Making some trees for Sweethome Alabama

[Jon Grant 4472]

I need to make a lot of trees to cover the 11ft length of Sweethome Alabama in trees.

In addition to the 'sea foam' trees, I also make trees from moulded plastic tree formers (Woodland Scenics, Heki, etc). This time around I'm using florists soft wire and paper tape to make my own tree trunks, as shown in this topic.

I started with a 6inch bundle of wire and started binding it in brown paper tape, both of which are available from florists shops. Branches are bent outwards from the trunk and are bound with the paper tape, as I move up the tree





Each wire in the branches is bent outwards and cut to length, before moving on to the next branch. Here are some completed Scots pines and a sycamore, that are fully bound in the paper tape, ready for the next stage







The next stage follows...

Jon

[Jon Grant 4472]

Once the tree former has been covered in the paper tape and I am happy with the overall shape, I add the tree 'bark'. For this I use an acrylic sealant intended for sealing round doors and windows in the home and the one I use was bought cheaaply from the British equivalent of a 'dollar store'.




I squirt some out onto a piece of old card which is used as a pallette. Being acrylic, I water it down a but so I can paint it on to the paper tape with an old modelling brush. The sealant dries quickly and can be built up in layers until get the effect I want.

Here are some sycamores that have been treated with the sealant. The bark and branches are now ready for painting




Even the wire off-cuts from the larger trees can be bundled together and used to to make smaller trees and bushes.






Next up is to paint the tree trunks and add some poly-fibre branches

Jon

[Ralph]

I'm liking this a lot already Jon!

[nachoman]

I better watch this one... Not that I need many trees, but I will need a few.

[Jon Grant 4472]

The bark has now been added to all the current batch of trees and allowed to dry. It was then painted with brown and grey acrylic paints, and drybrushed light grey.

The sycamores.........












Jon

[Russ Bellinis]

Looking good so far. I can see where the cut offs could be useful to make bushes like you would find in the desert out here in the Southwest U.S.

[Gary S]

Yes, those are coming along nicely. I have a bunch of trees made from twigs, but have been toying with idea of making some from wire. Your paper tape and acrylic caulk are nice ideas. Thanks for creating this thread, and looking forward to the next installment.

[Jon Grant 4472]

The Scot's pines and the bushes/small trees were also caulked and painted, ready for the next stage of adding small branches from poly-fibre.








Jon

[MrBill]

It's great you have time to post all these neat projects Jon. I've been thinking about making sycamores with their peeling white bark for some time now. What you've got now will look great for winter trees too. I'd forgotton that my Mom uses these very materials for her flower arranging. Nice work!

[Jon Grant 4472]

So did mine Bill

I've glued on some black poly-fibre to the Scot's pines. This has been teased out to give a 'light and airy' feel to the tree and represents the smaller branches on the tree












Now for the sycamores and the bushes

Jon

[Jon Grant 4472]

The poly-fibre, available from ScaleTrees.com, has been attached to the bushes, although they now look more like small trees










Jon

[Sumpter250]

The multiple layers of acrylic sealant look to me, to be the key element in the construction of the "armature" of the tree. It bonds, binds, and details the trunk and branches. Using the wire provides flexibility, and resistance to breakage that natural twigs do not. I've used the green paper tape, but not with the sealant, I will have to give this method a try.....nothing ventured, nothing gained. I think I "thin" out the polyfiber, just a bit more than you've shown, but that's more about how the eye perceives the finer branches of a tree, and the species of tree being modeled.
Yeah, I'm watching .........and learning too.

[Jon Grant 4472]

I got the branches on the larger deciduous trees last night - I've stopped calling them sycamores, because they dont really look like sycamores any more.








After teasing out the branches, I added a layer of leaves to the first couple of trees. I will need to add some more leaves to the first tree, as the photo still shows too much of the branch material








Now to foliate the other trees

Jon

[Jon Grant 4472]

I added the leaves to the remaining trees this evening and removed some of the excess polyfiber - not always evident until the leaf material has been applied.

The trees have been planted temporarily into the scenery to give an idea of how they will appear on the layout.










Jon

[Russ Bellinis]

I don't know one type if deciduous tree from another, but your trees look great!!