I'm a scale modeler. 3-Rail Scale. Which means I try to stick with scale models, I convert to Kadees, fixed pilots, and 2-rail wheels when possible. Buildings are scale and detailed. Streets have oil marks, sidewalks have cracks and have signs and parking meters. I paint all my figures and they are dressed for 1957 travel. But every once in a while, I engage in a little fantasy. This project is for our O-gauge modular display at the York Fair. Enter Harry Potter . . .
My family has always been fans of the Harry Potter movies, and last Christmas my grandchildren gave me a Corgi 1962 Ford Anglia. This is the magical flying car owned by the Weasley family, which Ron Weasley "borrowed" to fly himself and Harry Potter to Hogwart's School. Unfortunately, the journey ended with the car crash landing in a rather temperamental tree known as the Whomping Willow, which started to pound the car with its knobby branches.
Here is a clip of the movie scene and a still picture of the Whomping Willow.
Construction
First I needed some gnarly branches for the tree trunk. Some cuttings from Lilac bush in my yard filled the bill. I selected 2 cuttings that could sort of wrap around each other and I drilled and nailed them together with 2 finish nails. I added 2 additional main branches to fill out the top.
For the base I carved a piece of blue foam, drilled pilot holes in each trunk and screwed in 2 deck screws from the bottom of the foam. I wrapped some green florist tape diagonally across the bottom half of the trunks to make them appear as one. At this point, the tree looked too tall, so I cut off 2 inches of trunk on the band saw.
Next were the tree roots. The Whomping Willow has extensive spiraling, twisted roots. I took sections of 1/2" sisal rope and unwound 3 strands along most of the sections and unwound the fibers at the lower ends. I used contact cement to glue these to the foam base (yes, the contact cement melts the foam, but it worked well). While I had the basic shape represented well, it still looked like rope. So I trimmed the loose fibers and flooded the rope roots with 2 applications of grey craft paint. This filled in a lot of the gaps and made it more root-like and less rope like.
The upper branches of the Whomping Willow are switches, thin vertical branches pointing skyward. I used craft wire for these. Starting with 4-5' of wire, I folded the wire in half repeatedly until I had a bunch of wires 3-5" long. I cut the loops on one end so now leaving a single bunch of loops at the other end. I hooked this loop under the end of a large branch and wrapped a single piece of wire along the top to secure it around the branch. Once it was in position, I flooded the attachment with thick CA glue to secure it. When dry, I spread out and straighten the wires.
The last feature to add was the knobby ends of the main branches. I used Sculpty modeling clay. This had the other benefit of hiding the wire attachment. to the branches.
The last step was painting. I sprayed the whole tree and base with a coat of Rustoleum Brown Camo, then added a dusting of Rustoleum grey auto primer spraying from 2 feet away. I then alternated dusting with each color to give some variation until I was satisfied with the look.
Because of the required lean of the tree, it was a little unbalanced, so I used some double stick tape to mount it. Here is the finished tree on the modular layout. The Hogwarts Castle is a 4D Build Puzzle kit.
If you are in the area, come to the York Fair July 19-28. Our modular group, Stillmeadow Crossing, will be displaying our large O gauge modular display and our HO layout in Memorial (Silver) Hall.
Bob
