Modelling willow bushes

[Jeff Young]

I start by drilling a series of holes in some scrap timber.  The size and depth of the holes will control the amount of splay on the branches.




The MDF doesn't drill very cleanly, so I had to clean up all the holes with a counter-sink.




After that, I filled the holes with carpenter's glue, and then plugged each one with some "branches" cut from a wallpaper brush.




After the glue dried, I trimmed the bushes into pleasing shapes with scissors.




Next it was time to flock the bushes with the finer branch detail.  In the picture I'm fogging them with 1:4 matte medium:water with an automotive touch-up gun.  A misting spray bottle will work too.




I flocked them with golden static grass fibre so I wouldn't have to paint them afterwards.






After that dried, they got another diluted matte medium application followed by flocking with spring-green SuperLeaf.  You could also use fine-ground foam (the leaf is slightly over-size for HO, but would likely work well in S or O).




I always give them one more coat of diluted matte medium at the end, and then cut them off the board with an X-acto knife.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Oh, I forgot the picture of my prototype (along the Blue River in Breckenridge):

[Doug Heitkamp]

[South Park]

  I model these and other native species in 12"-to-the-foot scale.  They are extremely
realistic.  So much so, they require water !