During my first reading of "The Clockwork Dynasty", I seemed to have missed this selection of text:
"My mind flashes with a vision of this woman-she is riding a fantastical horse with tiger stripes across a lush jungle clearing. She is laughing, hair flowing, looking back at me and flashing her teeth, sharp and white. Then a primeneval forest swallows her, wet and dark, and from deep within I hear roaring..."
Pyotr Aleveyevich, an avtomat
Other texts by Daniel H. Wilson
I completed this structure sometime ago. There was a time when I was experimenting with pyramid roofs. This was constructed totally from card stock and was to be a small smoke house. To the right is one of my cardboard trees.
This photo gives the structure a better view in that you don't see how crooked the roof sits on top of the sturcture when you view it from the front.
Satisfaction Scale: 2.5 out of 5.
Updated on 8/5/2023 @ 11:46 AM (added link to "To the right is one of my ...")
Between the mill and the loco sheds was much to see at the logging museum.
I should have posted some images from the mill, perhaps another time.
A log disconect sits on a side rail. What's awaiting us in those sheds?
I see something sticking its self out there.
It was a shay locomotive. I haven't seen one of these before.
I knew the Shay was used by logging companies, but I didn't know the particulars for this engine. I am glad the plaque was there.
These photos were taken sometime ago and were taken in Potter County, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This a great place to visit. We drove for miles and didn't encounter one car on the highway. Very remote.
A whole village lives in the ancient tree. The Villagers boats are winched up into the tree, in affect creating a crude lift.
Screen shots from Disneys Jungle Cruise
Ewoks were introduced in Star Wars VI, in the return of the Jedi. “Ewoks lived high among the trees of the forest moon of Endor. They lived in villages built between closely spaced trees. The basic design of a tree village consisted of thatched-roof huts built on primary limbs."
"These huts were high enough above the ground to be out of reach of predators. Suspended bridges connected the gaps between trees, adjoining distant huts. Knotted rope ladders allowed access up or down.”
Screenshots are from Star Wars VI
Below you find a small list of articles I have read about creating trees for your modeling needs.
Pine trees for your layout, Chris MC Chesney, Detailing Tips and Techniques from Model Railroader, 1993, page 29.
Creating realistic conifers, Laszlo Dora, Detailing Tips and Techniques from Model Railroader, 1993, pages 30-32.
Using weeds for woods, Lou Sassi, Detailing Tips and Techniques from Model Railroader, 1993, page 33.
Chapter 2: Tips for texture and trees, Dave Frary and Bob Hayden, 303 Tips for Detailing Model Railroad Scenery and Structures, Kalmbach Books, 1995; pages 21-26
Chapter 6, Tress, stumps, weeds, and vines, Dave Frary, How to build Model Railroad Scenery, 2nd Edition, 1991, pages 53-70
“Africa is called the Dark Continent for one reason only: the vast equatorial rain forests of its central region. This is the drainage basin of the Congo River, one-tenth of the continent is given over to it—a million and half square miles of silent, damp, dark forest, a single uniform geographical feature nearly the size of the continental United States.
This primeval forest has stood, unchanged, for more than sixty million years. Enormous trees with trunks up to forty feet in diameter rise two-hundred feet overhead, where they spread their dense leafy canopy, blotting out the sky and perpetually dripping water to the ground below.”
Congo, Michael Crichton, 1980
Colossal has made two new posts. One representing illustration and the other on design. You will need to scroll down to view the second post. Both of the posts are well worth your visit.
The author of this video is a true artisen. The amount of detail in this model is truly amazing. I was blown away.
I start by cutting thin shards of grey cardboard, the kind you might find in packaging. The thinner the better, but they don’t have to be too thin. Once you have several shards it is time to get a bottle of Elmer’s glue. Decide how tall you want the tree to be, I am making trees for N and HO gauge, so decide how many scale feet tall you want the tree to be.
I start with two shards of cardboard. I roll each of the strips between my fingers to round them out a bit. I then put them together and dip one end in some Elmer’s glue. I roll these together at the bottom to form the tree’s trunk, adding other strips at various lengths to create the tree’s limbs. Sometimes, for a more complex tree structure, I add these limbs to the center of the much.
Once you have the basic structure, it is time to add some leaf texture. I soak the whole tree in Matte Medium, (you could also use a diluted white glue, like Elmer’s), one to stiffen up the tree trunk and limbs and too supply some sort of adhesive for various textures and colors of ground foam and or poly fiber.
I am not trying to model any one species of a tree, except for the one evergreen tree. This was created by spearing bits of scotch bright pad on a round stained tooth pick. Foe the other trees, I just wanted to create set of random tree and used random colors and textures of ground foam.
“And the butterflies sung of strange and painted things, of purple orchids and of lost pink cities and the monstrous colours of the jungle's decay. And they, too, were among those whose voices are not discernible by human ears. And as they floated above the river, going from forest to forest, their splendour was matched by the inimical beauty of the birds who darted out to pursue them. Or sometimes they settled on the white and wax-like blooms of the plant that creeps and clambers about the trees of the forest; and their purple wings flashed out on the great blossoms as, when the caravans go from Nurl to Thace, the gleaming silks flash out upon the snow, where the crafty merchants spread them one by one to astonish the mountaineers of the Hills of Noor.”
Tales of Three Hemispheres, Lord Dunsany
“And now the evening began to gather in. A thick white mist had appeared over the river, and was softly rising higher. It clutched at the trees with long impalpable arms, it rose higher and higher, chilling the air; and white shapes moved away into the jungle as though the ghosts of shipwrecked mariners were searching stealthily in the darkness for the spirits of evil that long ago had wrecked them on the Yan."
Tales of Three Hemispheres, Lord Dunsany
“Strange took a clean sheet of paper and began rapidly scribbling notes upon it. ‘Oak trees can be befriended and will aid you against your enemies if they think your cause is just, Birch woods are well known for providing doors into Faerie. Ash-trees will never cease to mourn until, the Raven King comes home again.1’
Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Susana Clarke
1'The ivy promises to bind England’s enemies; Briars and thorns promised to whip them; The Hawthorn said he would answer any questions; The Birch said he would make doors to other countries; The yew brought us weapons; The raven punished our enemies; The oak watched the distant hills; The rain washed away all sorrow.’
This traditional English saying supposedly, lists the various contracts which the Raven King made on England’s behalf with the forests.”
"The long tapers flickered, sending the black shadows wavering along the walls, and the velvet tapestries rippled. Yet there was no wind in the chamber. Four men stood about the ebony table on which lay the green sarcophagus that gleamed like carven jade. In the upraised right hand of each man a curious black candle burned with a weird greenish light. Outside was night and a lost wind moaning among the black trees.
Inside the chamber was tense silence, and the wavering of the shadows, while four pairs of eyes, burning with intensity, were fixed on the long green case across which cryptic hieroglyphics writhed, as if lent life and movement by the unsteady light. The man at the foot of the sarcophagus leaned over it and moved his candle as if he were writing with a pen, inscribing a mystic symbol in the air. Then he set down the candle in its black gold stick at the foot of the case, and, mumbling some formula unintelligible to his companions, he thrust a broad white hand into his fur-trimmed robe. When he brought it forth again it was as if he cupped in his palm a ball of living fire."
Chapter 1, O Sleeper, Awake!, The Hour of the Dragon, Robert E. Howard
"Now, suddenly, and in the distance, I caught the far wailing that came before the night, and abruptly, as it seemed to me, the tree wailed at us. At that I was vastly astonished and frightened; yet, though I retreated, I could not withdraw my gaze from the tree; but scanned it the more intently; and, suddenly, I saw a brown, human face peering at us from between the wrapped branches. At this, I stood very still, being seized with that fear which renders one shortly incapable of movement. Then, before I had possession of myself, I saw that it was of a part with the trunk of the tree; for I could not tell where it ended and the tree began.
Then I caught the bo'sun by the arm, and pointed; for whether it was a part of the tree or not, it was a work of the devil; but the bo'sun, on seeing it, ran straightway so close to the tree that he might have touched it with his hand, and I found myself beside him. Now, George, who was on the bo'sun's other side, whispered that there was another face, not unlike to a woman's, and, indeed, so soon as I perceived it, I saw that the tree had a second excrescence, most strangely after the face of a woman. Then the bo'sun cried out with an oath, at the strangeness of the thing, and I felt the arm, which I held, shake somewhat, as it might be with a deep emotion. Then, far away, I heard again the sound of the wailing and, immediately, from among the trees about us, there came answering wails and a great sighing. And before I had time to be more than aware of these things, the tree wailed again at us. And at that, the bo'sun cried out suddenly that he knew; though of what it was that he knew I had at that time no knowledge. And, immediately, he began with his cutlass to strike at the tree before us, and to cry upon God to blast it; and lo! at his smiting a very fearsome thing happened, for the tree did bleed like any live creature. Thereafter, a great yowling came from it, and it began to writhe. And, suddenly, I became aware that all about us the trees were a-quiver."
The Two Faces, The Boats of the "Glen Carrig", William Hope Hodgson
“We would, from time to time, pay visits to the country seats at some of the great lords’ beautiful fortified places, and the villages clustering beneath their walls. Here we saw vineyards and corn-fields and well-kept park-like grounds, with such timber in them as filled me with delight, for I do love a good tree. There it stands so strong and sturdy, and yet so beautiful, a very type of the best sort of man. How proudly it lifts its bare head to the winter storms, and with what a full heart it rejoices when the spring has come again! How grand its voice is, too, when it talks with the wind: a thousand aeolian harps cannot equal the beauty of the sighing of a great tree in leaf. All day it points to the sunshine and all night to the stars, and thus passionless, and yet full of life, it endures through the centuries, come storm, come shine, drawing its sustenance from the cool bosom of its mother earth, and as the slow years roll by, learning the great mysteries of growth and of decay. And so on and on through generations, outliving individuals, customs, dynasties—all save the landscape it adorns and human nature—till the appointed day when the wind wins the long battle and rejoices over a reclaimed space, or decay puts the last stroke to his fungus-fingered work.
Ah, one should always think twice before one cuts down a tree!”
Chapter XV Sorais’ Song, Allan Quartermain, H. Rider Haggard
"In the centre of the square thus formed was, perhaps, the most remarkable object that we had yet seen in this charming place, and that was a single tree of the conifer tribe, varieties of which grow freely on the highlands of this part of Africa. This splendid tree, which Mr Mackenzie informed us was a landmark for fifty miles round, and which we had ourselves seen for the last forty miles of our journey, must have been nearly three hundred feet in height, the trunk measuring about sixteen feet in diameter at a yard from the ground. For some seventy feet it rose a beautiful tapering brown pillar without a single branch, but at that height splendid dark green boughs, which, looked at from below, had the appearance of gigantic fern-leaves, sprang out horizontally from the trunk, projecting right over the house and flower-garden, to both of which they furnished a grateful proportion of shade, without—being so high up—offering any impediment to the passage of light and air.
‘What a beautiful tree!’ exclaimed Sir Henry.'
‘That reminds me,’ I said, ‘the Consul at Lamu told me that he had had a letter from you, in which you said that a man had arrived here who reported that he had come across a white people in the interior. Do you think that there was any truth in his story? I ask, because I have once or twice in my life heard rumours from natives who have come down from the far north of the existence of such a race.’ ”
Chapter III Allan Quartermen, H. Rider Haggard
“And the butterflies sung of strange and painted things, of purple orchids and of lost pink cities and the monstrous colours of the jungle's decay. And they, too, were among those whose voices are not discernible by human ears. And as they floated above the river, going from forest to forest, their splendour was matched by the inimical beauty of the birds who darted out to pursue them. Or sometimes they settled on the white and wax-like blooms of the plant that creeps and clambers about the trees of the forest; and their purple wings flashed out on the great blossoms as, when the caravans go from Nurl to Thace, the gleaming silks flash out upon the snow, where the crafty merchants spread them one by one to astonish the mountaineers of the Hills of Noor.”
Tales of Three Hemispheres, Lord Dunsany
I have found another character to add to my “Host of Characters” list. The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton, was an absorbing story and besides Captain Singleton included other interesting characters. One such character was William, the ships surgeon. William was a Quaker who had been dragged off another ship by force by the pirates. (He wasn’t really forced he just acted as though he was.) William had secretly wanted to become a pirate in order to accumulate some wealth. William was to become Captain Singleton trusted advisory and faithful comrade.
Slave, servant, adventurer, pirate, and now captain of a pirate ship Captain Singleton has had many encounters with natives of foreign lands. Some of these encounters were friendly and beneficial, while others like the one I am about to describe were fraught with difficulties.
While visiting an island in the Indian Ocean Captain Singleton and some of his crew encountered the natives. The natives, not taking their visit too kindly fired arrows and threw spears at Captain Singleton and his crew. One of the crew was killed and several were injured. When the crew returned fire with their muskets the Indians retired to a large hollowed out tree that acted like their fortress. The Indians continued their assault on the invaders from the safety of their tree fortress.
Captain Singleton and his crew tried to blast the attackers out with their muskets and then with some ships cannon; to no avail, the tree like a true fortress withstood all of these attacks. Next the ships crew tried to smoke out the inhabitants of the fortress, but they didn’t realize that the tree sat on top of a cave. Not only was the cave used for the combatants to escape these assaults, but the cave was connected to another cave further out. The cave was only discovered after Captain Singleton and his crew applied several barrels of gun-powder to the tree. The powder did the trick and the tree and all that were beneath the tree was destroyed. It was a beastly sight!
The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton, Daniel Defoe.
“The new moon was up. It hung like a fresh-minted coin in a still, cloudless sky of midnight blue. Moths fluttered vainly upward, only to drift spiraling down to the grass-carpeted woodland floor. The trees stood like timeless sentinels. Somewhere a nightjar serenaded the soft darkness.”
(Mattimeo, 24)