The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 2

[ACL1504]

Thirty clothes pins from Ace Hardware - $3.00

Thirty big nuts from Ace Hardware       - $3.00

New wood self closing tweezers for less than 30 cents each - Priceless

[ACL1504]

I decided to add some cypress trees to the Tahope River. I mentioned in a prior post I'm using HO scale Cypress Trees from JTT - a division of MRC.

The tree trunks are a very light gray.  I used Hunterline A&I Medium Brown to darken the tree bark.

You can see clearly the difference in the photo below.




Also, I wanted to tone down the bright green on the leaves. I sprayed a light coat of hair spray and misted the tree from the top. I then used Woodland Scenics Fine Turf - Earth and sprinkled a little from the top down.

The earth tone appears much darker than it is in the next photo. The photo above gives you a better idea of how if really looks.




More in a few.

[ACL1504]

The trees come with a wire armature on the bottom. I didn't want to drill any holes in the river bed so I cut the armature off.





Diet Pepsi break time folks. Back in a few.

[Zephyrus52246]

Glad to see you're back at it, Tom.  I like the clothespin idea.  I found that straightening the trees with the soldering iron worked well on the more crooked ones.  Two quick questions.  My Super Tree Starter kit had more "flat" trees.  The 1/4 Bushel "Value Pak" had more three dimensional trees.  1.)  Is what you're showing the "Super Value Case"? 2).  Are there more 3-D and less "flat" trees?  Thanks for your answers in advance.

Jeff

[ACL1504]

I used hot glue to secure the tree to the river bed. I was very careful and didn't burn my fingers this time.



I glued a total of four cypress trees along the banks.

I took a medium size sage tree and broke off a branch. I glued one half to the river bank and glued the other half a little above the river bed.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Glad to see you're back at it, Tom.  I like the clothespin idea.  I found that straightening the trees with the soldering iron worked well on the more crooked ones.  Two quick questions.  My Super Tree Starter kit had more "flat" trees.  The 1/4 Bushel "Value Pak" had more three dimensional trees.  1.)  Is what you're showing the "Super Value Case"? 2).  Are there more 3-D and less "flat" trees?  Thanks for your answers in advance.

Jeff

Jeff,

The Judge really came through on the clothes pin and nut idea. They work as well as the $4.00 metal tweezers.

I tried the soldering iron trick and it didn't work to well for me.

Great question about the trees. And, I have a great answer.

I also bought the "Value Pack" from SE and found many of the trees flat. These I just used against the photo backdrop.

I believe the flat trees came from packing the value pack in one box. Okay, mine were literally crammed in the box. Many were broken and many more were flat. I didn't get many full trees in that order and the bad trees I cut into the pine trees.

The trees I'm showing is the value pack - my second order. I think I only got three flat trees in this bunch.

All the trees you see are all full size trees of differing heights.

Here is the difference. When I placed the second order I asked that the order be shipped in two separate boxes. I asked for the trees to be gently placed in the boxes and not pushed down. I said I would pay for the extra box shipping but I don't think they charged me.

Hope this helps.

[ACL1504]

I used the WS Deep Pour Water Clear for the Tahope River. I followed the directions and mixed the entire amount. I gently poured the river water in the bed and let is seek it own level.

Here is how it looked about 30 minutes after the pour.

You can see the dead tree above the water. I later pushed this down in the water. You'll see it later in this post.






More in a few.

[ACL1504]

[ACL1504]

You can see where the water leached up on the bank. My answer to this, low tide water. You can see in the next photo I've pushed the dead tree a little into the water.

Still water runs deep.

[cuse]

Looks great Tom. They cypress trees are just nice until you "sink em" in the water, then they're NICE!


John

[Janbouli]

Beautiful Tom, I bought those tree's from a florist wholesale , lot's and lot's cheaper then from SE.

[ReadingBob]

We have water!         Awesome!  Simply awesome. 

[GPdemayo]

Neat.....

[sdrees]

glad that your are doing better and back at it. Looking very nice Tom!!!!!

[donatode]

glad that your are doing better and back at it. Looking very nice Tom!!!!!

...my exact sentiments ...