Trees

Trees are fun to make and not too difficult. In the beginning, I started with store-bought armatures (the trunk and branches) and foliage. A lot of this stuff is pretty good. If you put a little work into painting the trunk to give it some definition, you will come up with a pretty nice tree.

Even if you don't, you're there for the trains, not the trees. My buddy Stan made a lot of pies and firs from a Woodland Scenics tree kit and they turned out real nice. I wasn't as satisfied with the kit trees and also hated the expense; the kits are relatively expensive, but it sort of depends on what your time is worth as the hand-made method is quite time consuming. Nevertheless, that's how I like to do it and I think the results are a little better and a lot more satisfying.

All the trees start with a twisted wire armature. I use copper electrical strand. I had tried some wire bought at a hardware store, but it was too difficult to get enough strands together to make a lot of branches. Copper strand can be had fairly cheap in various gauges; for smaller trees you want a lighter gauge. You also want as many strands as possible to make as many branches as possible.

After the wire is twisted and branched, it needs to be coated with 'bark'. Originally I used Sculpey clay which is pliable and can be baked in the oven at a reasonable temperature until it is hard. However, for HO scale trees, it is difficult to apply in thin coats. Now I use Mod Podge and paint the trunks and branches. At this point you can add texture with sawdust or other particles. I bake the armatures at very low heat in a toaster oven for a few minutes to set the Mod Podge, then paint the armatures in appropriate colors.

Foliage is often made from foam. The store bought stuff is very nice, but expensive. I found recipes on the internet for making your own. I use upholstery foam. I cut it into one inch squares and put it in a blender with water. The water helps with circulation of the pieces, otherwise they tend to segregate and not be cut fine enough.

Colors can be about anything you want. I take the chopped foam and put it in a small food processor with acrylic paint and some water. This chops the foam a little more and distributes color throughout. Don't skimp on the paint; you might wind up with anemic foliage and sickly looking trees.

I have tried other foliage methods with varying success. In some of the pictures you will notice white strands; this is polyfiber. It is a good thing to attach the foam to if you want a fuller tree, but it is almost impossible to color and sticks out all over; I try to avoid it if possible.

I have started using colored saw dust of an appropriate size to make the the foam look leafy. I spray some sort of adhesive on the tree and sprinkle the dust. The dust can be a different shade from the foam and gives a more realistic appearance to the tree. I am still working on these methods, but the results are getting better.

You may notice that most of the previous trees were in fall colors. I am from the East originally and like Autumn in New England. I also have some green trees, but they are not nearly as interesting.

Here in Colorado, about all we have for color are the aspen. They can be quite spectacular. It took me a while to figure out how to make one. I have some early examples that look more like some kind of birch, but the later examples are better.

Colorado also has a lot of evergreen trees. These are great fun to try to model as there is more variety than you might think. The two pictured here are small Colorado Blue Spruce. I have a larger one of these and also a number of pine.