The concept for this micro layout is a High Sierras or Rocky Mountain look with big conifers, unlike most of my previous work, which has had more of a desert look.
The other day I spotted a Campbell pine tree kit on eBay at a reasonable price, so I ordered it, and it arrived yesterday. There are eight tree trunks in the box, along with asparagus fern (I think that's what it is) for foliage. They are about a foot tall. I'll shorten some of them to get more varied height.
I'm no where near ready to install trees on The Canyon, but I stuck a couple of loose pieces of foliage into the pre drilled holes in one of the trunks, then put the tree, such as it is, on the layout. Even in this state, I can see how the big pines will add to the effect of little trains in a big landscape. Even if the landscape is not actually all that big. It's going to be dramatically different from my last couple of builds.
I have a lot of different irons in the fire here, but I'm tempted to take an evening and build one of these trees to see how it looks.
Eight trees probably won't be enough, but I should be able to get more asparagus fern for foliage and can use balsa for trunks. I'll probably also use some bottlebrush type trees for variety.
12/7/24: I took a break from working on the truss bridge this evening and made a tree.
The old fern material is very dry and brittle, and matted down from years in storage. I'm not sure there's enough usable material in the package to do eight trees. As you can see, the foliage on this tree is pretty thin. I might try adding a few more branches and will almost certainly apply some fine ground foam to make it look fuller.
At some point, I may head over to Michaels and see if I can find some other fern material to use for branches.
12/17/24: I've been watching YouTube videos on making pine trees, looking for a better approach. I found one by an Australian (I think) modeler: https://youtu.be/TGlTTOuTGBc?si=0UqO08z1_aZ61wTI
It looks pretty good, and not horribly difficult. When I finish track and bridges, I'll probably try making one of those.
12/22/24: I worked on the Campbell trees some more today.
First, I enhanced the tree I built before. I drilled more holes in the trunk and added maybe six or eight branches. Then I painted the base of the branches, where they tend to break, with matte medium in an effort to strengthen them. Finally, I sprayed the branches with hairspray and sprinkled on some dark green ground foam.
I also made a second tree, pre drilling some additional holes so I could add more branches. When the glue dries, I'll give it the same treatment as the first one.
The picture shows them side by side for comparison.
12/27/24: I was at PetSmart today buying dog food, and I found this product, a Coconut Fiber Climbing Mat, in the terrarium section. It's similar to the Coco fiber basket liner used in a pine tree video I saw on YouTube. https://youtu.be/Hztif1KoJ-g?si=9fPcwWFfvl3mgE-7
The roll of material is about 1/4 inch thick and measures 10 by 20 inches.
There should be enough material here to make at least a dozen pine trees or a bunch of small deciduous trees. Scrap pieces would make pretty good dead brush, or live brush with some ground foam added.
I carved a trunk from a piece of 1/4 inch square balsa, then roughed it up with a wire brush. Cut circles of the Coco mat material and strung them on the trunk shish-kabob style. This is supposed to be a Ponderosa or Jeffrey Pine, so it's more columnar than other pines, with a rounded crown.
Each layer of fiber material is held in place with a good dab of tacky glue.
When that dried, I trimmed it some, sprayed brown, then added Scenic Express Sage Green ground foam, which is a little lighter shade than the Woodland Scenics Conifer (I have a whole shaker canister of the stuff that I bought for another project and didn't use).
I'm not entirely happy with the shape, and I think the foliage is too dense. I'll try doing another when I get a chance. These are really cheap, so no great loss if I end up throwing a few away before I get it right.
1/7/25: I was out of town for a while, but now that I'm back, I pulled and clipped quite a bit of material out of the first Coco mat tree, and I think it looks a lot better.
I'm still going to order some static grass and try making a couple of trees with wire branches and static grass needles, but this cheap and simple approach may be just the ticket for this layout.
12/8/25: Here's another one. I split the circles of Coco mat and spread them apart to make them lacier, then glued them about half an inch apart on the trunk so there's lots of space between the branches.
12/9/25: Yet another experiment. Balsa trunk, floral wire branches. Painted the trunk with matte medium and sprinkled with Woodland Scenics Earth Blend fine ground foam. Covered the branches with tacky glue and applied sisal rope fibers cut about 1/2 inch long. When the glue dries I'll paint it brown. I have some static grass coming: that will get added for the needles.
I wish I had tapered the trunk more, though the needles may cover that up somewhat. I might try making another one while I wait for the static grass to arrive.
12/10/25: I got in some 7mm static grass and added some to the previous tree.
Needs a little trimming, but I like the way it's going. I also made another one, just using the 7mm static grass. I need to add another layer of two, but so far it doesn't seem like it's going to be full enough.
1/12/25: Here are my two test trees. For the one on the left, I used 7mm light green static grass, applied one layer, sprayed brown, then applied another layer. The one on the right I used the 1/2 inch sisal fibers, followed by a little 7mm static grass, then painted brown.
My initial impression is that I prefer the fuller foliage of the tree on the right. Having more and thicker branchlets obscures the fact that the main branches go straight through the trunk, especially up at the top. On future trees I may use separate branches, especially the upper ones. Bending them to droop downward slightly may also help.
The trunk color seems a little too dark. I may try dry brushing with a lighter brown, and perhaps switch to a different color in the future.
I have some 2mm static grass arriving tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have time to apply it tomorrow night or the next day.
1/13/25: Here they are with Woodland Scenics 2mm dark green static grass. I also dry brushed the trunks with a little tan. I have some lighter green static grass coming, and I'll add a sprinkle of that for highlights.
I prefer the fuller look of the one on the right, and will be making several more of this style for The Canyon. I'm glad I kept experimenting, because these look good, are relatively easy to make, and should be sturdy enough to survive transportation.
1/14/25: Three trees. The front one is the 9 inch balsa trunk with wire branches and sisal fiber branchlets; center is built on a Campbell 12 inch trunk, and the left is the one with 7mm static grass branchlets. Having a dead tree among the green ones actually looks kinda cool. I d notice that the ones with balsa trunks look clunky compared to the thinner Campbell trunk, so there's a lesson there.
1/15/25: Here's the latest tree with needles added. Pretty darn good. I have four more Campbell trunks, and I plan to use them to make more like this one.
1/16/25: I wasn't confident that I balsa trunks would be sturdy enough if I carved them thin as the tree above, so I rummaged through my scrap lumber bin and found some cedar, which I cut into 1/4 inch square strips on my table saw. It's a little harder to carve than balsa, but not too bad, and it makes nice, sturdy trunks. I used them to make two new trees, as shown below.
12/17/25: Five trees temporarily installed on the layout. I'm liking the "little train in the big woods" feel of this.
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