Books about N scale trees

[janesew]

I want to direct this question to our beloved, learned, leader Pete. There are as many articles and techniques of building trees for a layout as there are... well... trees in a forest. You have a lot of experience and I know you like to do your research. I was wondering if you could recommend any books that have some really good ideas for making trees, all kinds, BUT specifically for N scale. Most tree articles seem best for HO or larger. I know that WS has its system but I'd like to check out other good ideas. I'm going to need a lot of trees so I want some techniques for background forests and individual "front of layout" trees. Shrubs too. Do you know of any such publications? Websites? (I have some stuff already from back issues of N Scale Magazine) Thanks Fred

[janesew]

Oh, and of course, if anyone else knows of any such publications please feel free to jump in. Fred

[ginzokid]

Fred, I'm like you and have a collection of tree making articles but I seem to stick to the ready made trees and fix them up a bit. For pines I like the Heki and to some I add a bit of ground foam from WS to soften them up a bit. Deciduous trees are usually from Scenic Express for me. I even use the ready mades from LL and WS. A trick I'm sure you know is to spray the tops of the trees with a pale yellow mist from one side to act like sun light hitting the trees. I really don't have a tree bible so to speak. Pete

[trmwf]

Fred. I know a guy who dries and uses tree roots. You know the real fine fine end of the root. He digs some up and lets them air dry and stiffen up then just starts pruning out pieces that look like they would make a tree. If needed to be stiffened I believe he used a spray varnish before dipping in the various foams for foilage. His layout looks GREAT and he saved a ton of moola. I know when I get to the tree part that is what I'm going to try. Mike

[untabubba]

I can just see us all now....out grubbing around the neighborhood and the local woods, MUTILATING the local foliage to get rootlets to dry for our layouts..... OKAY! Mr. Breeze

[janesew]

Thanks for the tips!! I think I might open this up to the other forum. I just wanted to hear from you guys first. Fred

[ginzokid]

Fred, Baby's Breath which is used in florists displays when dried is a great "armature" for WS ground foam trees. I really do not know of a specific "book" on trees as this falls under the general category of scenery and there are many methods. MR and others have run series on tree making. Your question seems to be one of scale. Lots of info on HO trees. Well Fred, same methods apply. just use smaller "armatures". The armature is the dried roots, branches, stems, whatever used for the basic shape of the tree. Think about the height of a 1:1 tree in your back yard. 40 feet high? Using your scale, you do have one I'm sure in N scale, see how tall the 40 foot tree is in N. Groom your armature to that height and make your tree. Time consuming, but not rocket science. Hint guys. Only the trees in front need to be really detailed. The background trees do not need any trunks or specific form. Only trees standing by themselves will get any scrutiny. All the other in groups or forests are just a "bunch" of green. Don't work too hard for detail in the background. Fl

[trmwf]

Any body ever try the painted cotton balls dipped in ground foam for forest canopy?? Mike

[janesew]

Again thanks for the tips. I've read quite a few articles and have toured a lot of layouts and weighed the pros and cons of different methods. I was just curious if there was a definitive N scale book out there. One thing I have noticed is that on most layouts the trees are usually smaller than prototypical but that can look okay too. Mike, As to Cotton balls... I've seen it done well and I've seen it look just like cotton balls painted green with ground foam on them.. It's all an illusion that you are creating... just make sure it doesn't look like the actual material you made it from and won't draw attention to itself and distract from the overall look of the layout. Thanks guys, I've posted on Forum 1 as well but you don't need to answer there. Fred

[trmwf]

Fred, I was just wondering if anybody else tried them like I did and if they wasted their time like I did. I don't see how you could make them look like anything but cotton balls. Mike

[ginzokid]

Mike, Dave Frary uses stretched out poly fiber from WS, rolls that into balls, dips them in diluted glue and rolls them in WS ground foam. Great for background trees in the Appalachians. So, why not cotton balls. I've never seen it done that way, but it might work. Pete PS: Still no definitive "N" scale tree book, but the articles mentioned in group #1 were good.

[janesew]

I now have my retirement project! Write the definitive book on modelling every type of tree for every application in every scale from scratch to store bought! Or I could just putter about attempting to finish my layout, drink my scotch, scratch a few itches, and drool just a little more than I do now. Thanks for the search fellows! Fred

[ginzokid]

Here's an update for this thread. The May issue of Model Railroader has an article starting on page 70 giving four methods of making your own trees. It is geared for O scale, but the methods can be used for all scales. There is an interesting size comparison of the trees and figure in scale. B-)

[trmwf]

Now Pete, you know that Gene is teaching us that scale makes little or no difference as they are all inter-mixable. I wonder how that 40 foot O scale tree will look next to my N scale stuff? prof

[montanabud0]

I've used dried grape stems for the trunks of trees and then chopped up various colours of greens, yellows, oranges, etc,of Woodland Scenics Foliage and glued the bits onto the stem with White glue, depending upon the season I was trying simulate. I have also used a bit of gray and/or white paint on the stems to give the impression of poplars or birches. Don't look too bad. The only snag is that the stems become very brittle with age and are susceptible to breakage quite easily. For that reason, I usually put them in the background where they are less likely to be handled. I have kept some articles from Model Railroader that pertain to tree construction. One of them recommends the use of the tops of a plant called Sedum, which when dried, make good trunks. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of which issues these articles are from, but I could E-mail copies (one page at a time)- I haven't yet figured out how to send more than one page at a time via my scanner. I'm 77 so not super computer literate. I'm still looking for a photo of myself to post but haven't found one yet that wouldn't scare every off this site!