A small layout I'm building in 4mm scale needs some fir trees. As I don't have the time to make my own this time round, I was looking at ready made ones. I can see that Busch, Noch and Heki look like they make something suitable in HO, but I wondered how realistic they were, or if there were any other alternatives. I'm happy to pay more for the realism if it came to that.
Does anybody have any experience of firs made by these companies, or can they recommend any other sources?
Thanks
Stu
"Stu" wrote
They're all far too small (even for HO scale) - all but very young fir trees are pretty damned big things and would tower above everything on most layouts.
John.
If we made our trees to scale size then we would be modelling only trees and no railway!
"Gregory Procter" wrote
In that case you'll no doubt be happy with the trees marketed by Hornby and the like. ;-)
John.
=>>> > A small layout I'm building in 4mm scale needs some fir trees. As I don't =>>> > have the time to make my own this time round, I was looking at ready made =>>> > ones. I can see that Busch, Noch and Heki look like they make something =>>> > suitable in HO, but I wondered how realistic they were, or if there were =>>> any =>>> > other alternatives. I'm happy to pay more for the =>>> > realism if it came to that.
Any tree suitable for hHO is also suitable for OO. Why? Because trees come in a lot of different sizes... :-)
On most layouts I've seen, the trees tend to be on the small side. A mature oak, elm, sycamore, etc, for example, can easily top 40ft - about 5" whether scaled for HO or OO. A mature fir will be 60ft or taller. As for Douglas fir, white pine, etc - think 80 to 120ft. IOW, mature trees should be considerably taller than your buildings. So trees that are in that range or smaller will fit right in. And trees work very nicely to force perspective along the backdrop - just use the smaller ones at the rear.
In addition to the brands mentioned by the OP, there's also Woodland Scenics. But IMO ready made conifers tend too look too toylike, regardless of brand. They need a bit of hacking about. It also helps to thin them out a bit, and glue ground foam leaf material on them - vary the colours a little.
HTH
Wolf Kirchmeir ................................. If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on this train? (Garrison Keillor)
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