Help: Realistic Trees for an Old West Town

[psyberwyche]

So, considering I've been a hobbyist and terrain builder for many years, one thing I've never really been much good at is trees. I've tended to use those wire-framed 'toilet brush' types, or GW's plastic ones, neither of which look great for the Old West, which is what I'm currently building.

So, what kind of trees grow in the western boom-towns? I know it's varied, but I'm thinking specifically a Deadwood/ Tombstone type town. Most importantly, where can I buy some trees that fit the bill, and actually look realistic (happy to make them myself if someone has some tips and tricks).

All help appreciated!

[Cory]

Spruce, larch, lodge pole pine, ponderosa pine are the things to look for, deciduous trees should be kept primarily to aspen and birch for the Rocky Mountains.

Bottle brush trees can be OK, especially for small trees but the larger ones are more problematic. A scale pine in 28mm could easily be between 12 and 24" high with most of the length being trunk with very few limbs.

I did some quick and dirty lodge pole for a game using some spare Heiki bottle brush trees stuck to bamboo skewers

but have since been intending to make my own bottle brush trees using wire for the limbs so that they can be bent up or down to get a more realistic appearance.

[Heisler]

Trees are an interesting topic. I would suggest trolling through some of the model railroad forums like http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/. As well as online catalogs for some of the larger model railroad stores like:http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/

You have mentioned two towns in wildly different environments. I'll go generic here; Evergreens (Pines) are typically found at higher elevations in the mountains. Most western mountains are covered in pine trees of different types and in some areas you also find Aspen and Birch mixed in (as mentioned above). However, even in the mountains when you have areas that feature moving water like streams or rivers, whose banks are often lined with Cottonwood (a deciduous tree very common in the west) and occasionally Willows. Maples and Oaks (unless you are on the coast) are not native to most of the west.

A town on the plains is not likely to have any trees in the area unless it is located near a stream, creak or river. Or there may be a couple in town that have roots deep enough to find a source of water underground. As you move up in elevation roots can't go as deep because of the rock and poor soil so deciduous trees give way to evergreens and shallow rooted trees like Birch and Aspen. Around mountain streams there tends to be better soil and, obviously, a source of water and the evergreens give way to the more aggressive deciduous trees like the cottonwood which grow up and out and cut off the amount of sunlight reaching the ground.

An interesting side note when you see a mountain side filled with Aspen, that's typically just a single tree. Aspen's spread through their root system and send up additional trunks at intervals from the root system, they are kind of like weeds.

If you are looking to model more realistic trees there are lots of articles in both the model railroad and military modeler forums. One of my favorites forums is: http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/ and always check the model railroad stores like this one: http://www.caboosehobbies.com/catalog/index_brief.php or http://www.scenicexpress.com/

Woodland scenics has a lot of ready made trees now as well as kits, Bachmann Industries as a lot of ready made trees as well. One of the more kit oriented companies is Timberline Scenary.

[Elbows]

Tombstone and Deadwood would have very different trees.  Tombstone being in Arizona would have a lot of cacti and plenty of mesquite trees which are greenish/grey and don't get too tall (about 12' maybe).  There would also be plenty of scrub and brush.  I posted a thread here of photos of the AZ desert, but have since deleted the photobucket album I believe.  I don't have any suggestions for making them realistic.  My trees are all woodland scenics with lichen stretched over them (cheap and easy and "decent" looking but far from realistic or beautiful).

[FifteensAway]

As noted a couple of times, Deadwood is up in the north, hilly and LOTS of trees.  Tombstone - I'd say your best tree is going to be a saguaro cactus.  You can have lots of them mixed in with other types of cacti.  In the Arizona uplands you might find more evergreens.

I'd say you need to decide which climatic environment you want to model - though it sounds from your enthusiam for verdure you'd be better served by Deadwood.  But if you want Mexicans and Apaches, you'll need to go with Tombstone. 

Two very, very different places.  Kind of like London and some small coastal town on the shores of the Adriatic different.

[psyberwyche]

Thank you gents for those very comprehensive answers. Looks like I need to research my real-life trees a bit more! I do like the pine trees, although they don't make very good 'hangin' trees'!

[Cory]

A ponderosa makes a fine hanging tree, but may be too tall for a game table;

http://www.helenahistory.org/hanging_tree.htm

The other thing to keep in mind is most mining camps were squatters and the trees were considered a public resource so after the first winter a lot of the trees would be stumps.

[Alfrik]

Here's my scratch built tree method:

http://armoredink.blogspot.com/2010/06/easy-trees-to-make-mark-ii.html

you can use stiff wire and curl its base for mounting instead of a nail.

[zebcook]

As noted a couple of times, Deadwood is up in the north, hilly and LOTS of trees.  Tombstone - I'd say your best tree is going to be a saguaro cactus.  You can have lots of them mixed in with other types of cacti.  In the Arizona uplands you might find more evergreens.

Sorry to correct you here, but you won't find saguaros around Tombstone. The magnificent saguaro has a pretty limited range and Tombstone is outside it. There will be a lot of mesquite, acacia, chollas, prickly pears, barrel cacti and yuccas. No pine either. Other parts of Arizona are heavily forested, but not there.

For Deadwood, you can mix in aspens, spruce and oaks. (Used to have cousins that lived in the Black Hills.)

[grant]

Sorry to correct you here, but you won't find saguaros around Tombstone. The magnificent saguaro has a pretty limited range and Tombstone is outside it. There will be a lot of mesquite, acacia, chollas, prickly pears, barrel cacti and yuccas. No pine either. Other parts of Arizona are heavily forested, but not there.

For Deadwood, you can mix in aspens, spruce and oaks. (Used to have cousins that lived in the Black Hills.)

Heyup. Deadwood is definitely not cactus country.