When we last left the maple tree, I had started adding the leaves.  While this was working relatively well, I stumbled across a wonderful tutorial by Connie Sauve on making realistic trees.  I kept going with the leaves, but it was still in the back of my mind. After getting around the lower portion with the first batch of leaves, it just wasn't doing what I wanted.  It would be great for a sparse tree, but I wanted something fuller.

I ordered candytuft in basil green from Scenery Solutions (I loved the orange and red, but I didn't want to overpower the building or the Model T).  I looked at the local floral shops, but the floral sprays they had were different and not really workable.  I bought two bunches since I wasn't sure how much I would need.  I probably should have ordered more for this tall tree in the first place, and I ended up getting three additional bunches.  I will likely use three bunches overall, so I'll have some leftover for next time and other projects.

Detail of the "leaves" shows the variegated color that works well for early autumn.

Before doing anything rash, I taped a bunch of candy tuft sprigs to the trunk base to see if it was worthwhile.  Yeah, that's nice.  :D

Since I started with green, I had to paint only the stems.  Quick and dirty, no fine detailing here.  It transformed them immediately.  I can certainly see why these are so popular in model railroading.

It was painful, but I stripped the maple leaves I had already glued to the branches and touched up the paint.  I also clipped a lot of the wire branches since the candy tuft flares out and works better with a shorter base branch.  I bought clips at Michaels but used them only a few times with heavier branches, but I did use Aleene's Quick Dry supplemented with super glue gel to help the branches grab more quickly.

Adding the branches was actually less of a pain than one-at-a-time leaves with a quicker payoff.

I touched up the paint around the glued bits to blend in with the tree branch tips.   Hooray!  :D

Looks full until I turn it to the side.  Just awaiting further supplies to finish up....

Of course, now it's no longer a maple...it's more like an ash.  :]  Good thing the bark is similar.