Use of trees and other foliage...

Very effective use of foliage, Moonson.

Yup... Real nice! Great spacing and variety...  Nice job! 

Great work Moonson...I love it.

Here are a few from my old layout. 

Chris, I just love the overgrown abandoned station.  Nice work!

Thank you very much....that was fun to do. 

Moonson

Your use of trees and shrubs in your suburban street is perfect. Once people get settled in they plant and you've captured this. It makes the scene.

Scotie

Here is my forest.  Roughly an eight by eight foot section here with over 400 trees from 3 inches to just under 12 inches tall.  As you can see there are: a) not nearly enough trees, and b no tall trees.  

To get the look I want, which is a thick forest through which you can catch glimpses of the train with trees far taller than it, I need about 100-150 additional tall trees, 14 - 16 inches would look best I think, along with a few monsters, and another 200 - 400 trees in the 3 to 8 inch category.  

In time I will get there.  Three dozen nice, big, good-looking, detailed trees cost about what a Vision loco does.  A dozen to dozen and a half monsters cost about what a Legacy loco costs.  I'm just about to that point.

No such thing as too many trees on a layout. They really make it happen with scenery.

I totally agree with you Frank!!!!  Scenery is one reason I regret never building a permanent layout.

But SOME scenery is possible on my temporary layouts to help enhance the layout.  Surely not up to par with permanent stuff, but possible.

Here are some samples of temp scenery used to enhance a scene.

- walt

EVEN IF WINTER

I posted these on another thread but you did say trees. I have been reforesting the layout...............Paul

Fall: first attempts, in hindsight there should be a bit of green.

summer:

large trees made from sage brush with super trees attached with CA glue. Spray painted then flocked with leaf foliage

Nice pictures guys.

Them trees can get expensive, but they sure do make a difference.

I'm trying to move on to adding some people for a while.  I think that also helps.

Larry

Here's a suggestion, Lee, if you please. If I were to dedicate that much real estate to a forest, as you named the concept, I could not resist putting in a dirt road (or two) wending its/their way through the forest, creating even more interest for those peeking into the foliage for further visual adventure.

A place I visit often (and again, as soon as the real Spring arrives around here in the NJ - NY - PA area) is a forest just north of Cortland and Homer, NY, far up on a hilltop, bisected by a dirt road called Brakehill Road. On one of my walking and very slow driving excursions there, I noticed dwellings snuggled deep inside the forest, at the ends of dirt roads, overgrown but clearly in use, that were barely a car's width. Needless to say, that got my attention.

Here are a couple of vignettes I crafted to model those discoveries of mine in the forest on Brakehill Road, each done in my own interpretation.

You may find this more interesting than trying to (expensively?) fill-up a whole tree-scape with just trees. Who knows, "it might be fun to try."

I have another idea for you, perhaps, to consider, also, which I will compose as soon as I get all the photos organized for inspection here.

FrankM

Thanks to Larry Sr., Wsdimenna, Paul2, Walt Rapp, TrainsRMe, N&WClassJ,and RickO for your replies with photos. They are spectacular in their variety of artistic and creative expression and certainly add excellent input to the conversation!

So many cool ideas! So little (play) time! My head is going to explode! This is a healthy thing sharing ideas and work like this, I just gotta say.

FrankM

Thank you, Scotie. I guess growing up and living nowadays in suburbia (minus one year living on Manhattan) has had its effect on my imagination. I have to say, I felt good while I was crafting that neighborhood, was glad I had decided to dedicate a portion of that overall layout to such a place, and felt very good when it was completed. Your praise confirms that I wasn't just "living in a fool's paradise" (!) Thanks again for all that you said.

FrankM.

Good stuff everyone!  When I started putting trees on the layout, they were all Woodland Scenics.  Over time, I started putting in trees from other manufactures.  I liked this variety of mixed trees and continue to add more from the other manufactures.

Thank you, also, to: TrainsRMe, Wood, and N&W ClassJ, for the applause (!) I have to admit, it is fun to read.

And after seeing the photos of the wonderful layout scenery posted here, I see I have a lot to continue to learn. I used to just learn from the model railroading magazines, like OGR, but this forum affords us so many experiences to enjoy and communicate about, that my creativity has grown exponentially, due to seeing the work of others, that's for sure!

FrankM

Here's some around my farm area .

Guy

There is 75  trees on this rock face/hillside and I still need to add more.

Wow!!! Now that is some nice work...I love the lighting and subtle colors...just great modeling.

Yes, and if clarification on a point is needed, you can ask a question and (hopefully) get a quick answer!

Lee,

if you are doing all fir type trees, you may want to consider the furnace filter method for foreground trees, there is also a method of using wire, but couldnt find it.

For canopy effect of hardwoods you may want to consider goldenrod, with the foreground portion a better quality. The eyes will be fooled

=====

Once used forest in flash (designed for HO guys), but these were on small side. I did like the wispy effect achieved.

It's WI so I need more trees, but I have a start.

Made from untwisted jute rope and leaf flakes.

Scenic Express Module, Fort Pitt Highrailer's display.  Click on the underlined phrase for a slideshow.  Per discussion yesterday at the Pittsburgh Home and Garden Show, this is the third module like this that has been built.  First two modules were sold via the York Train shows.  IMO beautiful display.  Even with a non-train public at the Pittsburgh H & G show, it's an eye catcher.

Frank,

Great ideas!  Yes, I have seen places like that in real life, and are things I tried years ago in smaller scales, and want to do again in O gauge.  I love the name Brakehill Road!  While I don't know if it's origin comes from putting on the brakes, it gives that impression.  Great photos again!

Mike,

Great slideshow!  I knew the H&G Show was going on, but the layout would be the only reason I would go.    

i don't need anything for the home, just the occasional repair.  

The following photos are do a module I made about 25 years ago of my parents home in N scale.  I've posted these before.  The spruce and hedge are furnace filter with some Wooldand Scenics ground foam dusted over.  I don't recall how I colored the blue spruce.  The pines are tapered dowels with caspia in drilled holes.  The maples are WS netting over branches cut from a bush.  Even I am amazed I worked in such a small scale then.  Eyesight and arthritis prevents that now.

Here is the section of that road that is somewhat level, along the top of the hill, with fields of crops alongside each side. However, beyond this point, behind where I am standing,it begins to drop-off markedly, and soon requites a shift down in gears and plenty of braking. My interpretation of the name was that wagon-loads of harvests took some care in bringing crops from the fields atop this hill down to markets in Cortland and Homer, NY.

In the distance, among those trees, which spread out and deepen in acreage, are some of those encampments I have used as the basis of my modeled vignettes, Mark.

FrankM.

Here are some backyards I crafted. No single nano-inch goes un-modeled, and I can see by the wonderful scenes contributed so far by other voices in this thread that I am not alone in the conviction that foliage matters and is an appropriate expense, considering the anticipated results...

FrankM.

That is a great shot!  I love the variety of trees that are present along with the shrubs. 

 Frank, yes trying to get the crops down the hill sounds just right.  Thank you for the photos!

Some trees and bushes, and if you look close, a swamp monster. Can you find him?

Look closely between the pines....

I love that shot!