It may not be 'revolutionary' ...

... but your scenery sure is convincing!  The trees, the grass, the road, the sidewalks, the curbs, the dirt ... looks like the real thing. Very nice, thanks for sharing.  Dave O

Where's the "Like" button ?

 That's some very nice work.  Like Dave O. said "convincing".
Thanks for sharing!

Wesley Y.

McClellan

You're faring better in your Peninsula Campaign than McClellan did, no doubts there, James.

The greenbelt certainly breaks up the scenes and makes the layout seem even larger than it is. Sometimes life does imitate art -- or at least imitates model railroading techniques!

Paul Schmidt

That's REALLY nice! I'd love

That's REALLY nice! I'd love to see a video taken with a mini cam mounted on the loco. It has the same peaceful feeling as IAISfan Joe's layout - unassuming and subtle, with a touch of class.

Mike

Looking good!

Well done, Mr. McNab!

Hi James:

Well done - you've made the trees taller than the trains, too!

I don't think most people pay enough attention to modeling trees - and yet, they're so important to creating a convincing scene. Let's face it, as someone who appreciates fine modeling I can look at your Iowa Interstate locomotives and say "nice models" - but I really have no idea whether they're "correct" because I know almost nothing about the prototype. And yet, everybody - I mean, everybody - knows what a tree looks like.

For that reason, realistic trees become particularly important when showing a layout to people who are NOT in the hobby. If I can't critically evaluate a model of an IAIS locomotive, the non-hobbyists are completely at sea. So, creating realistic trees - as you have done here - is an important way to explain the attraction of this hobby to those casual viewers. It can make the difference between "hobby as art/craft" and "strange man-child playing with toys".

So again - well done!

- Trevor (who has done a few things with trees himself)

Trees

Building on Trevor's excellent observations, I find too many modelers who make trees too short, especially in HO and N scale.  Most mature trees - oaks, pines, other "hardwoods" like Poplar or maple, dwarf the things around them.  A good mature poplar should be upwards of 50 feet tall.  good oaks often top out above 40 feet.  Yet many layout feature trees that are barely taller then the boxcars passing behind or beside them on the track.  Having good leaf and branch detail is important, but it gets ruined with being too short.

And yours my good man, are NOT too short.  Well done.

Nicely Done

If not for the facia I would think I was looking at an old Industrial park that has been re-claimed and ready for new tenents.

Might I ask how you achieved the curbing along the roads....????

Jeff Z in CT

Follow-up

Thanks everyone for your kind comments...

My old high school band director used to say that there are two songs we had to play correctly. The fight song and the National Anthem. Because... everyone knew them.

Trevor I could not agree more with your comments. How a model railroad approaches the ordinary, the things we all interact with everyday, is key. Roads, signs, grade crossings, and trees are top on that list.

I have to give credit to the work of Ken Patterson and the Midwest Mod-U-Trak layout for inspiring my tree techniques. Mature trees should tower over trains. Yes, individually my trees aren't anything special but they work in the big picture, which is a bigger concern. I know Ken is a columnist for MRH, and if he's out there... thanks!

Curbs and sidewalks were made with styrene strip curved by hand to match the real-world arrangement, then attached to the styrene road base. I covered this in a previous blog post titled, " Curb Appeal", but am happy to answer more questions if needed.

James

No need to apologize!

No need to apologize to Mr. Kilmer! I think your trees look great!

Tree growth

As I mentioned on the Proto-Layouts list, that's beautiful work James!  

I'd be interested to hear more about how you combine armatures, both for density and height.  Over the years during hikes I've been on the lookout for foliage that'd serve as a good armature for taller HO scale trees, but pickings are slim.

Thanks, James for sharing and

Thanks, James for sharing and as usual all your scenery and techniques are beautifully described and constructed. I particularly like the large/tall trees because they look just like some of the short lines I have run on as an engineer with their "tree tunnels". This type of over growth is so typical of former main lines now branch lines serving a few customers.

Barry  

Multiple Branches

Barry, Joe, thank you!

Nothing more involved than clumping them together

The "Nordic Spruce" used to make SuperTrees has a tendency to be very narrow. By themselves they can make a rather tall, if thin tree. That works great for a backdrop tree line or along a narrow shelf. But when you want to model a tree "in the round" it could use a little help.

So here's a single "tree" next to the Auto-Jet Muffler parking lot in Clive, along with a 60 foot centerbeam flat car for scale. By itself, not to bad, but it's actually three separate trees, fully-flocked, and bunched together.

A closer look clearly shows two of the tree trunks planted close together. The third is in the rear of the clump. I'll start by planting the tallest tree in the bunch, then placing the others close together to round out the shape. I've found that you want the low branches closer to the ground than you think they need to be, which helps mask the true number of branches used to make the tree. If needed I'll then trim the tree to help with the shape, using photos of the real thing as a guide.

Now there are much more effective, not to mention detailed, methods to model a single tree. Sweetwater Scenery uses sagebrush which gives an excellent trunk detail. Scenic Express offers sagebrush, which you then attach the SuperTree branches to make the ultimate detailed tree. But my goal is consistency across the layout. Were I to make one sagebrush tree, I'd want to make them all that way, less the one tree stand out like a sore thumb.

James

James, what's the material

James, what's the material you use for foliage? Manufacturer and part# if possible? Thanks a lot!

Layered Scenery Methods

Hi Michael,

It's a mix of three or four shades of coarse turf that each tree is flocked with, say three parts of the middle color to one part of the extreme colors. I've used Scenic Express materials but the process would work with Woodland Scenics as well.

Colors are...

Light Green Coarse (EX802)
Grass Green Coarse (EX806)
Dark Forest Green Coarse (EX816)

Your mileage may vary. More details are in my article "Use layered foliage to enhance your scenery", in the October 2013 MR.

James

James, thanks a lot. I'm

James,

thanks a lot. I'm always torn between using simple turf or the really expensive Silflor materials. Looking at your pictures gives me hope that I will be able to save money!

OT - Silflor costs

This is off-topic, but I think you'd find that Silflor static grass is more economical than you might expect.  I spent around $130 for the static grass for my entire layout, the footprint of which is about 33'x15'.

Scenery Costs

Found the same to be true... a little scenery purchase goes a long way.

Quality products make a quality product.

James

Consistency

Having built trees both ways I don't actually think that's a concern.  With the addition of sagebrush (or some other natural armature), you can represent a tree with a larger trunk where appropriate, and the rest of the tree looks interchangeable with the ones you're currently using.  The variation wouldn't be any more out of place than trees of varying sizes are in reality.

This grouping (intended to be smaller examples) has some trees with sagebrush trunks and others without.  They all work together because the colors and textures of the vegetation are harmonious.  I'm sure yours would too.

The Power of Numbers

This is off-topic, but I

Joe, maybe I didn't say it correctly but I was referring to Silflor's expensive leaf foliage. I think the way James is making his trees looks at least as good and it sure is less expensive!

Expensive Silflor

Can anyone say if these are the same?

http://www.hangar18miniatures.com/bases-groundwork/basing-materials/late-summer-sycamore-leaf/

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/SUMMER-GREEN-SYCAMORE-LEAF-FOLIAGE/productinfo/SF93322/

It could be that for $25 Scenery Express sends three sheets of the stuff that is $7 at Hangar18...

Hangar 18

According to the German

According to the German website ( http://www.mininatur.de) the only difference is the color: summer 933-22 and fall 933-23. The price should be the same. Amazing!