Lessons from York - We See Change

Dad and I recently returned from our semi-annual trip to the Train Collectors Association (TCA) Eastern Division toy train meet in York, PA. This is the largest such show in the United States and provides an interesting snapshot of the state of the hobby.

It can also hint at the current state of collecting in general. As is our tradition, we spent a lot of time discussing what we saw a lot of (and what we didn't) -- and more importantly, the reasons behind them

From collector to operator

In Part 1 I shared some examples of a hobby in flux. The first three generations of toy train collectors are selling more than their buying. There is a fourth generation, though. But this middle-aged group is made up of operators rather than collectors.

Yes, they're interested in the larger gauge trains that were the mainstay of Lionel and American Flyer.  But they prefer to run trains on a layout rather than display them on shelves.

Trains made by Lionel, MTH, Atlas, Bachmann, and others for today's market are much more reliable that fragile and finicky vintage equipment that's a half-century old.

And that change was readily apparent at the meet.

Code Orange

The York meet had six dealer halls, designated by color. Four were for members who sell vintage toys (that being a loose definition). Two -- the Orange and Purple Halls -- were reserved for manufacturers of new products.

In these two halls were the latest offerings from Lionel, MTH, et al. There were also plenty of offerings from smaller companies that specialize in operating layout accessories; scenery, benchwork, electronics; structures, etc.

 The Lionel booth in the Orange Hall. It didn't look like this in
the members-only halls.

The Orange and Purple Halls were packed (at least while we were there). TCA allowed the general public into these two halls during the weekend. They did so at the last meet, and it was successful enough to continue this time as well.

Let's make a deal!

By contrast, the members-only halls weren't nearly as busy. These halls had the train items of interest primarily to the first three generations of collectors. There were many empty tables in these halls.

In the past, I had run across vendors who were anxious to close the deal. If I stopped to look at something, the table holder would appear at my side. He'd extoll the virtues of the object, and give me every reason why I should buy it right that minute!

And if I still resisted, he'd sometimes hint that the price was negotiable.

This time, it seemed that more of the vendors were like That Guy. Plus, I saw several signs at tables: "Prices negotiable" "Make me an offer" and so on.

I ran across a table with a pile of MPC Lionel boxes -- $10 each. Normally these would be in the $20-30 range, but not that day. The other half of the table was marked 50% off.

My two York purchases. I was really only interested in the red
Southern box car from Lionel MPC. But for $10 each, I couldn't resist.

To me, this suggests that the vendors also know the market is changing. And they want to get rid of their stock while there's still a window of opportunity to sell it. Because once the third generation stops buying, demand will plummet.

The October, 2018 meet should show if my impressions were correct.

One more thing

For the first time ever, I didn't see a Lionel Lifesavers Tank Car. Not one. It's been one of the few items I could count on spotting every meet. Have they all finally found homes?

 

Lessons from York - A Sea Change?

At one time, this volume was worth
over $100 - if you could find it. Now
it's readily available for $10.

Dad and I recently returned from our semi-annual trip to the Train Collectors Association (TCA) Eastern Division toy train meet in York, PA. This is the largest such show in the United States and provides an interesting snapshot of the state of the hobby.

It can also hint at the current state of collecting in general. As is our tradition, we spent a lot of time discussing what we saw a lot of (and what we didn't) -- and more importantly, the reasons behind them.

What we saw

Most of what we saw at the April 2018 meet seemed to suggest that the market for vintage toy trains was still shrinking. If anything, the decline of the hobby (at least in its current form) seems to have accelerated.

One big library sale

Throughout the years a number of hobby-related reference books have been published. Because of their highly specialized subject matter, these books tended to have very short print runs. The better ones seldom came on the market. These were books collectors would use -- and use often.

Out of print for years, and now back on the market.

This meet we saw several tables with piles of reference books. These weren't factory remainders. Each table usually had just one copy of a particular title. They just had a lot of titles.

Why? Reference works are one of the last things to leave a collection. Even after the objects have been sold, you can still enjoy looking at their color photos in books.

I think these books are the final liquidation of collections. The subjects of most of these books were for trains made between 1900 and the Second World War. This was the focus of the first and second generation of collectors, those who grew up in the 1920s and 1930s.


The past few years I've seen evidence of these collectors downsizing. I believe this flood of books represents estate sales.

Lionel and American Flyer HO

In the 1950s, HO scale was hot. And both Lionel (O-gauge) and American Flyer (S-gauge) started to lose market share. Both companies tried to enter the HO market, and both were unsuccessful.

This did not end well. 

This did not end well, either.

Which made their HO trains somewhat rare, but not especially desirable. Except for a certain type of collector.

Most collectors have very specific interests, but there are some who want it all. For a hard-core Lionel post-war collector, that means not just having every O-gauge train set the company produced from 1948-1970.

It means owning every rail car, every accessory, and every esoteric item Lionel produced, like their chemistry sets, science kits -- and HO scale trains.

The current active generation of collectors grew up in the 1950s. These are the people who would acquire Lionel and American Flyer HO trains to fill out their collections.

But this is also the generation that's just entering retirement. And that means downsizing. The easiest way to begin downsizing a collection is to get rid of the outliers. And if you're a Lionel O-gauge or American Flyer S-gauge postwar collector, these companies' HO trains are just that.

A changing hobby

So if the last remnants of the old collectors is now hitting the market, and the current generation is starting to downsize, is this the end? I don't think so. I think, rather, these are signs of change -- as I'll explain in Part 2.

Distilling Distler Info

I didn't plan on it, but somehow I ended up with a Distler Santa Fe box car. And, as always, it came with as many questions as it does answers.

Distler was a German toy firm who manufactured H0 scale tinplate trains from about 1953-1960. Their postwar history is intertwined with Trix, another German firm, but that's beyond the scope of this post.

I knew that Distler had made a Santa Fe passenger set in 1957 for the American importer Cragstan (see: Distler vs. Nomura, parts 1 & 2). I was only aware of two Distler sets imported by Cragstan - the 1957 tinplate passenger set, and an early 1960s plastic freight set. Both were battery powered.

The seller billed this box car as coming from a "department store set."

But where?

I did find some references to an H0 tinplate train set made a German department store by Grötsch, another toy manufacturer. Grötsch rolling stock is similar to Distler's but they're based on European prototype (including a German-style goods wagon with New Haven markings!)

Fortunately, the German site Spur00 had the answer. In 1957 Distler offered both a freight and passenger train set.

Was the freight set ever imported? That I don't know.

Comparing the box car with the Cragstan/Distler passenger cars proved interesting. Both had the same "Made in Western Germany" markings. The frame, wheels, and trucks are identical, although they're painted black on the box car.

There is one difference. The box car has an angled roof, while the passenger car has a rounded roof. That's an additional manufacturing expense.

The comparable box car and passenger car from Japan's Nomura company (also imported by Cragstan) don't have this distinction. Both have a rounded roof, requiring only a change in lithography. But that's not surprising since Nomura was all about keeping costs down.

According to Spur00, the 504 Freight Set had three cars; an orange Santa Fe box car, a brown NYC gondola car, and a black flat car with two plastic vehicles.

So one down, and two to go. Although I'm not optimistic about finding that flat car with the vehicles still with it...

I know, the box car never came with the passenger set. But they're all
Santa Fe rolling stock, and I think it makes a great photo.

A Clockwork Coupe from Japan

I recently won an auction for the tinplate toy you see below. It's made in Japan (as marked), and initially I purchased it for the Straco Display Layout. But now I'm not so sure.

The size of the piece is pretty close ("scale" is a squishy concept with these inexpensive Japanese toys). While most of the vehicles on the display layout are friction-powered, this coupe is clockwork. That's not really a problem. Some of the display cars have no power at all, just free-spinning wheels.

No, the issue is that this is definitely a pre-war toy -- and the focus of the display layout is early post-war Japanese tin toys. The design of this toy mimics automobiles of the of the late 1930s, and the type of lithography and the colors used are also more pre- than post-war. And it's ingeniously constructed..

This coupe seems to fit right into the Straco display.

The sides are indented to give room for the stem. This keeps the stem from sticking too far out the side of the vehicle. There are two tabs, one under each bumper. The front tab is the catch, which lets you wind the spring, then release it for motion. The back tab controls the rear wheels, which can be turned at a slight angle to the left or right. So you can steer this coupe (sort of).

Front tab is spring catch, the back turns the rear wheels.

It's a great piece, and remarkably, after eighty years, it still runs. No one's over-tightened the spring, or bent the axles, or broken off the stem. And that allowed me to make the video below. Well worth the $9.80 this cost me!

 

And it does look good on the layout....

Seeking Sakai, Part 2

In part 1 I shared the details about an early H0-scale tinplate set I found. It was manufactured by Sakai, a company that was founded in Japan around 1947.

Recently I found out quite a lot about this set from a variety of sources.

Turns out this is Sakai also.

There was a Japanese company called Seki that operated before the war. They competed primarily with Marx in the US, offering some interesting variants on Marx and low-end Lionel and American Flyer 0-gauge sets.

Seki and Sakai are sometimes confused, but they were different companies. Seki ceased operation during the Second World War. Sakai Seisakusho Ltd. began operation after the war, offering different products.

From a Seki/Sakai online group, I learned that Sakai manufactured the mystery train set (at right) I've talked about before on this blog. They also made an 0-gauge tinplate train set sporting "Hudson & Pacific" livery that's quite desirable.

I've seen boxed examples on eBay of their H0-gauge switches and tracks. They survived into the 1960s, offering plastic H0 rolling stock and at least one locomotive.

And eventually, I found what I was looking for -- an example of my set in its original box. The set was made by Sakai for Macys Department stores and offered under their Stalwart house brand. Although the example I found only had the train, I'm sure it came originally came complete with track and transformer.

No question. It's a match. Too bad this example's missing the track and transformer.

The headline reads "Macys Own Stalwart H0 Electric Train Set"

But when was this set offered? There's no copyright notice on the box to indicate the year, and I don't have access to an archive of Macys catalogs. But I did find a newspaper ad from 1953, featuring the set. So there it is. This set was made by Sakai for Macys, imported and sold in 1953 for $9.98.

Don't be fooled by the price. In today's dollars, that set would sell for $89.61. This was a premium set offered for a premium price. And well worth it, I think. The quality of the materials and details of construction are in keeping with what one would expect from Macys. Nomura, Straco, and Bandai battery-operated toy train sets may have been good enough for Woolworth's and Western Auto, but not for Macys.

Seeking Sakai - Part 1

I'm always on the lookout for vintage Japanese tin H0-gauge trains for my Straco display layout. There's not a lot of collected information about any of the manufacturers involved in early postwar production, so I've been slowly discovering what was available and from whom one piece at a time.

They looked like a good fit for the Straco display layout. However...

A set of rolling stock came up for auction on eBay. Having only the photos to go by, I determined they would be a good fit. I won the auction for a price I was comfortable with, and everything was fine -- until the pieces arrived.

It was then I discovered that these cars were of a much higher quality than the ones I had been collecting. Not only was the quality higher, but they weighed far more than the Nomura, Bandai, or Straco pieces I had.

Below are side-by-side comparisons:

Top to bottom: Straco, Nomura, Haji (Nomura), Sakai

Top to bottom: Straco, Nomura, Bandai, Sakai

Top to bottom: Straco, Bandai, Sakai

Top to bottom: Bandai, Sakai

Top to bottom: Straco, Bandai, Nomura, Sakai

In time, I discovered that the pieces were made by Sakai, a post-war Japanese company that specialized in H0-gauge track and accessories (such as switches). They also manufactured O-gauge trains that competed with high-end Marx and low-end Lionel in the American market..

And eventually, I found a locomotive for my set. And it's a monster, as it needs to be to haul those cars. On average, the rolling stock for all the examples I owned -- Nomura, Bandai, Straco, and Haji -- weighed about 2.5 oz. The Sakai rolling stock was closer to 5 oz. per car. The Nomura and Bandai diesels each weighed 7 oz.; the Straco diesel weighed 5 oz. By contrast, the Sakai locomotive weight 20 oz. -- 1.4 lbs.

The Sakai locomotive shell is diecast metal. And it's heavy.

The shell of the Sakai diesel is diecast metal, which accounts for most of the weight. But that weight was necessary. As you can see from the chart below, it had more weight to pull. The Nomura diesel can only pull its two cars weighing a total of 6 oz. I've tried adding a third 3 oz. boxcar -- the engine's wheels just spin. By contrast, the Sakai diesel is designed to pull 4 cars weighing a total of 17 oz..

The Sakai chassis. Those wheel frames are diecast metal, and the
motor is also pretty substantial. Both give the locomotive a lot of traction.

The lithographed metal construction makes the set seem more toy-like. But this train was designed for true H0-scale track, rather than the taller tinplate track of the toy train sets. Note the scale-proportioned flanges of the wheels of the Sakai rolling stock as compared to those of the Nomura set.

Note the difference between the wheels of the Sakai boxcar (l) and the
Nomura car (r). The Sakai train was designed for standard
H0-gauge track, as opposed to the bigger tinplate track of the
Nomura/Bandai sets.

The diesel I found was in rough shape, but the price was right. And it works as a display piece placeholder until I can upgrade.

The train is complete, for now.

My next project is to see if I can get the engine to work again.

And this past week I discovered a bit more about this unique set which I'll share in Part 2.

Collecting -- and collecting information 24

Putting together information from first-hand sources can be challenging. But it can also be fun. And sometimes it's taken me in umexpected directions.

I have a couple of examples of this Haji-brand truck (see Expressing Change in the 0-Gauge Zen Garden). And I've been searching for other variations on this design that Haji offered -- I'll share the results of that search in a future post.

The problem with these inexpensive Japanese toys is that they were always meant to be disposable. Branding is minimal. I assume that was because the Japanese companies who made these toys back in the postwar era were supplying them to American importers, who placed their own brand on the packaging.

And because these were dime store toys, the packaging was seldom saved. So I was very interested to find this example of new-old stock. The truck -- as all Haji vehicles in this series -- is modestly branded "Haji" on the truck body. But the buyer would have thought this was a product of the  Toy Merchandising Corp., as it clearly states on the card.

I wasn't able to find out a lot about the Toy Merchandising Corp. of New York -- save that they ran afoul of the FCC in 1965. As you can see from the ad that they ran in various papers, one could make a fortune stocking "Toy Shop" displays in five-and-dime stores and drug stores. The Toy Merchandising Corp provided the products, and for a small initial investment of $298, you could be in business.

In the complaint, the representation of the business in the ads was brought into question, as well as the earning potential. According to the complaint, "it is impossible for a distributor to make a profit from the initial purchase of the respondent's products."

What I found most interesting was that there seemed to be a some bait and switch going on. Such as:
"Samples of products shown to prospective distributors were indicative of quality or value of the products which would appear on racks or available for placement." And most telling: "Respondents' products were of domestic manufacture."

As the complaint states, "In most instances respondents failed to clearly and conspicuously disclose to prospective purchasers that a substantial amount of their merchandise was of foreign origin."

Like the Haji truck. There's nothing on the packaging that indicates the toy was made in Japan.

So what happened to the Toy Merchandising Corp.? I'm not sure. An extensive Internet search only turned up their ads in various newspapers of the day -- none of them later than 1965.

Another mystery.

Recycling in postwar Japan

I recently purchased this brush fire jeep for one of my train layouts (see: An Accidental Addition). The style and color of the lithography suggests that it was manufactured in Japan in the mid to late 1950's. There's no brand on it, so I'm not sure which company made it.

When I was cleaning the toy, I saw what appeared to be two eyes staring up at me from the floorboard. I carefully removed the body from the chassis, and found a surprise -- and a mystery.

The chassis for this vehicle was stamped from a sheet of metal that have previously been lithographed. The pristine condition of the lithography and the lack of dimples or extraneous creases in the metal suggest to me that the toy was made not from a recycled finished product, but from a flat sheet of metal that had been decorated but not used.

Who's there?

And what was that decoration? A little research revealed that it was the design for a Burgermeister beer can. This San Francisco brewery updated its graphic regularly. This particular version is from 1953-54, which is in line with my assessment of the jeep's age.

Here's the mystery, though. Where did that sheet of Burgermeister cans come from? The brewery would have used an American cannery. Were unused sheets/factory seconds sold to a jobber for the overseas market?

It makes a certain amount of sense, as it ensures no unscrupulous domestic company could make the cans and pass off their own product as Burgermeister beer.

Container freight is economical now, but would it have been cost effective to ship used steel to Japan in the 1950's? I'm not sure. But if not, then where did this recycled sheet come from? It's unlikely Burgermeister had a brewery in Japan.

And there's one more mystery. Because there are no markings on the jeep, I don't know who made it. I'd like to -- because I'd like to see if they regularly used recycled metal for their toys, or if this was unusual.

The original can (L) and the jeep chassis superimposed over it (R)

An accidental addition to the O-Gauge Zen Garden

This jeep is three inches long. Does that make it closer to
O-scale, or HO-scale? I found out after I received it.

There's a problem with purchasing vintage items through eBay rather than antique shows or flea markets. You can't thoroughly examine the item. And while detailed photos and accurate dimensions in the listings help, surprises can still happen.

Recently I purchased a Japanese tinplate friction toy Jeep for my Straco Express display layout. The length was listed as 3 inches, which is the average length of the vehicles on the layout. The Japanese toy cars from the 1950's and 1960's with that length are approximately HO-scale, which fits with the HO-gauge track on the display.

I had forgotten about proportion, though. Even in real life, Jeeps have much shorter wheel bases than sedans, and the same is true in the toy world. This vehicle was way to large for my HO-scale Straco layout.

But it just happened to be about the right size for my O-gauge layout. And so there it went. The brush fire Jeep is parked beside the Plasticville factory, ready to respond to an industrial fire at a moment's notice.

No, it's not a realistic vehicle, but I think the jeep has a certain toy-like appeal.

And, as it turns out, this is a toy with a secret, which I'll reveal in a future post.

Lessons from York - What we didn't see: standard collectables

Dad and I recently returned from our semi-annual trip to the Train Collectors Association (TCA) Eastern Division toy train meet in York, PA. This is the largest such show in the United States and provides an interesting snapshot of the state of the hobby.

It can also hint at the current state of collecting in general. As is our tradition, we spent a lot of time discussing what we saw a lot of (and what we didn't) -- and more importantly, the reasons behind them. 

Last post I discussed what we saw an unusually large number of. And most of it had to do with that sweet spot of toy collection -- items that were made during the pre-teen years of the collector. And with the majority of said collectors in their late fifties-early sixties, trains from the mid-1960's have become very desirable.

While quite common in their day, these Lionel standard gauge locos
were hard to find this time around.

Standard gauge is no longer the standard

When the TCA was founded, the members were mostly interested in toy trains from 1900-1920. At that time, a "standard gauge" was developed. The trains were big -- standard gauge track is about 2-1/8" wide from outside rail to outside rail. By contrast, in HO gauge the rails are about 0.64 of an inch apart. Standard gauge lasted through 1929, and for a long time standard gauge trains were highly desirable.

Over time, the demand has remained high for the few top of the line examples (mostly from 1928-1929), while slowly declining for the rest. This time around we saw only two examples of those highly desirable pieces, and a dearth of other standard gauge. But then, the demographic that most wanted those pieces has passed on.

Hopefully the days of seeing
Lionel MPC boxes stacked
like cord wood is over.

MPC MIA

Lionel was bought by General Mills in 1969 and reintroduced under the MPC brand in 1970. Through 1985 the company seemed to endlessly recycle old Lionel products with new graphics. While the original Lionel Corp. made products for boys to play with, MPC focused on those grown-up boys who wanted to collect. They turned out all kinds of "collect them all" sets that were eagerly snapped up by collectors knowing their retirements were now secure.

Not so. MPC Lionel kept margins high by skimping on quality. Diecast metal was replaced with plastic, plastic replaced with cheaper, thinner plastic, and so on. For a long time, the prices on most MPC products remained flat.

And for years we would see tables with MPC mint-in-the-box products stacked high.

A Lionel MPC state box car. The idea was to collect
all 13 (one for each of the original 13 colonies)
plus the loco plus the caboose to make a special
train that looked ridiculous.

But not this time. There were a few items (I did see two Coke sets -- priced at $150-$165), but not many. Where did all the MPC Lionel items go? I'm not sure. Maybe the vendors finally got tired of lugging them to and from the shows.

Lessons from York -- What we saw: echoes of youth

Dad and I recently returned from our semi-annual trip to the Train Collectors Association (TCA) Eastern Division toy train meet in York, PA. This is the largest such show in the United States and provides an interesting snapshot of the state of the hobby.

It can also hint at the current state of collecting in general. As is our tradition, we spent a lot of time discussing what we saw a lot of (and what we didn't) -- and more importantly, the reasons behind them.

There's been a definite demographic shift in the hobby,  and I suspect it parallels those of similar hobbies. For toys especially, nostalgia plays a major role. For the most part, collectors are looking to either replace what they had in their youth (usually pre-teen) or finally acquire those items they wanted but never got during that time.

As the population ages, the window of peak desirability moves with it. When the Train Collectors Association first formed in 1954, the founding members were most interested in the toys of their youth -- about 1900 to 1920. That corresponded nicely to the beginnings of electric toy trains (Lionel was founded around 1900), and so for a while toy trains of that era were the most desirable. By 1964, the focus had started to shift into the between-war years. When my Dad joined in the early 1970's he was most interested in the trains of the early 1930's.

What we saw the most of tended to follow that pattern.

It was always easy to find parts of this set on a vendor table.
But the whole thing intact and with the original box? That
was something that only happened at this show.

Marx marks the spot

This time around we saw plenty of Marx toy train sets in the box. Now that's actually quite remarkable. Lionel and American Flyer electric trains were often used as Christmas decorations. Set them up under the tree, pack them away with the rest of the ornaments. Many were packed back in their set boxes. They were handled carefully, so it's relatively easy to find Lionel and American Flyer sets in good condition.

Marx lithographed tin trains were a different story. They were always meant to the be a low-cost alternative, and as such were usually treated as everyday toys. If you were going to build a permanent train layout, you went with Lionel or American Flyer equipment -- the trains were very realistic and ran reliably. Marx trains with their bright colors and (mostly) unrealistic designs were seldom anyone's choice.

Marx trains were rarely anyone's Christmas train, and so rather than being brought out for the holidays, they were played with year round. There wasn't any need to keep the set box -- many Marx trains ended up in the toy box with the rest of the child's playthings.

Finding vintage Marx is good condition can be something of a challenge, but not impossible. And because Marx trains weren't sought after by many collectors, the prices remained low -- until now.

My theory is that the plethora of Marx train sets in their original boxes is due to two things. The first is the recent emergence of new old stock from dime stores, department stores, and drug stores. I'm not sure if this is inventory discovered when a building is renovated, or what -- but it's increasingly easy to find new old stock toys from the late 1950's through the mid-1960s.

The second is that the population has aged. The majority of collectors now have found memories of those Marx trains that were probably thrown out years ago with the other broken toys. Prices weren't astronomical (around the $100-$200), but they did show an increased interest in what were formerly considered disposable toys.

There were many different configurations of this set made
between 1959-1962. I think I saw at least one example
of each at this show.

Lionel General Sets

We also saw a lot of General box sets. In 1959 Lionel brought out "The General," an 1860's-style locomotive. The locomotive was offered in a variety of sets, including an inexpensive set with a passenger car and a mail car (I actually received one from Santa), a larger set with a horse car, and some other variations as well. The sets were offered through 1962.

Many vendors had General sets on their tables, most in very good condition. I'm not sure where they all came from, but I know why they were there. The pre-teen boys who looking longingly at them in the Lionel catalogs of that era were now roaming the halls of the York Fairgrounds with plenty of disposable cash.

The O-Gauge Zen Garden Gets Greener

It's been a while since I've done anything major to my O-gauge Zen garden. And that's OK. The layout's operational, and there's no timeline for any project. But I finally decided to do something about that bare mountain top. Painting the plaster surface with green, brown, and gray to represent grass, dirt, and rock respectively was fine -- for a while. (click on images to enlarge)

It's plain to see this is too plain.

So I did a simple two-stage improvement. There's more I could do, but this works for now.

The greening of the green

The first thing I did was improve the grassy knolls by laying down a more realistic -- and textured layer of grass. I invested in a bag of Woodland Scenics ground cover, and a bottle of spray glue.

I started by covering the brown and gray areas of the mountain, leaving the green sections exposed. I then sprayed a layer of glue onto the green surface.

I then sprinkled the grass onto the sticky surface. Some of it clumped a little, but that was OK. After I had thoroughly covered all the exposed surfaces, I went back over it with the spray glue, adding a second layer of adhesive. The glue dried clear, leaving no apparent trace. 

But that second coat ensured that most of the grass particles remained in place. Now the stage was set for the second phase.

The Forestation Drill

I purchased two different sets of trees from the Old Neighborhood Market. Since my goal isn't to create a super-realistic layout, I had the option of buying quantity, rather than quality. Not that the trees I purchased are bad, but they don't have the same level of detail as those used by more serious modelers. 

To "plant" a tree, I used a drill bit that was slightly smaller than the tree trunk and drilled into the plaster surface. 

 I then put a dab of white glue into the hole and then inserted the tree. The screen mesh under the plaster provided a base for the tree, while the white glue held the tree in the true vertical position I placed it in (after it dried, of course). 

Below are the results. By placing the trees in the green patches, I think I achieved some of the randomness one finds in nature. After all, most trees don't grow out of rocks. And while I could have put some in the dirt areas, I think having them exposed suggests erosion.

So what's next? I'd like to add some dirt to the brown patches, to give them more texture. And I'd like to do something to the rock faces to make them look less representational. But not yet. I'll need to think about that for a while.