Hi Gang I am working on a dense forest scene. I am currently contemplating ways I might approach the project. What are some fast ways you create a dense forest scene backdrop. Any pictures here on Trainboard I might reference, if so please let me know.
Pining for pines, huh? I've got about 300 so far on my little layout, need probably 100-200 more. You can see some here: The layout is double-sided, so the mountains & trees act as the scenic divider. I detailed how to make them on these pages of my construction thread. I found that placing thicker trees in the center, with lighter, airier ones around the edges make a nice gradation. For steep hillside, cut the twine shorter, which makes less-bulky trees, but you can stack them closer for a thicker-forest effect. Hope this helps.
On my former layout, representing the East Texas piney woods, I made a scenic divider of cut out jagged "Christmas tree" shapes, glued trunks and ntwigs onto it and covered with ground foam. Then a few 3D bottle brush pine trees in front of the tree scenic divider.
There are some quite nice examples here within the thread; in addition on Model Railroader used an inexpensive idea of using puff ball trees which they have on their video extras on the site. It's on that new small layout tht they have been working on. Looked quite simple no Trunks or branches to add to the cost and if it's for backdrop then should or could be fine
It's so hard to make puffball trees, not look like puffballs though. I think they always stick out like a sore thumb on a layout.
On my layout I have about 1200 trees. The layout time era is the early 50's and the time of year is the fall in PA. I used Woodland Scenics Forest Canopy. I averaged about 30 - 35 trees out of each box. I mixed the colors so you can say there are very few trees the exact same colors. If I had to do it again I would do the same.
Puffball trees are good for modeling a forest canopy as long as they are used in the background. I think the secret is to realy stretch the material out so that it borders on being whispy. Practice and patience here pays off but the cost of materials is pretty low so the trial and error method can be effective. I have been to Horseshoe Curve many times and looking at the summer foliage on the mountainsides it does have sort of a puff ball appearance.
I think puffballs can be quite realistic, used properly. Take a look at: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?118063-Forest-In-A-Flash
I'm trying to find the link with the photos, but I once saw a technique used on a layout where they used sections of mattress pads (you know, the ones with the little nubs sticking up all over them) painted dark green, then added ground foam and other tree materials (puffballs, lichen, etc.) and more paint to blend it in. This was used in background scenes with individual trees around the outer edges and it looked pretty good, even better when used in forests with lots of pines.
Once again here is the link showing the construction of Z and N scale trees. Loren is a friend of mine. He lives a couple of mile from MTL. The source of the chenille (5 inch bumps) is Bolek's Crafts. Google it. Thanks for the compliments. Jim http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rf_bejdO8g
Jim, That looks much better than most puffball stuff I have seen. Very nice. I'm not sure how well it would work around the midwest though. Trees are taller and more varied in height around here. The canopy isn't quite so uniform.
JoeW, what are looking to do, conifers or mixed forest or undecided? It would help focus the answers. One thing for either is to glue half-trees and even ground foam to the backdrop. Lots of undergrowth at least in the front/most visible parts. There should be hills painted on the backdrop graduated in increasing dullness/grayness to suggest even more depth. For conifers, check out the suggested bumpy chenille. Usually it's not big enough for mature foreground trees, but Google Mike Danneman's Rio Grande layout to see his use of bumpy chenille. But compare two large N. Calif. club layouts. One took Heki trees and covered a mountain. Expensive IMO. Boring, too, since the trees were unmodified AFAIK, so all the same height and look. That's the way forests can look, so okay there, but you don't get much bang for your buck in terms of scenery. The other club had a mountain and made a big landslide with a few fallen trees visible. There are still trees standing on the mountain, but there IMO is a much better scenic effect without planting hundreds of trees. It might be better to suggest the dense forest more with the backdrop rather than having it all on the layout.
I have tried to attach a 96KB photo to show you exactly what I am talking about but the trainboard attachment dialog is telling me that I have exceeded my file space. I have contacted the crew here at Trainboard to ask for some help. As soon as I get this resolved I will post the picture. Thanks
At the risk of getting into another "puffball" discussion at Trainboard, puffballs look like puffballs. They are ok in the 1970's for layouts newly built, but not today. If the modeler is concerned with photography, it will show up as, well, pufballs. You can get away with it as deep background, but make sure you have some small clearings and put in some real "trees" in the clearing for an appearance of trunks and branches. Also, where the puffballs end and visible areas begin, use better looking trees for the first row or two. But- if you really don't care about appearance or have a limited budget, do what you have to do to "finish" off decorating a section.
Backdrop huh? At the NWR club, a (late, sadly) member took soem mesh strips, brushed glue onto it, and started stuffing it with Woodland Scencis foliage in a forest pattern. That is a backdrop specificall,y and one must park stuff in front of it to hide the fact that the only brown trunks are fluffy, but it does a nice job.
Mixed Forest with many conifers (photos attached) Thanks for asking Steam Ghost I have attached a picture below
What season are you modeling? Have you considered late fall/early winter (aka dead tree season)? http://dmirhillcitysub.blogspot.com/2011/04/not-out-of-woods-yet.html
