Making HO Scale Trees from Sedum

Deep in the Canadian wilderness, where the crystal snow lay deep and crisp and even, where the haunting curlew's call was carried on the frigid wind, where the orcas and the narwhals and the blood-red char frolicked in the icy cold waters, and where the bleak mid-winter sky slew the white-blanketed moraines with slanting, sinewy sunshine, it was time to make trees. (There goes my Giller Prize for fiction!) I grabbed shears and trudged out to do battle with frost-killed shrubbery (top photo)

Okay, so I was only ten feet from my front door. The fruits of my labour were sedum flowers that first were green in spring, pink in summer and now brown in winter. I had been waiting for them to be dead so I could enrobe my Green Mountain Lines' HO-scale hills with green trees. Trimming the flowers (left, below) I was left with a framework (right, below) on which to build:

My quiver of scenic arrows contained Woodland Scenic Clump-Foliage, JTT Foliage Fiber Clusters, and foam chunks, white glue and ground foam from my scenery drawer:

Those posed model railway magazine photos of a modeller working on his layout never looked like this! Surrounded by McDonald's, Mascot and Maxwell House, a plate of mini-donuts and wearing an apron from the kitchen drawer to protect my Carducci shirt, it was time to go to work:

 Dilute white glue and a witch's-cauldron of green material:

 My daily portion of greens:

 And voila, the finished products set out to dry:

 I tried a few on the layout, between the team track and the produce wholesaler:

 And near the St Johnsbury yard:

Lots o' links:

• Infoguy tells us there are 600 varieties of sedum! Foliage fun facts!
• Model Railroader forum had 21 responses
• Down Under, too!
• "I love makin' trees and doin' ballast" video
• Blog partner John Longhurst uses sedum
• Winnipeg Model Railroad Club

But that's not all! Other 2018 modelling efforts include a former Rock Island Sharknose that got D&H'd (above) and a new diner made from a Roundhouse coach and Athearn roof:

and the ET & HK Ide mill in St Johnsbury:

For other modellers, here's the lettering I used. Originally I planned to trace and paint the lettering, but the full-width nature of the black band made it an easy glue-on!

I'm starting this campaign this year: 2018 - The Year of Revenue-Neutral Modelling. Too much money being spent, too much expensive rolling stock stored away on basement shelves, too few layouts being finished and too much time spent talking about modelling rather than doing it. And I don't want it to happen to me. So I'm getting the paint flowing and the Dremel spinning!

                            

Running extra...

Speaking of getting out in the winter weather, Terry Muirhead kindly shared some interesting photos from VIA's Vancouver Maintenance Centre. VIA 6426 has recently been serving as shop switcher, shown on January 5: 

And the interior of Prince Albert Park, stranded in the VIA No 1 consist at Spy Hill, SK during cold weather has some plumbing work done, looking temporarily less Prestige-ous than normal!

January 12's VIA No 1 arrived with CN 8906 leading. The original VIA leader had shelled wheels and was replaced in Kamloops. The CN unit was shut down and spent at least two days at Pacific Central Station, shown in Terry's photo coupled to VIA's Glacier Park:

January 14's VIA No 1 arrived with four units - 6457-6404-6418-6458: