I've finally made some Super Trees. Do you spray them with matte medium or any other clear fixative after they are done?
Jeff
Jeff,
It depends on how much of the ground cover, or foam that did not stick well. I generally give it an over spray of like 3m spray adhesive. If when you try to gently shake them, and lots comes off, than do spray them.
Loren...
Hi Jeff
I just use the matte Medium. For trees I buy the concentrate and mix it 7:1 with water. Soak the trees in the matte medium then sprinkle on the leave material and then let them dry. Just a suggestion - I would use a lot less leaves. It may just be my personnel opinion but I think super trees look much better with less ground foam or foliage material. If you would like a reference take a look at my build thread. You want to be able to see through them a little to give the scene depth. I must give credit to Wayne Olson for this. I started making my super trees like the ones in the catalog and he told me they look like S**t. "You need to be able to see through a tree so that it has depth", I remember him saying. We made a few per his suggestion and I have been making them that way sense. Sorry, Jim I know you sell less leave material this way. Jim is the owner of Scenic Express for those wondering who Jim is. Jeff let me know what you think.
John, you're probably right. The first group were a little "foliage heavy". I've made some more and they look a bit more open. Loren, thanks for your input. One of the trees fell down and a lot of the leaves fell off, so I've been giving them a spray of some matte fixative when I'm done with them. I tried some of the Noch leaves as well (first pic). They look good, too. The second is some of the turf that came with the kit. It was kinda clumpy, possibly as I bought this kit in 2005, I believe. :o I think I like the Super Leaf material the best, but I'll probably use all three here and there. The third pic is a "bush" made from leftover Super Tree Material. The bush on the left is a Woodland Scenics foliage product. Again, I think that both types of bushes look good and will use both for variety.
Jeff
I remember reading somewhere to soak super trees in Glycerine, but don't know where anymore and what the mixture was etc. Does anyone here use this method or can help me ?
Janbouli,
If you search soaking supertress in glycerin, there are several articles that come up...
Thanks Loren , I thought it was someone here that had posted on this.
I tried the steam method for straightening out the tree and it worked pretty well. (saw it on youtube) you basically pass the tree over a kettle of water with the spout held open..... I never did do the glycerin soak, but did dip them in some watered down matte medium ( mod podge).
Quote from: rpdylan on November 11, 2017, 04:04:04 AM
I tried the steam method for straightening out the tree and it worked pretty well. (saw it on youtube) you basically pass the tree over a kettle of water with the spout held open..... I never did do the glycerin soak, but did dip them in some watered down matte medium ( mod podge).
Yes , saw that steam method on youtube too, so it works , might as well try that too then. Thanks.
Janbouli,
The Glycerin as I would understand it, saturates the stem, and makes it more flexible. This down the road will not allow them to break as easy, as I have noticed they do dry out, and become rather brittle.
Loren...
Yes I have used glycerin on all my trees. It does give them longevity. My "Mill Falls" layout is 14 years old and the trees look as fresh as when they were first planted after attending 30+ exhibitions.
Mike
Oh and to keep the leaves on I suggest unscented hair spray..................
Mike :)
Thanks Mike , what did you dilute the glycerine with and did you straighten them using the glycerine or another way?
Gents......
I have weighed in on this conversation previously in other threads.
I find that hair spray is not enough when you have sleeves of operators brushing against stuff while switching and driving.
I use 3M #77 spray contact cement. I hold my tree trunks (armatures) over a plastic five gallon bucket as the over spray stays very sticky and is a real nuisance. I then dust ground foam over the trunk and then use repeated applications to fluff out the tree.
In time stuff still falls off but it looks like foliage on the ground so it's not a real problem. Occasionally I scoop up the "fall out" and put it back in the can for future applications. Most of my trees are pushed into holes or have a small wire in the bottom so they are removable for dolling up as necessary.
see ya
Bob
Quote from: Janbouli on November 13, 2017, 02:27:55 PM
Thanks Mike , what did you dilute the glycerine with and did you straighten them using the glycerine or another way?
I use full strength glycerine and then peg the trees on a washing line to make them straight. My trees are not in the way of operators so I did not have Bob's problem of operators brushing them.........
Mike
Thank you Bob and Mike.
Jan
I have been using the super trees treated with glycerine for a couple years now and like them much better than the non treated ones. They are much less brittle. One tip - if you can remove the seed pods before you apply the glycerine you will find it much easier to remove them.
John, what is your method with the glycerin?
Quote from: rpdylan on November 13, 2017, 08:34:33 PM
John, what is your method with the glycerin?
I'm buying my trees by the case directly from Scenic Express and they are boiling them in glycerin before they ship them. The only down fall is the seed pods are harder to remove. I recommend snipping them off rather than pulling them off like we used to do with the non-glycerin trees.
I bought my super trees from a decorations material wholesale, a 60 liter box , more then enough for 600 trees for around 50 dollars. It's called seamoss or seafoam , official name Teloxys aristata.
(https://www.decofleur.com/bestanden/cache/large/513/Zeemos-ca-60-liter.jpg)
John , I have seen more then one person leaving the buds on ( I am having a dejavu feeling about this question ) , is it necessary to take them off ?
I'll be spraypainting them dark gray , after I boil them in glycerine. Maybe I can boil them in glycerine with gray or black pigment , worth a try, or has someone done that already and found out it doesn't work?
does anyone know of a company like that in the US?
Quote from: Janbouli on November 14, 2017, 08:59:30 AM
I bought my super trees from a decorations material wholesale, a 60 liter box , more then enough for 600 trees for around 50 dollars. It's called seamoss or seafoam , official name Teloxys aristata.
(https://www.decofleur.com/bestanden/cache/large/513/Zeemos-ca-60-liter.jpg) (https://www.decofleur.com/bestanden/cache/large/513/Zeemos-ca-60-liter.jpg)
John , I have seen more then one person leaving the buds on ( I am having a dejavu feeling about this question ) , is it necessary to take them off ?
I'll be spraypainting them dark gray , after I boil them in glycerine. Maybe I can boil them in glycerine with gray or black pigment , worth a try, or has someone done that already and found out it doesn't work?
Jan
All of my trees - so far - have been Aspens so we have painted them off white. I don't know why you couldn't color them with a gray pigment. I would start with grey - trees only look black when they are wet so I would be afraid of getting them to dark.
Your price sounds good. I'm paying between $100 and $120, US for a case. I know there is a lot of shipping costs involved getting them here from Europe.
Quote from: rpdylan on November 14, 2017, 09:42:35 AM
does anyone know of a company like that in the US?
The only place I have ever found selling Super Trees or anything like them is Scenic Express in the US. Jim sells them already treated with the glycerine. Jim is in the process of shipping case number 12 for my layout.
As far as modeling a tree with the seed pods - I don't like them. The seed pods look unnatural to me and if you cover the tree with enough flock to hide them the trees look worse. As I said in a previous post, don't try to pull them off after the glycerine treatment. I have been cutting them out of the tree with nippers. The long nippers used to remove plastic parts from the sprue work real well.
The best lesson I have learned - Credit goes to Wayne Olson on this - is don't use very much flock. You want to see through the trees. If you take a look at my build thread I did a pictorial on this a while back.
Just my 2 cents.