kaustav has been back in touch with his ‘how to’ on N scale pine trees.
“I liked it when you mentioned that I am ‘kitbashing’ trees when I sent my methods of using Woodland Scenics armature and seafoam to build miniature trees.
However, as my experiment with making highly detailed trees is continuing, I thought I’d share a method to scratchbuild pine trees using very commonly available materials – a few dry twigs, some asparagus fern and a bit of static grass – that’s all that you need to make these awesome trees.
Coming to tools, you just need a cutter, some fine drill bits, a rotary tool (hand vice will also work, but it will just take awful amount of time), some paint and a static grass applicator.
Again, these are made in N Scale for Wrightsville Port, but the method can be used for anything from Z to G – all you need is to select right size of twigs and branches and appropriate length of static grass.
And just like my last set of trees, you don’t use these everywhere – foreground scenes or dioramas will do justice to all the effort that you put in. But yes, a few of these in a well choreographed scene will definitely make it look real. Hope you like it.
Cheers!
Kaustav”
Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
A big thanks to Kaustav for sharing his ‘how to’ on N scale pine trees.
His last post, which he refers to, is here.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More N scale layouts here if that’s your thing.
Kaustav, your work is astonishing! I am curious as to how long it takes to produce such remarkable life-like trees. Also, how long did it take you to perfect the techniques involved? Thanks for the great video. Cheers! NJ Mark
Kaustav, you trees are beautiful. It’s a little time consuming if you need to make 50 trees. But they are spectacular! I would love to follow you and your videos. How can I? Thanks Tony from N.Y., N.Y. USA
Kaustav: Beautiful job. You are very talented and also very patient ! Thank you for sharing. Paul…..Ohio…..USA
Brilliant trees
@NJ Mark – Thank you! Because I used a rotary tool total time to build one tree is not really much – about 30 minutes if you know exactly at you’re doing, however, that’s after making a few trees when you learn the steps – like everything else.
@Anthony – Yes, you won’t make trees like these for background scenes – these are mostly for foreground, key focal areas and such. However, as I was mentioning to mark, it takes about 30 minutes to make each – with a rotary tool to drill holes and and a larger static grass applicator it might be much less. So 50 trees would take about 2 weekend’s effort and I would personally do that. I am not making a model train layout every month, and I would rather spend more time and effort to make it look really good so that it I can enjoy it for a long time – but that’s just me. 🙂
That being said, I will be doing another method of making some fairly detailed background trees when I revamp my scenery at Wrightsville Port – should happen within next month or two. I am making it a habit to send all my updates to Al and you should find it right here, but you can always find me in YouTube, Facebook or Instagram.
Cheers!
Kaustav
Excellent job, the trees look very lifelike. Thank you for sharing.
I admire your patience and talented explanations of your process. Your results are absolutely outstanding. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice.
I’m sure one would be proud to make there own lot of trees but when you need 200 or more you buy them from china on ebay for penny’s on the dollar
Amazing!!! that is talent.
A fantastic job and actually not so difficult to do! Beautifully put together and explained. Thanks Kaustav.
Those trees are just epic. Photo realistic.
Regards
Mal
North Wales
When it comes to up close and personal fine detail is important and I agree, take your time. If you want fast and easy pine trees that look more realistic than plastic, better than some manufactured ones out there, try Ron Marsh’s method on his Trains N’ Things website. He uses furnace filters and wooden skewers and the results are great. I’ve made about two dozen and I do it in an evening watching TV. Simple, fast, cheap and great looking – all the basic ingredients for a “keeper”.