Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Categories
- 955 All Categories
- 3 Picture Posting and Resizing
- 56 New Member Introductions
- 115 Off-Topic Forum
- 4 Photography
- 2 Resources
- 16 New Product Information
- 167 The SierraWest Forum
- 9 Brett's Blog
- 119 General News & Ramblings
- 3 Re-Release Information
- 6 Q & A about SierraWest
- 9 What Would You Like to See?
- 384 Builds
- 140 HO Scale Builds
- 165 O Scale Builds
- 60 Finished SW Build Pics
- 14 Miscellaneous Builds
- 190 Techniques
- 19 Working with Wood
- 20 Painting Castings
- 5 Masonry
- 23 Scenery
- 37 Tools and Supplies
- 21 Layout Planning & Building
- 40 Miscellaneous
- 24 Prototype Information
- 22 Reference and Research
Furnace Filter Trees.
Not sure who's method this is, but it's not mine and there are many variations and adaptions out there. The method is versatile so play around for different effects and uses.
The main material is "Natural fibre Furnace Filter" It is easiest located at WalMart. Here it is in it's packaging.
The filters used to be dark blue in blue packaging, I guess everything is going green these days, great for our use though. A shot of the fibre mat itself, front side.
And a shot of the backing mesh which will be removed, it simply pulls off.
The other item you will need is bambo skewers for the trunks.
Cut a manageable chunk from the filter using a good pair of scissors.
Cut this piece into roughly round disks, this will be the diameter of your tree. You can get up to 100 trees from one filter which costs $4.68
These filter discs are made up of layers of fibers, these layers can be streched apart and pulled and manipulated. Each disc will be able to be streched for a 6" - 8" tree. Bigger trees can be made using two discs.
Run some glue on a skewer and then thread the bambo skewer down the center of the streched out disc.
Spray the dry assembly with a brown or grey rattle can.
Trim the top of the skewer off and use the scissors to trim the tree to shape and remove any stray fibers.
Spray the branches with dilute white glue and then sprinkle on dark green coarse turf.
Experiment with colours, shapes, flocking material and size. 100 trees for less than $8 is cheap experimentation. Trees take about 5 minutes each to make and I probably put over 1000 of them onto my temp layout a couple of years ago.
Have fun !!
Karl.A
The main material is "Natural fibre Furnace Filter" It is easiest located at WalMart. Here it is in it's packaging.
The filters used to be dark blue in blue packaging, I guess everything is going green these days, great for our use though. A shot of the fibre mat itself, front side.
And a shot of the backing mesh which will be removed, it simply pulls off.
The other item you will need is bambo skewers for the trunks.
Cut a manageable chunk from the filter using a good pair of scissors.
Cut this piece into roughly round disks, this will be the diameter of your tree. You can get up to 100 trees from one filter which costs $4.68
These filter discs are made up of layers of fibers, these layers can be streched apart and pulled and manipulated. Each disc will be able to be streched for a 6" - 8" tree. Bigger trees can be made using two discs.
Run some glue on a skewer and then thread the bambo skewer down the center of the streched out disc.
Spray the dry assembly with a brown or grey rattle can.
Trim the top of the skewer off and use the scissors to trim the tree to shape and remove any stray fibers.
Spray the branches with dilute white glue and then sprinkle on dark green coarse turf.
Experiment with colours, shapes, flocking material and size. 100 trees for less than $8 is cheap experimentation. Trees take about 5 minutes each to make and I probably put over 1000 of them onto my temp layout a couple of years ago.
Have fun !!
Karl.A
Comments
Now I just wish we had a Wal Mart here in south Africa.
I used balsa for the trunks and added heavy texture, applied filter and painted just as described by Karl. From there I drybrushed the trunk with tan and light gray and added some dead branches from the filter fillament and painted those gray. I drybrushed some of the foliage tips as well. Instead of glue I used hairspray to fix the foliage. Gave a shot then added foliage, then another shot. I used 2 layers of foliage first a ground foam type followed by a ground cover with individual "needles" in it.
The toughest part is getting the foliage pads just right. Too much and tree looks young, too little and it just doesn't look right. Here are some of my experimentations with this method done in N scale. The tallest trees here are 7" and the undergrowth is much shorter. The overall effect when planted in mass is convincing.
I hope it's okay if I include a couple of the variations I use.
When cutting the discs, I try to cut them into star patterns which gives you some stray branches here and there. One other cool little trick is to insert real small discs in between each large disc. What this does is create some negative space between the layers and helps form a shadow effect. When I assemble a tree, I start at the bottom with a small piece, then alternate large, small, large, small etc all the way up:
The "large" discs get smaller as I work my way up...I use about 3 sizes, then a small cone shaped piece at the top:
When it comes to flocking, I use hairspray for adhesive. I flock the underside first with soil colored foam (Woodland Scenics T-41). Then, add green ground foam to the filter material and trim away the wild fly-away pieces and try to shape the tree. I go back and flock 'em again and follow up with one more quick trim and I'm done:
Absolutely join in, those trees are fantastic. I also have some trees made with the star pattern instead of the round discs, though mine are 'supposedly' O scale.
As I initially posted there are many variations to the "furnace filter trees" and everybody is invited to share their own twist on the methods, hopefully we can all learn something from each other.
So if anybody else has something to show on the furnace filter method please jump in and post it.
Karl. A
I have seen several versions of this, but being a visual person, I never really understood how it was done. Thanks muchly for the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now where did I put that home improvement gift card?
Dwaine
Im going to have a look for something similar locally.
Norm
I'm not sure what's up with the PDF. It's a pretty big file and that may be causing trouble with the forum software--hopefully Brett or Karl can help.
In the meantime, I found a link where you can get it:
http://www.oilcreekrailroad.com/Archive/RMR-Jan_2005.pdf
Let me know if that works.
http://model-trains-video.com/catalog.php
(No affiliation with that site, just sharing the info.)
http://www.sweetwaterscenery.com/page6.php?view=productListPage&category=8
Sweetwater scenery sells the filter material and the other ingredients needed for furnace filter trees. Thought it might be worth while.
Greg
Much appreciated mate.
Sometimes I/we forget how much great and varied information is buried deep within old threads on this wonderful forum.
It's always refreshing to see an older thread come back to life and newer members getting the benefits.
(It also reminds us older members of things we'd forgotten about...)