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I guess I should have researched this better, but I bought some Woodland Scenics Trees with the intention of removing the plastic base and using the pins to hold them in place.

 

I was under the impression they had a metal pin protruding from the trunk, once the base was removed (not sure how I reached that conclusion), but as it turns out, the 'pin' looks just like a very short molded plastic tip of the trunk material.

 

So I was thinking of cutting those off and drilling very small holes in the base of the trunks and gluing a 'brad' nail in place of the plastic tip or 'pin' (not sure what glue would work best here...CA?)

 

Has anyone cut on these WS plastic trunks before?  Do you think this would work?

 

My layout is a faux grass indoor/outdoor carpet with 1/8" rubber backing and ~3/4" rubber pad underneath.  The thought is a 1/2 - 3/4" long 18ga brad coming out of the trunk would be enough to anchor a 6" tree.

 

I'm not sure if the plastic is too soft for this approach, or if there is some kind of metal core in these trees to make them flexible...first time messing with any make of model trees...so I'm open to any ideas on fixing these to my layout but would like them to be removable and able to be replanted.

As always I appreciate any and all advice and suggestions!

Robert

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I've done what you're suggesting many a time.  Very doable.  CA will work just fine.

 

BTW...and perhaps not relevant to your particular situation...those plastic bases for the trees are handy for certain layouts.  If you have a short loop pile carpet, as some I/O carpets are, you can stick a patch of the hook part of Velcro to the base.  Then the tree will 'grab' the carpet.  We've done that with our store layout and a portable club layout.  The 'grab' is adequate, but not so much if the layout will be jostled by a crowd or some other bumping.  The nice thing about the Velcro technique is that it's very temporary-friendly...i.e., easy/quick set-up and tear-down.

 

FWIW, always.

 

KD

Thanks for confirmation on this approach KD!  My reason for asking before diving right in is there would seem to be 'no going' back once I trim the plastic 'pin' from the trunk and replace it with a metal one.  Because then the removable base that comes with the WS trees would only be able to be used again by gluing it back in place.

 

Frank, thanks for the reply, and the tips on placing these with clay, glue and ground cover for more realistic effect.  I know my style of layout is not what some shoot for, but for this go round I'm not focusing too much on realistic modeling...here is a shot of my indoor outdoor fake grass that may depict the 'toy train' style I'll end up with...(although adding some trees is somewhat an effort for more realism, so some loosely placed clumps of shrub or ground cover is something I should look at)...

 

003

 

This fake grass looks like individual plastic blades that are a bit long (likely out of scale), but would allow the base of the tree to sit down into the grass an 1/8-1/4".

 

The fake grass is long enough the plastic bases don't rest well on top of it with their small foot print, and the WS "Waters Edge" trees have dark brown bases with pale colored trunks...so they would need shrub or ground cover like Frank suggested not to stick out like a sore thumb.

 

I thought about placing the bases under the fake grass carpet...maybe adhering them to the backside, but I'd like to be able to move them about and play with the look without ending up with 3/8" holes throughout.  I think this carpet with its rubber backing can handle pin pricks here and there without too much shedding or collateral damage.

 

ptbarnm, I have an email, but just haven't listed it in my profile because of spam concerns...I also don't do much in the way of buy/sell via the forum.

Thanks again!

Robert

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