree making tips. This chaps work is really quite impressive! Tom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Lovely fine work John; I think the silver birch just needs to be thinner; I can grab you some assorted shots of the real thing if you need more. have you got Mr Gravett's excellent tome? It certainly helps with different tree species. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted June 19, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 19, 2012 Many thanks all for comments and links. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 96701 Posted June 19, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 19, 2012 No 1, the Larch http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qVKu86Jzo0U/TRfQfI6ZNzI/AAAAAAAAAFs/t49m67QvQQo/s1600/LarchTree.JPG&imgrefurl=http://ancientpathsnaturally.blogspot.com/2010/12/defend-resist-complex.html&h=1064&w=798&sz=193&tbnid=5Lo1TpuMUTMaSM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=73&zoom=1&usg=__zLcwFcmY6YHfZLa6LnLyqTa1bkk=&docid=d43KFO8lQmwR0M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WPDgT5vpAsb08QObvtCVDw&ved=0CIMBEPUBMAM&dur=3160 Sorry, couldn't resist, but I have to say, the trees look good, and I'd be pleased to produce anything like them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Very nice John. Of course you post this when I am away from home and cannot pop out to take a few photos. I have plenty of silver birches in the garden. You are right about the height. I have one that I reckon is 59' tall. The problem is that is it dead and I have to get round to felling it. From memory the branches that go out from the stem in an upright direction need to be much more visible. As others have said the foliage is too dense. Regarding the colour the bark can look almost white in bright sunshine and again from memory a much greater area of trunk and branch is visible than in the case of say an oak tree. There are also very small patches of dark brown or even orange where the resin is visible in patches coming through the bark. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted June 20, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 20, 2012 Hi John. I would recommend taking a look here: http://www.railroad-...011&whichpage=3 And here: http://www.modelrail...read.php?t=5015 For tree making tips. This chaps work is really quite impressive! Tom. Grove Den/Scots Pine's (the same chap?) work is amazingly good. Thanks for the link Tom. No 1, the Larch http://www.google.co...PUBMAM&dur=3160 Now one of those would present a challenge to get right! I'm eagerly awaiting Gordon G's follow up book on conifers etc.. As others have said the foliage is too dense. Regarding the colour the bark can look almost white in bright sunshine and again from memory a much greater area of trunk and branch is visible than in the case of say an oak tree. There are also very small patches of dark brown or even orange where the resin is visible in patches coming through the bark. Bernard Thanks both for kind words, comments and useful observations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted June 28, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2012 Another one. This time It's an attempt at a sycamore, copied from one nearby. Unlike locos, buildings, trackwork etc.. trees can only ever be an impression which can sometimes be frustrating when you think that you've got right only to find it looks all wrong after looking long and hard at it! Looking downwards for a closer look. Keeping the 'open and airy' is the imperative. Needs some careful pruning at some of the ends! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 There was an article about 6 years ago in either RM or CM on making silver Birch trees - I have it in one of the many magazine folders, where I store pages - but just where would take some finding Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 That's truly superb John! I can grab you some assorted shots of the real thing if you need more. Thus inspired I went up onto a very soggy Cannock Chase to grab some pics of Silver Birch of varying stages of development from 7' youngsters to 40'-50' mature specimens through to weak or dying specimens. As you'll see there's a variety of shapes, amount of foliage and relative droopiness. It's worth noting that there are some with multiple trunks from the same root and also that mature trees are quite content to grow within 4'-6- of each other. Good luck! Click for higher resolution, the sharpness and brightness have been adjusted to try and highlight the trees. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted June 28, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 28, 2012 Many thanks Andy for your kind words. and for the brilliant snaps. I hope that you didn't get soggy feet! A superb mix of types and sizes. They will be very useful indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
signalmaintainer Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 You know, any that you don't like I'll be happy to find a home for -- they are quite exquisite, right species or not! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted August 14, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 14, 2012 Just recovering from two weeks of 'box watching'. Tried to do some work/modelling but just as work was started, something good came on, so many armatures were wound whilst watching. (a bit like knitting I suppose!). I find that when using the postiche (GG's method) the more and the finer that you can make the armature the better. For the sea foam method it's not quite so necessary. They've been covered with a bark mix consisting of 'Artex' powder, PVA & a little black poster paint. More needs applying on some that are going to be used at 'viewing distance' to cover the twisted wire that is still visible. I find that quite a few coats, carefully applied, are needed for this before they disappear (it can be a pain). I don't think that you need to worry too much however in many cases, as it depends on where the tree will be positioned on the layout. As we have a need for a rather large number of them for Balcombe Viaduct, Balcombe Station, Lewes and all the bits in between, I'm planning to build up a 'tree bank' so that they can be used on these (and others) as exhibition requirements dictate. Painting them with a mixture of acrylics will be next and some of the more 'iffy' examples will be relegated to the a position at the rear for general blending in. Something that I've learnt just from observation is that a lot of trees don't have a single trunk structure, as one would normally think, but break from ground level or just above, ash particularly and also silver birch amongst others. Most of them will be 'foliated' using Gordon G's methods from his essential book, others will be prepared using my own method of incorporating sea foam pieces attached to the armature (see example earlier in this thread #10) and then covered with a mixture of ground foam colours. The ones at the back are approximately 25cm high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Great work Res! You can see a point I made earlier in some of Andy's pics, how the further back you go, the 'denser' the tree becomes, even relatively spindly ones! A good example above is the 'naked' birch with virtually a 'solid' mass of green behind. Even fairly close to the trees are more solid than we usually model. MAny of the pics above are good examples of this, something which is often overlooked (well imho anyway! ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted August 14, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 14, 2012 You can see a point I made earlier in some of Andy's pics, how the further back you go, the 'denser' the tree becomes, even relatively spindly ones! Thanks Neil. Andy's snaps have proved very useful. The few silver birches around here are all smallish ones planted in 'civic' schemes, not the large wild variety in the pictures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted August 14, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 14, 2012 Excellent work, old chap! 'Like knitting' indeed! If you'd been around during the French Revolution and at the front row next to the guillotine, I know what you'd be making...! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted August 17, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 17, 2012 Took a couple of snaps of the woods nearby to illustrate the colour variety and texture differences. The aim is to try to get the 'texture effect' and colour as close as possible to the subject tree(s) The colour on the model needs to be less yellow-green and a touch more blue-green. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted August 17, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 17, 2012 Actually, if you look centre-top of your first picture, there is a shade of green that is pretty darn close to that of your model. Nature does various greens according to species, season and rainfall that year. Mixing the shades slightly, tree to tree, will give the best impression, I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted August 22, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 22, 2012 A bit better example for texture comparison ignoring the trunk/armature aspect & colour. This is darker foliated evergreen winter oak. I might try one of these next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Captain Kernow Posted August 23, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 23, 2012 John brought the large tree in to DRAG last week, and posing it next to the test track, it just goes to show how large full size trees are when compared with trains... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted August 25, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 25, 2012 John brought the large tree in to DRAG last week, and posing it next to the test track, it just goes to show how large full size trees are when compared with trains... Yes, this one is a scale 70ft (ignoring the mounting spigot). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Stunning trees - would you be kind enough to give some detail on the foliage, and your technique? You seem to have got it down to quite a fine art! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Re6/6 Posted August 25, 2012 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted August 25, 2012 Hi Giles Yes I'll put up some method info soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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