Eating lunch, watching trains, and making polyfiber trees

Today, was a Wednesday, a typical Wednesday. I did get my windshield replaced on the Jeep, so I guess that was not particularlly typical.

But what was typical was that I spend the lunch hour down at the depot (in old town Lenexa), hoping for a train or two. As as I often do, I pull out a bag of Woodland Scenics polyfiber and form tree structures. OK, we call them "tree balls". I was trying to be classy.

A bag of polyfiber goes for about $4 with tax, and it will make about a plastic bag full of tree balls. That may seem like a lot, but they go pretty fast on the layout.

Since I model the northern Ozark Highlands, my layout needs trees. Lots of trees. A BUNCH of trees. So I am very familiar with the polyfiber tree-making process. Buy some polyfiber. Open the bag and gently unravel the big pieces contained therein. Pull off a palmful of fiber, and tease it repeated to increase the volume. Gently roll the expanded fiber into a vaguely round shape. Place tree ball into bag. Repeat.

Later, I will do the spray adhesive and ground foam part, but for now, it's pull, tease, shape, deposit, and repeat.

It's a perfect activity for those times where you've finished your sack lunch and you are waiting for trains to come along the old Frisco main in Lenexa. I can usually complete an entire bag before my hands get tired of pulling and rolling, so I make it a goal to complete the bag before I drive back to work. At the end of the day, the sack o' balls goes in the house and down to the train room for future conversion into backdrop trees.

So, the Elite Operator™ tip of the day is: Keep a few bags of polyfiber in your car. You never know when you can knock out a bag or two of tree balls!


A bag o' balls, ready for spray adhesive and foam!