A snapshot in time. A glimpse of the Plettenberger Kleinbahn in 1/22.5 scale.

[Hydrostat]

Bill,

I'm a bit slow catching up with videos - thank you very much; the fiber paste seems to be a promising approach. The trees shown in the video look very convincing, although there are no closeups from a distance I usually take my pictures. Howsoever I'll give it a try.

Lye applied to aluminum  can cause an explosive reaction so wear protective gear!

Ferric chloride which is used to etch copper and brass will do the same thing and a bit more slowly.  It will stain everything it touches and like lye can burn skin. Rinse the parts in water to stop it from working.  Again, safety gear should be worn.

Lawton,

a very valuable hint. I wasn't aware of that!

Cheers,
Volker

[nk]

Those trees look great. And I do like the associated signage too.

I wanted to share some trees by the Artist Roxy Paine who makes trees in all sized out of stainless steel. Not in the same league as Volker's detailed trees, but impressive nonetheless

https://www.dreamstime.com/editorial-stock-image-washington-dc-metal-tree-national-gallery-art-sculpture-garden-july-was-created-roxy-paine-image64040124

[Bill Gill]

Volker, I saw your comment about the Golden acrylic Fiber Paste and that the YouTube video showing tree bark wasn't close enough for you to tell if the texture was what you want.

Here are three images I captured from some other videos of tree making that were made by the same modeler. I hope these photos may give you a closer look.  You can click each image to enlarge it.

[Hydrostat]

Bill,

thank you very much - the Golden paste for sure is a great medium and it is a pleasure to see how it builds up in layers. Your pictures show, what I was afraid of: although the over all impression is very good, it still is a bit 'roundish' in the details. The Golden products are quite expensive at this side of the pond and I hesitated to spend the money for a maybe unsatisfying result. This and your suggestion led me to testing a mixture of modeling compound, some 2 up to 5 mm long sisal fibres and acrylic binder. A test piece gave a sense of direction, the first picture is the uncolored mixture, which in this state seems rather flat:








I used much thicker strands for the tree than at the test piece and I think this comes much closer to robinia bark than the former texture.








Cheers,
Volker

[Bill Gill]

Volker, Adding the sisal fibers to an acrylic binder worked really well for the robinia bark.

Yes Golden products are very high quality but also expensive this side of the pond too. I've used Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium as a starting point for a variety of small projects. I've added baking soda, very fine sawdust or really fine limestone to it for different textures. I've also added it to Sculptamold and like how it works and how durable it is. All the rockwork and ground cover on my layout is Sculptamold with matte medium or yellow PVA glue and other stuff added to it and it has held up really well.

[Barney]

A work of art with realism
Barney

[Ray Dunakin]

The new bark is impressively realistic!

[nk]

I am a big fan of Golden products, especially all the research and development they do with artists and conservators. And Mark Golden is a super nice guy, so of course I want to support his business.


Volker: If you want any Golden products, let me know. I am happy to put a package together for you.

[Hydrostat]

Thanks a lot, Bill, Barney and Ray ... and Narayan! I'll get in touch