10 Steps to Realistic Model Bushes & Hedges Using Rubberised Horsehair

Hedges are a common feature of the world around us and have been used to define boundaries around field and plots of land for centuries. Whether you're modelling an urban or rural scene, at some point you're likely to need a hedge or two. But how can you model them? 

In this tutorial we're going to look at a quick and straightforward way to model hedges using a popular material with modellers… Rubberised Horsehair. Its name couldn't be more descriptive to be honest as it's exactly that. It's a mat about 25mm thick, which is made from horsehair coated in rubber, and is more commonly used in upholstery, and it's a very versatile material for modelling bushes & hedges.

Once it's cut into strips, chunks & blocks, it can then be teased out to form rough bush & hedge like sections which can then be detailed with acrylic paints, flock, foliage and leaves. And trimming is super simple with a pair of scissors. It's brilliant for creating the rougher, more unkempt hedges you see along the edges of fields and lining country lanes, rather than the perfect examples of topiary you'd see in a formal garden or park… Anyway, here goes! Let's dive in and have a go.

Materials & Tools Required

• Rubberised Horsehair
• Spray glue (Gorilla Spray Glue or Deluxe Materials Scenic Spray Glue)
• Brown/Grey acrylic spray paint
• Gaugemaster Leaves
• Fine Foliage Scatter
• Scissors
• Newspaper (to protect your work area as this can be a bit messy)
• Plastic Tubs or foil trays to hold your foliage while you work

Making Hedges from Rubberised Horsehair

1. Roughly cut your rubberised horsehair into chunks as required with scissors. Bear in mind for OO gauge hedges made from random bushes could be anywhere from about 4 or 5 ft up to 10ft tall. They'll also vary massively in width from about 3ft to 10ft or more, so varying your horsehair chunks between about 16mm tall and 40 to 50mm tall would be ideal.
   
    
2. Carefully tease the horsehair into very roughly shaped clumps. You don't want anything too square and formal unless you're modelling freshly trimmed hedges or bushes. And you don't want it too dense either… so really go to town with teasing them out. You can always cut the bushes down with scissors or split them in half if they're too big, then you've got double the bush! The first ones we made (or should I say, I made, were far too dense. The ones Tina did (pictured) are far better and much less dense.
    
3. Once you're happy with your basic bush & hedge shapes, give them a quick coat of dark brown or grey spray paint to make them look a bit woodier. The natural colour of the rubberised horsehair isn't bad, but it's not a great match for the twigs and branches you'd expect to see inside a hedge. They can look a bit too light green. So, something darker brown/grey is more suited. Ours was a bit too brown to be honest but it worked ok. Just a low-cost dark brown spray paint from Hobbycraft or The Range will do fine.
   
    
4. Once everything has been sprayed brown/grey, you'll then get more of an idea as to how they're going to look once your hedges have scatter & leaves on them. If they're looking a bit dense still, you can always tease them out a bit more before you apply the foliage.
   
    
5. Right… now the fun & slightly messy bit. Empty your foliage into suitable plastic pots or foil trays (takeaway tubs are great for this). This makes it much easier to apply the foliage to your hedges without making a complete mess.
    
6. Give your bushes a good coat of Scenic Spray Glue or Gorilla Spray Glue. Personal preference here would be the Scenic Spray Glue as it's water-based and doesn't smell as much as the Gorilla glue.
    
7. Once it's all had a good soak, hold each bush or hedge section over one of the trays of leaves or foliage and begin sprinkling it over the bush. The leaves & foliage will naturally adhere to the sticky branches. Use different foliage & leaf shades on different sections of bushes & hedge to give a natural variation to your finished hedge. Also, it's worth leaving the lower part of your hedge a little sparser in terms of foliage than the top. There's often an area of bare twigs and branches towards the base of a hedge. With the one in the image below, we coated this with a mid-green fine foliage as we wanted a wild bramble look.
   
    
8. When you're happy with the amount of foliage on your hedges, you can give them a little extra, light coat of Scenic Spray Glue to “lock” the foliage into place if desired. This is particularly useful on portable and exhibition layouts as it helps to seal & protect things. The hedges & bushes in the image below have had a variety of fine foliage and Gaugemaster leaves applied to give a nice variation in colours and textures. Note: It might be necessary to apply additional light coats of glue in between foliage layers. 
   
    
9. Set the hedges & bushes aside to dry in a warm place like a windowsill. 
    
10. Once everything has dried nicely, it's time to glue them into place on your layout. In this example, Tina used Copydex glue to fix her hedges to the baseboard. It absolutely honks but it works really well as you can peel the hedges back up if you need to move them.
    

And there you go! Ten simple steps to great looking hedges and bushes for your layout using rubberised horsehair. And before we go… don't forget to prepare the baseboard area with whatever earth materials you'd like under your hedge. We used our Mountain Pass gravel & dirty blend which was all secured into place with Ballast Bond Liquid Adhesive before gluing the hedge into place.

Let us know how you get on in the comments below.