MODEL RAILROADING TIPS

Homemade Pine Trees

Some fullgrown pines with long narrow stems on my small H0e layout.  

The pines are made out of bamboo barbecue sticks and other types of round cheap sticks/rods. They have holes for branches which i drilled all the way true with my Dremel and a 0.5 mm (0.02") drill, about 15 to 25 mm (½" to 1") a part. I run 25 to 65 mm (1" to 2½") long cheap wires true the holes which i fastened with white glue. I painted the upper half of the trees with ocher and the lower with refeer grey. Then I used white glue to glue Woodlandscenic conifer green clump-foliage to the top and the branches. After it all had dried I sprayed the treetops with diluted white glue(50% water) to make the foliage stick well. When it all had set I touched up some spots with more foliage.

One pine with foliage, some stems with branches and a H0 1950 Chevy pickup for size comparison.    

Material:

1 bamboo barbecue stick, about 25 to 35 cm (10" to 14")
6-9 25 to 65 mm (1" to 2½") long wires with a 0.5 mm (0.02") diameter.
1 bag of conifer green clump-foliage (Woodlandscenic perhaps)
White glue
Ocher and refeer grey paint.

Usefull tools:

1 pair of cutters
1 small paintbrush
1 0.5 mm (0.02") drill
1 small drill, a Dremel or a gimlet) 
1 piece of styrofoam to store the trees in, atleast 30x30 cm (1 square feet).

The bamboo sticks and the wire are cheap materials, you get enough for up to two hundred pines for less than 50 SEK (5$). Ive used different types of sticks/rods with a diameter from 3 to 5 mm (0.1" to .2"). But you could use even greater diameters if your prototype stems are thicker.

Ocher and refeer gray are the colours I´ve used. But I recommend that you make an excursion to the nearest pines and collect some colour samples.