For any of you interested here is the way I created my palm fronds.
Here is the pattern I use for the shape of the leaves…put in editor and strech it out a little, it is too short and fat.
here is a branch of leaves I used…Again they are unknown to me, if anyone does know…Note: see how the pattern is a little longer, than the file. Although any sized leaf bigger than pattern will do. Easier to work with if fresh.
Bend pattern in half, bend leaf in half and cut out shape with scissors leaving the stem intact. I varied the size by cutting at different distances from the pattern.
hold leaf (still folded) with stem away from you and make cuts up to the stem *BE CAREFUL NOT TO CUT STEM! Scissors seem to be the most controled way, but any razor knife will do. Make these cuts as close togrther as you can to make the “fringe” as thin as possibe…the thinner the more realistic it looks.
run your thumb on underside to open.
Thats it! Hope this helps you guys…any questions feel free to ask!
~1st class tut. on the palm ( fronds ) Stern. Good job with the nice clear, logical photos. Your finished items look great too, I just want to ask, the unknown leaves, are they dry already? Or fresh? Are you using a preservative on them? Wonder how they hold up over time? Just about the same time, I noticed my Buddy Rick over on the MM Forum (in Dio’s) is working on a really stunning PTO vignette you might like, his figures look really cool, but I noticed he had some fallen palm fronds too, so I asked him for a little tut on his:
His are made from 2 squares of brown paper bag, glued together with a small wire inside for the stem! painted I think they look great, especially if one can’t find that ‘unknown’ leaf.
It’s a WIP, alot going on on a small base, but well worth taking a look at. His palm tut. is crude but effective.
Great Tutorial!!! Thanks for that, it will be invaluable in the future I am sure of it. Heck, it might even make a couple of us have to be brave enough to attempt it themselves…(me[:-^])
Thanks INDY, I have corrected the mispelled fronds…(in my best Dr. Bones McCoy voice) Dammit Jim, i’m a modeler not a english professor! I have worked with real leaves before, after a light mist of dullcoat they seem to last a long time…Another EDIT to the toot: Any leaf bigger than the pattern will do…do not need the exact leaf…or ,for that matter you can use anything you want, tissue papper would work! I like the leaves because they are real…and no surprise, they look real…It is better to do them fresh…mine are a few days old, but in a dank basement…they stayed soft for the most part
Thanks all you guys for looking, I think the toot is a good foundation…I give everyone the credit of having good common sense and to use whatever you can get out of this toot…It’s just the way I did it…NOT the best, fastest, most realistic, time proven, or easiest…I am surley not the authority…
ya know steve, if you want to avoid having to spray the leaves in the hope that you get them to stay and hold shape…you could use satin, fake/plastic leaves and get cut them like you have them. that isnt my idea, i cant remember who but someone else in this forum posted that as their way to make them and they look great! just one more thing! [:D]
~ Sterno ~ Dullcoat huh? sounds easy enough. I guess you’d be right, any leaf that looks like those you’ve shown outa work—what we need is some arborist to chime in and tell us what kind they are so we know what to ask for. Your palms look so darn cool, I’m sure another kind of leaf might be a disapointment—although, like I said, Rick got nearly as good results with a paper bag!, Don’t you think?
~ C.J. ~ satin? really? wow. I’ve heard of silk, for 1/1 scale fake flowers ( maybe stiffined up w/ some w.glue & water it might work, it is really thin… ) …it was somewhere on this forum, eh?
yeah indy, might not have been satin, may have been something like that. i wasnt exactly sure but i know someone (perhaps it was bodge, but not sure) did a tut on them. i think though i meant vinyl instead of satin…you know kinda has that shower curtain texture! [(-D]
Axel, anytime…just another way of making em…hope you can get some use out of it.[:D]
INDY, I did…good stuff! he’s a little outa my league though…his figures are incredible! I did check out the papper bag trick for the fronds…more good stuff, Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Vespa! very easy and the end result looked to good even to me![:D] Hope you saw the finished product on my flamthrower dio…they look much better in contex…Thanks again!
