Sisal rope bottle brush conifers look okay, but not great. To improve their looks, first use coarse ground foam to give the branches more body and disguise the sisal rope strands - then sprinke on a layer of fine ground foam to get the proper conifer needle texture.

You can vary the amount of coarse ground foam to get a spare of heavily foliaged tree.

I used to make sisal bottle brush conifers - but with just a bit more work you can make bottle brush conifers that look much more realistic. The trick is to model the secondary branches that come off the primary branches.

I used broom bristles to make the primary branches (get yourself a cheap whisk broom for a few dollars at a department store), then spin the tree into a bottle brush and trim the bristles into a cone shape. To add the secondary branches (this is where the realism really comes in), I use bits of sisal rope that have been cut to random lengths of roughly 1/4".

I spray the tree with spray adhesive and sprinkle on the sisal rope bits. This creates a tree with lots of secondary branches going off the central primary branch and looks much more like a conifer!

Then I finish the tree by spraying the body a brown-black or brown-gray color with spray paint and then sprinkling on fine dark green ground foam.

I demonstrate this whole process step-by-step in my video volume 5 on Scenery and bridges ($24.95) - or if you're into downloadable video, you can get just the conifer chapter as an immediate download for a couple bucks.

The trick is to model the secondary branches that come off the primary branches.

 

Having seen the video I can honestly say they look great when finished!

they look good just the way they are if you place them in heavy groups and place fancier detailed trees in front of them to help give the illusion of a dense forest area

Dan

Thanks Jarhead for the heads up on tree jig.

Thanks Joe for tips on secondary branches

 I'm glad I could help, Bruce. I know that several members of our club are doing it and they look good.