Making Trees

How to make trees for your layout

Many of the model trees on the layout were built by members of the club instead of being bought. This saved a lot of money and allowed us to fill the mountain with trees quickly and easily when they are made in an assembly line.

This method works well for HO scale trees, but can be adapted for any scale by adjusting the size of the dowels and wire.

The first step in creating trees is cutting wooden dowels to size. The diameter and the height of the dowels should vary to create a forest that is not uniform.



Next the tops of the dowels are tapered to a point with a sander.



Holes are drilled through the dowel for the limbs to go through. We saved time by drilling all the way through and having one piece of wire make two limbs, but for more realistic trees, drill only part way through and randomly space the branches.



A hole is drilled into the bottom for a pin to be glued in so the tree can be planted on the layout. We used Woodland Scenics T-Pins with the top cut off, since we had plenty on hand, but any type of pin will work.



Solid copper wire is cut to varying lengths for the limbs.



The limbs are glued in with largest on the bottom, geting smaller as they go up.







When all of the trees are made all are painted brown with either a spray can or an airbrush.



Hand painting details on the trees is next, such as darker spots and some gray areas.



Woodland Scenics clump foilage is glued to the limbs next. We used a variety of colors to keep each tree different.



This is done by putting tacky glue on each limb and either hand placing individual clumps on the branches or dipping the tree into the bag of foilage.





When done, you should have realistic looking trees and enough to plant a forest on your layout.



Have all your modeling friends over for a tree making session and see how fast your forest grows.



Photos by Karl Warden- cgmrc.smugmug.com