Ebay Trees, any one buy them?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had good experiences with the cheap from China trees available on Ebay?

 

Along these lines:

 

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/100-Model-Tree-Train-Railroad-Building-Street-Scale-N-Z-/200608059314?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item2eb52c0fb2

 

Spiff

[cteno4]

spiff,

 

i have looked at these particular ones but not bought them yet. they looked a little plastic, but that could be from the way over saturated photos taken on the white background.

 

i have gotten several of the other chinese architectural trees out there, mostly the ones that are simple brown painted wire frame trees (using stranded wire to make smaller limbs from the trunk) that use simple ground foam for the leafs. they are good looking trees, not fantastic, but at 10-20 cents or so per tree its a great deal. i can snap some picts of the ones i have if you are interested.

 

btw most of these trees are pretty much the same ones sold by a lot of different dealers on ebay, just like the autos and figures.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[keitaro]

i got a free one as a sample from a seller when i bought some z people.

 

Not that same tree but it was pretty good. I'll take a picture tonight and find the link on ebay and post together.

 

I think they were a tad more expensive but look pretty good.

[cteno4]

one caution on the chinese trees. they sell a few as detailed trees at one per like $2-5. the pictures are usually not all that great to see the detail. so i tried one. first they shipped it in a padded envelope so the tree arrived flat. second they were really no more detailed than the 10 cent trees... jst produces some very nice detailed trees in the $2-5 each price range and model rectifier has been distributing them in the states lately, but these are probably only worth spending the money on in those places close to the front of the layout or where you want to do some up close photography.

 

jeff

[stevenh]

I've bought a good amount of them. The colour is terrible (fluoro!) but after a quick spray with dark green paint they came out alright.

The trunk/foliage is also terrible... so I dipped one that had been painted in ground cover (scatter) and it then looked a treat :)

 

You can see, on the left in this picture, standard pines at the back (one has a red 'apple' in it accidently from a "LifeLike Apple Tree") and then the chinese pines in front... These weren't dipped in scatter, but were sprayed as they were originally bright fluoro green as per the trees in the first post link.

 

 

More shots here: http://modelrail.otenko.com/photo-album?itemid=7399

[Samurai_Chris]

Just bought myself some. Will tell you how they are when they arrive!

[westfalen]

The row of trees along the edge of the field in the first photo are the cheap Chinese variety, they are ok for some situations or for filling large areas. The JST/MRC trees are also sold under the Hornby name, I've used a few of them, they are a bit pricey but you don't need many on a T-TRAK module. The ones in the cow paddock are Hornby, those around the farm house are pieces of Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage.

[cteno4]

i really agree with westfalen, these cheap trees look best if in a group and at a bit of a distance. if its up close and alone then well worth spending some money on or your time making a good tree. this is one of those places that a weak tree will bring down the whole scene (and all the time and money you spend on the whole scene!), not only the tree itself, but putting a good tree in there will only boost everything around it as well.

 

jeff

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks for the pics and info guys.

 

Spiff