Trees and stumps from Nature

[cuse]

The backside of my layout is shaping up in my mind. I'd like to do a backwoods, little trains big trees thing to really take advantage of the shadowbox framing. Some of the great Aussie layouts of Geoff Nott and company, as well as the Hangman Creek display layout (and others) illustrate this well. Big trees extending right up under the valance ( to infinity)...I'm thinking no better way to simulate the detail of bark, moss, etc like the real thing. I'll find small (fake or floral supply) branches to insert into the natural trunks as I research the right stuff for Maine lumbering. Same goes for stumps, pulpwood, logs, etc....Here's my question:


Can I spray some kind of clear mat fixative to stabilize rotting wood or will be rotting wood?


Do I need to nuke or bake it to make sure I don't invite termites or smaller organisms into my layout?


Any other thoughts or suggestions?


John

[ACL1504]

The backside of my layout is shaping up in my mind. I'd like to do a backwoods, little trains big trees thing to really take advantage of the shadowbox framing. Some of the great Aussie layouts of Geoff Nott and company, as well as the Hangman Creek display layout (and others) illustrate this well. Big trees extending right up under the valance ( to infinity)...I'm thinking no better way to simulate the detail of bark, moss, etc like the real thing. I'll find small (fake or floral supply) branches to insert into the natural trunks as I research the right stuff for Maine lumbering. Same goes for stumps, pulpwood, logs, etc....Here's my question:


Can I spray some kind of clear mat fixative to stabilize rotting wood or will be rotting wood?


Do I need to nuke or bake it to make sure I don't invite termites or smaller organisms into my layout?


Any other thoughts or suggestions?


John

1.

I think if you want to stop the rotting wood simply remove it from the out side environment. On the old old layout I used a small rotting oak branch for a dead tree. Once it was inside my controlled climate, the rotting did not continue. I did not use any spray or fixative.

2.

I've baked out side dirt/sand and oak leaves in the oven @ 175 degrees for an hour. The leaves didn't burn but I kept an eye on them all the same. You could also bake your rotting branches. See below for explanation.

Baking removes any moisture from the sand/leaves and dirt. More importantly it kills any small organism living in the material we can't see.

If you have a rotting piece of wood and bake it, you will probably stop the rotting process further. For something to rot, you will need to provide a climate and moisture as Mother Nature does.

Tom

[madharry]

You could soak the wood in glycerine............this is suggested as a good way to preserve the "tundra" tree material known as "super trees"..............

Mike

[deemery]

There's a (Minwax?) product you can get at the lumber store for preserving rotting wood.  You could soak the parts in that.


dave

[rslaserkits]

Do a search for some of Tom Beaton's posts. He has done a few clinics at the Pacific Model Loggers Congress and the 2012  Narrow gauge Convention on doing just that. http://modvid.com.au/html/body_tom_beaton.html