The Ultimate Guide to Building 100 Model Trees in a Weekend

Hi Ron, I'm having trouble finding 1 ply twine. Would 2 ply work too?

This is an excellent step-by-step guide. I run tabletop games and was looking for some higher elevation trees to put into my scenes. Thank you!

great video,...thanx

I've been making sisal pines for a decade now and love them though I might like to find a fiber even a little stiffer. I untwist 3/8 sisal rope to the individual bundles. I soap it over night which straightens and loosens the fibers. For my HO trees, I try to match the wire for the trunks to the size of the tree. In addition to florist wire usually 18 AWG I have used various wires including stripping the wire from scrap Romex using it both with and without the insulation. I've found it's important to maintain a good tension when spinning the trees. I'm going to be trying your use of static fibers instead of foam.

This is awesome, especially for big mountain scenes! What do you do for trees that are going to be closer up? The twisted wire trunk look obviously unrealistic, and these look great for background trees, but I have some small dioramas that I’d like to build these kind of trees with, but don’t know what to do with that trunk kind of hide it.

They are some good looking trees.

I am very new to this and have G scale. Do you have recommendations for G scale trees? This looks like something I can do but very time consuming. Thank you.

Where did you get the clamp-on table vise?

I've been making a lot of sea foam trees to simulate upstate new york in the fall. It's been fun and a good learning experience. I picked up an airbrush recently and have been using that to paint the trees. I'd like to find a different glue though. Something that isn't so nasty to use, but oh well. Then sprinkling with various shades of green, and then selectively adding orange, yellow, or red.

The other thing I've done has been adding what look like downed trees on the hill/mountain in my layout. I remember this from when I was camping with the scouts in the winters, but I also saw it on the Virtual Railfan Horseshoe Curve video this last winter. You can see so many downed trees in there, and there's so much other stuff on the ground that isn't just grass.

Watched your video on upgrade truck wheels, don’t have a gauge, bought new micro train trucks with couplers, what size or number for metal wheels to use

Many years ago I made trees using this method, but instead of all the sisal being the same length, I cut them different lengths before wrapping in the wire, short at the top, longer at the bottom. I also used copper wire, which allowed me to pull against the vice and stretch the wires, keeping them straight.

Great work there 👍👍

Ron: Do you think N scale modules will be available again soon?

Great video and tutorial on making your own trees! The method you use and show us seems very affective. You definitely have to have patience with it. Thanks for sharing your video with us along with your PRICELESS time and effort! Cheers from Laurel, Delaware.

Btw, im creating a railroad room in our new home and was wondering if you could donate a sticker to add to a section of wall in there. Im a disabled Delawarian due to a hereditary nerve disease and wanted these stickers of support show of the ones im subscribed to.

Those look amazing! I've been searching for the perfect tree tutorial for months and this is the one. Thank you so much!

Hey Ron Learned this from Grant's video a couple of years ago and have made 3380 trees (no typo) between N scale 20 and 80 feet equal ratio to 20,40,60 and 80 foot . I calculated an average of 5 min per tree doing lots of 20 to 60 at a time. I also used various green colours and some rust to simulate dead pines. An 80 ft N scale tree takes twice as long as a 20 foot. So far I have used 2200 of them on my Kicking Horse River Railway. Lots of trees in the Kicking Horse Pass between Lake Louis Alberta and Field BC. Good luck and just persevere. Henk

Anybody making birch trees?

If you have or can still buy a spring loaded flour sifter it works beautifully to apply this material since its action does the work without shaking. One way to lose less braches is to spray a bit of Aqua Net or hair laquer on the wire then apply it letting it set up and then fold the wire to spin it. This also allows you to cut the shape first before twisting and even have gaps between layers of branches if desired. Using this method you can have dozens of trees ready to be twisted all at once since and shaped since there tacked down vs building one after another.

Those look really good Ron!

I use the same technique but instead of scissors I use a small battery powered grooming tool for beards and mustache. Its quicker and cuts better.😁

Has anyone thought of using heat shrink tubing for the trunk of the tree and painting brown/grey?

best pine trees. time well spent. 
thank you, Ron

They came out great! Just not a fan of the twisted wire trunk look.

Don’t know how you do it: Every time something is rolling around in my head, you post a video that speaks to what I was thinking about. The weird part is, you post the vid, 2-4 days prior to me thinking about it. Great! Thanks!

that's awesome Ron

They look so good in large number!
Are you doing anything in the base of the tree to cover the twisted wire?

Howdy Ron! Wow that looks great! I think I might even be able to pull that off... lol. Really impressive how well they look given the time to make them. I can see once you get a routine going you can zip right along. I'll have to research making trees for HO scale. Thanks for sharing 🤠

Storytime with Ron, coming soon to a theater near you.

"Ugly trees," you crack me up....

Hi Ron What do you use for the Trunk of the tree? I've seen an idea of using heat shrink over the wire then heated up to 'create' the bark effect, maybe try one as an example. Thanks

daddy ron for the win. again

thank you for super detail video
hope work out right you
because find way make 12inch tall tree in east cost USA about 24 them

Do you just leave the wire tree trunks as visible wire?

Yay Canada!

Ron, in addition to being an N scale guy I am also a living historian. What I saw you do with the bailing string made me think of using something like a flax comb to pull the fibers apart. Don't have a flax comb think dog brush. You may make it easier and faster by securing the comb and pull the end of the string threw it a couple of times. This may give you 2 or 3 cuts from the twine that is combed out and ready for use.

They look good Ron, I've been making those Pine Trees for years. Keep up the good work. Bob

Nice

Fascinating.
Now I have an idea how to make a toilet brush 😅

It still amazes me just how many trees it take to cover a hill side. I guess I'm lucky I'm modeling a desert area but tht too takes a lot of r brush to cover right. Thanks for sharing.

They look great. Thank you For sharing. I love Grants Videos. He is off line for now do to water damage. As a side Note? You can air brush, or spray cans of green to very the color of your trees. I like to spray a little yellow to one side to create sunlight hitting the trees from the same side. But a little goes a long way. For the trees up front? I like to paint coarse modeling past from Golden to thicken and texture the trunk. Then paint a desired color. I do bother doing this to the trees behind. Thank you for sharing. For more ideas on making trees see Boomer Diorama | River Road. He is HO. But he models trees you can have up front. I call them detail trees for next to the building and for signature scenes. Thanks again for sharing.

They look great! Do you feel like you need to cover the bottom part of the trunks with something to make them less wire-y?

Nice tutorial Ron as always,
great looking trees. I would like to suggest another tree tutorial similar to yours from Eric's Hobby Workshop entitled "How to Make a Realistic Miniature Pine Forest! - Terrain for 40k, D&D, Model Train Dioramas". Great video on making pine trees also.

Ron!! A tip, the trunks of the trees can be detailed with Woodland Scenics fine turf soil, apply white glue to the trunk and sprinkle some soil turf, makes a big difference! Good luck on the next 1400+ trees sir 😆

Thanks Ron , They look spectacular !!!!!!!

You are an inspiration to all of us ' arm - chair ' modelers....great job! Excellent video.

That's a lot of trees! Looks like a good technique to try. I already have the sisal and the wire. For HO I would probably need to cover the trunks with something, maybe golden paste, before painting.

hello ron's it's is randy and i like yours video is cool thanks and 100 tress good ron good friends randy

looking great the trees nice work .

How might you hide the fact the trunk is twisted wire? Or how would you scale it up to say HO? Those trunks look too skinny for that scale.