1:35 Palm leaves

1:35 Palm leaves — palm fronds for a tropical scene

A palm is a shorthand a viewer recognizes at once: as soon as one appears in a scene, the action moves to the tropics without anything needing to be explained. This scenic accessory offers exactly the leaves, that is, the most demanding part of any palm, in 1:35 scale, matching ordinary figures and ground hardware.

Which scenes it belongs in

Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands, North Africa, the Middle East and Central and South America all suggest themselves. The leaves can be used to build a whole crown on a trunk, to fill low undergrowth or as fallen material underfoot — even a few pieces scattered on the ground can turn a flat surface into an inhabited place.

Tips for building the crown

A crown looks convincing when the leaves are not symmetrical: leave them different lengths, some bent toward the ground and one or two almost drooping, as though they had dried out. Grade the shade from a darker green at the base to faded, yellowish tips. Prepare the trunk separately and attach the leaves to it one by one from the top down, so that they overlap naturally and the top of the crown does not stay empty. Bear in mind too that a palm rarely grows alone: a pair of trees of unequal height rounded out with a few leaves on the ground looks more convincing than a single symmetrical specimen in the middle of a scene.

Who the set is for

• builders of tropical dioramas in 1:35 scale
• modelers of scenes from Vietnam, the Pacific and Africa
• makers of vegetation who build their trees themselves
• anyone after undergrowth and fallen leaves for a scene