A Horticultural Experiment

From reading countless articles in model magazines I know that there are about a billion ways to model trees. They range from buying a ready made tree or tree "kit" all the way to using actual plants. For budgetory reasons I avoid the ready made route. The model Alleghenies are covered by hundreds of trees. This translates to hundreds of dollars that could be spent on track, motive power or rolling stock.  So I keep looking for the kinds of plants that make good tree models. Haven't found anything that suits me so I'm still looking. The floral departments of the craft stores we frequent don't help. They don't carry real plants.

Some of the other methods to model trees involve twisting wire into tree shapes and gluing lichen or other materials to simulate the leaves. Twisting wire into tree armatures seems time consuming, especially when you need an untold number. Once you get the armature made you have to cover it with clay or some other substance so it doesn't look like twisted wire.

Having worked in the computer industry for a couple of decades or so I'm pretty familiar with twisted wires. I've spent a fair amount of time untwisting them while making network cables. Among other things I've learned that it is much easier to untwist wire than it is to twist it. The Ethernet cable used to create computer networks comes ready twisted. It's like a long string of tree armatures waiting to be released.

I'm probably not the first person who has thought of this. It's pretty obvious if you are familiar with twisted pair cabling. The cable I used was a 6' CAT5e "patch" cable used to connect a computer to a wall outlet or a router to a cable modem. I purchased mine at the local Walmart...

Ethernet Patch Cable

You can buy this stuff in bulk, but the longer patch cables will provide quite a few tree armatures.

I cut off the ends and toss them. Won't need them and can't reuse them. I then strip away the insulation from a short section by splitting it with a razor or knife blade. The insulation could be left on for larger scales. I feel that it makes the trunk of the tree too large in N scale . I only remove the insulation from the section I'm working. It's handy for keeping the pairs together until I need another section...

Removing Insulation

Some cables have a second layer of insulation that looks like tin foil. I tend to leave this in place. It helps keep the wires together and doesn't add much to the thickness.


I cut the section to the length I want. The pairs tend to unravel after the insulation is removed so I give them a couple of twists to tighten things up. I then start untwisting short lengths of the pairs to make "branches"...

Ether Branches

I untwist even shorter lengths at the other end to create "roots"...

Ether Roots

Finally I dip the entire section in Plasti-Dip. It's used for coating tool handles and is available in home improvement stores. I let the "tree" drain a bit back into the can. In a few minutes the plastic cures and Voila!...

Ether Tree

Although Plasti-Dip comes in a variety of colors the store usually only carries black. This isn't really a problem. I hit the tree with a few light shots of gray and the black adds extra dimension to the trunk...

Painted Tree

I throw on some reindeer moss to fill out the foliage. I use reindeer moss from the craft store. It's cheaper then the lichen they sell for models. I've also harvested my own lichen when I was visiting the Seattle area. You can get pounds of it free...

A Tree

Just a tip...The Plasti-Dip has a rather short shelf life once the can is open. The lid is plastic and doesn't close airtight. I pour it into an empty paint can and close the top. The paint cans are also available at the home improvement store.

Regards,

Frank Musick

Building a dream layout on a nightmare budget

The Allegheny Eastern Railroad