With this talk of trees I thought I'd post a picture of a scene that got me thinking about how trees and forests appear on model railroads, or maybe don't appear on model railroads.
It's this kind of dense, unruly forest that I'm used to. I realize that if a railroad were making its way through this, it would all be cut back quite extensively from the right-of-way. However, it's this kind of scene that I think of when I think of a forest: lots of trees packed tightly together, many scraggly, thin, misshapen, or broken, surrounded by dense undergrowth. Stately centrepiece trees are few and far between.
That tree in the centre looked like it was about ready to reach down and grab me - I skedaddled before it had a chance :-)
Too many layouts have these perfect symmetrical trees everywhere and neatly cut grass under them. Hardly a typical forest. More like a park. And it's surprising how many small branches are scattered on the forest floor.
ReplyDeleteHere's another one. At what height do branches and leaves sprout? Sometimes they don't bloom until they reach a height where they find daylight. Sometimes they start low enough (lowe enough? LOL) for a child to reach up and climb the tree. If the tree is near a house, maybe it's been trimmed so the branches don't start until a little higher.
Whereas many of my stylized trees were painted a dark bark color (that looked nice against the fall foliage), your photo above shows how textured and light grey/brown many bark colors actually are. The best modeling comes from observation of the prototype. I can't wait to see your next finished scenery.
Thanks for sharing this! I have some interesting photos of trees with branches in lots of locations one would not think they would appear. I'll try and dig one up for posting. I also have a little known detail that I'll post once I have my act together.
DeleteIf we waited until we "had our act together", we'll all be permanently paralyzed! LOL But I trust you'll know when you've got enough info to reasonably move forward.
DeleteI should have been more specific, in this case getting my act together was having lunch and a cup of coffee :-)
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