Woodland Scenics

Woodland Scenics, alongside its PineCar and Scene-A-Rama divisions, produces model scenery, gravity-powered pinewood racecars, and educational arts and crafts. The company is widely recognized as the original innovator of realistic model railroad scenery and the industry leader that established current standards.

The business was founded in 1975 by David Osment, who owned and operated Osment Models, Inc., an architectural firm based in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Osment Models created commissioned architectural and engineering models for major corporations both domestically and internationally, including projects such as office buildings, airports, sports stadiums, resorts, and part of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

When the 1975 recession severely impacted the architectural modeling industry, Osment looked for ways to diversify using his modeling expertise. After a suggestion from an acquaintance, he investigated the model railroad market and discovered a lack of commercially available, realistic scenery materials comparable to those he used for architectural models. He brought a sample of his landscape scenery to a model railroad trade show in Chicago, secured several patents, and began mass-producing scenery under the Woodland Scenics name. The company’s first catalog offered 28 products, including tree kits, foliage, turf material, and stumps.

From 1976 to 1982, manufacturing output grew significantly. By 1981, Woodland Scenics had over 100 distributors across the United States and was exporting to Canada, Germany, and Sweden. As the business expanded, it required more manufacturing space, and in 1981 the company relocated to Linn Creek, Missouri, in the Lake of the Ozarks region.

Woodland Scenics sells wholesale to distributors, who then supply retail hobby outlets or stores with hobby departments. Its product distribution network spans Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America.