Willow Trees

[jukebox]

I am planning a scale willow tree or two for Stockrington, and not only do I prefer to make my own, but the regular commercial ones (Heki, Noch, etc) look naff - nothing like willow trees, IMHO.

 

 

It seems to come down to the foliage - willows have a very distinctive thin leaf, but most model foliage is spherical, just different diameters.

 

 

I did a search of RMWeb, but didn't see anything too appealing...

 

Can anyone point me to a willow tree modelled somewhat successfully?

 

There's a mob called 4D that have some, but they don't quite capture the arc of the branches that these have.

 

http://modelshop.co.uk/static/willow

 

Perversely, the CAD guys *have* got it down pat - you can buy a CAD file willow tree that really is the dogs dangles:  

 

 

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/plant/leaf/weeping-willow-tree-set

 

If I could get close to that, I'd be a very happy camper!

 

Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Bill_J]

Have you considered using static grass for the leaves? It would have to be applied upside down I think, and with a puffer bottle (I don't know how you could attach a zapper type machine)

 

Regards

 

 

edited for typos

Edited April 20, 2018 by Bill_J

[ianLMS]

Looking at the 3D image, long stands of cotton, sprayed very lightly with green paint and sprinkled with fine turf might work better. As long as the turf isnt applied too much it might look ok.

[Ian Morgan]

I need to make a couple too. I have been taking photos of the real thing, but not got started on a model yet. If a wire armature is used, connecting the lead from the static dispenser to it will work, even if the branches are coated, and/or painted.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Ian Morgan
remove lost images

[MinZaPint]

I'm keen to see how you get on with this as I would like a Willow on my layout. Apart from the CAD one shown earlier every one I've seen has had too much leaf on the branches. For reference this is the one in my garden

 

[jukebox]

Thanks fellas.

 

Since my original post, I have found one prospect, by one Mr Cryns:

 

http://bennosfiguresforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=18686&p=201796

 

I like the way this guy has gone about it, and am going to have a go using his technique.

 

As Bill suggested, I think static grass may be a useful foliage - but not charged (I did a couple of test strands today, and am waiting for the result to dry - but suspect if you tried to use an applicator, if would fluff up the foliage too much).

 

Like Ian, I've been photographing real life trees, to try and see how they are formed in nature....

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[aberdare]

I have also wanted to make a willow for the riverbank on my layout and have used the wire technique too, I do use a much finer wire on all my trees though and also such things as Poly fibre or Silk lap, both of these obtained while taking my wife to sewing & stitching exhibitions.

 

Examples and methods can be found on my thread in various places.

 

The willow I am making currently still needs work such as thinning, trimming and colouring especially on the top half, once I am happy with its finished shape I will sprinkle powder paints over it to create a textured look.

 

Here is how it currently stands.

 

 

I hope that is of some use.

 

Jim

[Bill_J]

Fascinating and very useful link to Benno's Figure Forum. Definitely one to bookmark for future reference. Thanks

 

Billd

[jukebox]

The static grass experiment looks like this:

 

 

The 4mm looks too wooly, and for some reason the "summer" mix (darker) doesn't want to stick as well - but I like the "spring" tone, anyway.

 

These were just cotton strands, dipped in slightly dilute PVA, then dipped in a small container of loose 2mm "spring" static grass.

 

Okay, so I'm going to give this a go with a full tree - I'll post progress over on my layout thread, to  save doubling up with posting - by all means stop by if you want to see the progress.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[Bill_J]

That's looking really good, will definitely visit to see the finished result.

 

Regards

 

Billd

[jukebox]

Okay - so I am at this point (took *a lot* of work), and I need to pause until I'm ready to plant it - at which point I'll add the foliage:

 

 

Cheers

 

Scott

[RedGemAlchemist]

I'll also need willows for my freelance layout (need one in the garden of the riverside pub next to Hewe station) so I hope your experiment works. I'll be taking notes.

Edited April 25, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[jukebox]

Okay, so I'm getting close to being able to plant my tree on Stockrington, so last night I moved forward with the foliage.

 

The task sounds simple enough: coat the string stands in PVA, then dip them in a tub of 2mm static grass fibres.  The reality is somewhat more complicated...

 

I took the armature, and went around tweaking the branches into nice flowing curves - spent about 90 mins getting it to look "right".

 

Here's my work area (I did it close to the layout, as I could see those fibres going everywhere - and the railway room as floorboards, not carpet).

 

 

I used a broad low slung tub for the fibres, and took the precaution of adding some green paint to the PVA.

 

The first few strands were easy.  But as I started to progress, the inner strands - that need to be done first - kept getting in the way.

 

In the end, I had to undo my hard work, and bend the coated branches away from ones needing dipping, and spread fingers of branches out so they could be dipped without sticking together.

 

 

It is a woefully messy task. I added some extra tools as I went along - including a pottery spike to run down between wetted strands that had stuck together before I could dunk them.

 

There's something of a knack, in that once a strand has some grass on it, it won't stick, so I tried to get the stands to lie separately in the tub of grass as I lowered it in.  Hard to describe, but logical when you are doing it. This last photo was early on, when I'd tackles the inside branches - after this, my fingers were too glue-and-grass covered to pick up the camera. and I wanted to get all the foliage done in one session, so pushed on.

 

 

The shape of the tree, and indeed some of the paint covering the trunk, were casualties through all this, but not unfixable.

 

Once it is all dry, I'll need to get in and re-bend everything, and then spot fix any areas of both exposed trunk wire, and any foliage that gets brushed off as I do.

 

But the good news is, the static grass has produced a reasonably thick canopy of leaves, so I'm comfortable that the tree will indeed be able to mask the end of the water feature as planned.

 

 

I'll update when I've planted it on the layout properly in it's final form.

 

Cheers

 

Scott

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by jukebox

[aberdare]

Hi Scott

 

I have to agree with you on the difficulties with assembly once you have a number of branches complete, I often to to stop making mine for the day once the glue and fibres were stuck more to me than the tree, once you have the final tweaking of branches done you will have a fine looking model willow and it will easily act as a view blocker.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Jim

[jukebox]

And today the willow got planted.

 

It lost *a lot* of the static grass as I re-bent the foliage into shape, so I gave it a mist of WWS layering spray, and generously hand sprinkled more 2mm grass all over.  I shook the loose grass off, then set it to dry, before gluing the trunk base and planting the tree.

 

 

That made a big difference, as it bulked out the foliage on the branches, so the tree is a lot less see-through.

 

 

Before I planted the tree, I applied a circular mask, and laid down a thin layer of dead grass, to represent the stunted growth under a tree.  The effect is subtle, but you can just see it in the photos.

 

 

The other unintended side effect of my re-applying fresh static grass was that as I tweaked it into its final position, some of the static grass fell off and colour the surround - you can see it in the riverbed. It kind of looks like fallen leaves.

 

 

I can be a perfectionist, and i'm not 100% happy with the willow.  The branches tend to curl as the glue dries - the only way to counter this would be to add pegs to each branch as I applied foliage, to keep them in tension.  I probably should have added double the number of branches (strings), too. 

 

But it's ended up okay, looks reasonably willow-like, does it's intended job of disguising the end of the river, and I had fun making it.  So on with the rest of the layout.  Did I mention I have 8 poplars ready to plant?

 

Cheers

 

Scott

Edited May 26, 2018 by jukebox