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In this final segment on making well-detailed foreground trees for our HO scale Winston-Salem project layout, David shows how to add a lush, realistic canopy to the plastic armature he assembled in the first video.
Well done David, you could also be a ‘tree whisperer’ as you took that small, bare, no-nothing tree and made him feel like a true hero on the Tar Branch. Seriously, very nice techniques as I never thought of cutting the netting into triangles, and I too leave some dead branches with no leaves as you suggested. Also, one of mine has been struck by lightning and has only one small branch with foliage still remaining. Looking at trees around nature has really helped in making them look more realistic.
Just used your method to make my own “hero tree”. I like the results. Didn’t have the stain so I painted the tree with railroad tie brown and then dry brushed black and gray. I don’t think mine took 5 hours to make but I did it a little at a time – probably spent a total of 2 hours. I also sprinkled a little yellow foam on the top for some highlights as suggested by Ron Marsh below.
I had my doubts at the beginning of the video, but David made me a believer! Beautiful job and a true hero tree!
Hand laying Track, Structure Kitbashing, Custom Painting and Decaling, Detailing… What Next?
Also what Hair Spray did David use?
Jacob N.
Seems like too much work for too little result. I believe I’ll go for store-bought…
Nice tree, David. It reminds me of the ones my kites always seemed to find when I was a kid. No offense intended, but I am surprised that you of all people just happened to have some hair spray sitting around …
Nice tree! I am working on a new scene on a hill at the front of my layout where a “hero” tree will be a nice addition, so I will be trying this in the future. Question: have you thought about using colors to add depth, such as a medium or dark green for the underside foliage and a light green for the upper? This might add some depth or hint at the sunlight filtering through the tree.
Great couple of videos. I have found that sprinkling just a small amount of the next lighter shade of ground foam straight down from the top onto the finished tree and setting it with hairspray gives the sense of sunlight highlighting the tree as it shines down on it.
That is an effective method for adding foliage to that branching structure. That last addition of the loose round foam would be an opportunity if one wished to add some seasonal interest by sprinkling some colored foam (reds or yellows) in parts of the canopy to indicate the onset of fall coloring. Nice work David, thanks.