{"id":7402,"date":"2019-11-25T12:39:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T17:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/?page_id=7402"},"modified":"2019-11-25T12:39:36","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T17:39:36","slug":"cheap-trees","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/cheap-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheap Trees!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Original Article From:<\/strong><\/p>\n

November 17, 2002<\/p>\n

CHEAP TREES!!!<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

All these items are still available today.\u00a0 Any prices in this article should be ignored. This was 17 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Before we get started, if you are reading this thinking you are going to learn how to make very detailed, realistic trees, this is not one of those articles. Our Model Railroad brethren have already done this for us, and have done it quite well.\u00a0 There are literally hundreds of articles covering the creation of all different types of trees, from simple shrubs to mighty oaks.\u00a0\u00a0 These trees are not just scenery; some of these are works of art.<\/p>\n

With that said, it posed the question to me: \u201cWill they work for a scale model raceway as well?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer is yes, of course they can.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I also thought that some of these trees are a little fragile for slot racing use.\u00a0<\/em> That may sound a bit ridiculous at first, but bear with me.\u00a0 Every once in a great while, one of your finely tuned hot rods comes de-slotted.\u00a0 I know it\u2019s very rare, but it happens.\u00a0 One thing I sure don\u2019t want to see is this happening and possibly the car careening into one of these highly detailed and sometimes expensive trees. \u00a0So I chose a different approach and feel I struck a good balance between realism and durability.\u00a0 In addition, this method is incredibly inexpensive, leaving more funds for another slot car or 2 down the road.<\/p>\n

First, a trip to Wal-Mart or your favorite home center is in store.\u00a0 There I discovered a furnace filter that once I seen it, I knew I could transform it from its intended purpose to some decent looking pine trees.\u00a0 The brand I chose was by American Air, #383-716-601, it comes in a good size 20\u201dx30\u201dx1\u201d piece that you can get a lot of trees from at a thrifty $3.77.<\/p>\n

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Next up was finding a good source for the trunk of our new trees.\u00a0 The craft department had the answer as I heard my wife yell, \u201cFound it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Wooden dowel rods used for all kinds of different crafts was just what we were looking for.\u00a0 We chose \u00bd x 36-inch long segments.\u00a0 This size looked very realistic, easily painted, and again a great buy at $0.92 a rod.<\/p>\n

Now of course was the color.\u00a0 Although the filter by itself is almost a good match, I felt it needed some \u201cgreening\u201d. So back over to the paint department and for $0.96 for one can of green spray paint was the answer.\u00a0\u00a0 So now, we are at a grand total of\u00a0 $.5.65.\u00a0 Under 6 bucks for enough material to make 5 to 6 trees, not bad huh?<\/p>\n

Construction is about as simple as it can be.\u00a0 First, I take the dowel rods and cut off section 8 inches in length, then make both ends pointed for easy installment of the filter and the same on the other end for easy placement in the spray foam material I used for my \u201chills\u201d.\u00a0 You can go larger or smaller, I just chose this as a good middle ground to work with.\u00a0 Next is taking those \u201ctrunks\u201d and giving them a quick coat of brown paint.\u00a0 I used standard latex paint I had already mixed for doing other scenery projects, it had a good effect and once again, not expensive.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Then it was time to cut the furnace filter.\u00a0 I made strips 4 inches wide, 3, 2 and finally the smaller scraps were left to \u201ctop\u201d it all off.<\/p>\n

Using 2 of each size, place them on the rod and push it on through to where to want on it on the trunk staggering the squares as shown.<\/p>\n

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Then take a scissors and trim the corners from the squares, plus using your scissors at an angle adds more to the effect.\u00a0 You are just about finished, not too hard is it?<\/p>\n

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Once all this is completed, form the filter material with your hands until you have a shape you like.\u00a0 Now comes the simple final touch of spraying the tree with a good coat of green paint.\u00a0 And that\u2019s it.\u00a0 You are finished, and you have a very nice tree that gives a lot of life to your layout, and you did it in one afternoon.\u00a0 These trees are pretty tough and will stand up to the hardest of crashes, and there is no ground foam or small debris to fall off and get into your track or picked up by your cars, and they are friendly to the bodies of your models as well.<\/p>\n

Inexpensive, durable and a good combination of realism and what I like to call \u201craceability\u201d.\u00a0 Don\u2019t wait until spring to get these planted on your layout.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Harry<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original Article From: November 17, 2002 CHEAP TREES!!! All these items are still available today.\u00a0 Any prices in this article should be ignored. This was 17 years ago. Before we get started, if you are reading this thinking you are going to learn how to make very detailed, realistic trees, this is not one of … Continue reading Cheap Trees!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7402","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P81Ba5-1Vo","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7402"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7414,"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7402\/revisions\/7414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeracingworld.us\/TeamHRW\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}