Scenic Express trees


chessie_system3

chessie_system3

Well-Known Member
Anyone use Scenic Express trees? Are they any good? I have a bunch of Woodland Scenics trees and I am wondering if Scenic Express is a better upgrade.

Justin
 
go to the layout and construction forum and look at logandsawmans build thread . David did a real good tutorial a couple weeks ago on how to build the scenic express trees. It might help answer some of your questions . It convinced me to give them a try . My box just came UPS tonite !!
 
I really liked the Scenic Trees. I did spend a few minutes on each one cutting off small branches to shape them like a tree. After I cut off the branches I painted the stems. I made a small batch first (11 trees) then on a later date made 34 and it took no more than 3 hours.

Once I trimmed the branches and painted the boles it was just a matter in soaking them in the matte medium solution (at least 30 seconds) then shaking/blowing off excess and sprinkling the leaf material over the wet branches. I misted them with Woodlands Scenic Cement and added more leaves if necessary.

Here is a picture of the leaf material and a tree where I painted the "bark" and have the leaves applied:

Scenic Trees 001.jpg

Here I shaped some like aspen or birch and the wider ones are more like basswood or ash.

Scenic Trees 002.jpg

Here is a boxelder and a birch

Scenic Trees 005.jpg

Here the birch are in the center and the ones on the right are also super trees. The ones in the center bottom are pre made quality trees.

Scenic Trees 014.jpg
 
logandsawman said:
I really liked the Scenic Trees. I did spend a few minutes on each one cutting off small branches to shape them like a tree. After I cut off the branches I painted the stems. I made a small batch first (11 trees) then on a later date made 34 and it took no more than 3 hours.

Once I trimmed the branches and painted the boles it was just a matter in soaking them in the matte medium solution (at least 30 seconds) then shaking/blowing off excess and sprinkling the leaf material over the wet branches. I misted them with Woodlands Scenic Cement and added more leaves if necessary.

Here is a picture of the leaf material and a tree where I painted the "bark" and have the leaves applied:

View attachment 55616

Here I shaped some like aspen or birch and the wider ones are more like basswood or ash.

View attachment 55617

Here is a boxelder and a birch

View attachment 55618

Here the birch are in the center and the ones on the right are also super trees. The ones in the center bottom are pre made quality trees.

View attachment 55619
Click to expand...
I like the look of them.

Justin
 
Once you start getting into useing the scenic express you will have a hard time using the ws trees. The scenic express can be made to look like dead trees , hardly and leafed, full , different colors, the little twigs on the bottom of the box a great for small bushes.
 
Justin , I just opened my box of scenic trees . Here is what I got . This is the small box ( about 26 dollars I think ) .

IMG_2428.jpg
IMG_2429.jpg
IMG_2431.jpg
IMG_2430.jpg
 
logandsawman said:
I really liked the Scenic Trees. I did spend a few minutes on each one cutting off small branches to shape them like a tree. After I cut off the branches I painted the stems. I made a small batch first (11 trees) then on a later date made 34 and it took no more than 3 hours . . .
Click to expand...

Man, your trees look insanely good! How much of it do you have to "make?" I mean, do they already sort of look like trees? Or are you "building" them somehow?
 
Hi Chevron, they look like trees but have a lot of small branches, I like to take off a few of them here and there to make them look more natural.

Other than painting the stem and putting on the leaves, nothing has to be added.
 
David, do you feel like the trunks are substantial enough to look realistic? When I've looked on the Scenic Express website, that's always one element I've wondered about. A lot of them look kind of skinny. Your examples look really good, but I wondered if you had done anything to beef up the trunks or even found it necessary.
 
Hi Erik, I know they may not appear that large compared to models out there, the measured diameter for a 50 or 60' tall tree could be anywhere from 8" to 20" or so in real life. The larger super trees have maybe 1/4" stem which would be about a 22" diameter tree.

I think many layouts have somewhat exagerated tree diameters and maybe shrunken heights, compared to nature. But, I think doing that improves the appearance of the layout.

THE main stem can be beefed up by adding a little sheet rock mud to the paint and brushing that on. Or, a thick coat of rubber cement can be applied a few days in advance. I did that on some trees and used a couple different colors of paint and textured the stem with a brush, but that was too much detail and was difficult to pick up on the layout.
 
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