If you really want to model them, in Maya you can model the base shape using poly, then select the faces you want to have the "needles", extrude-->resize the new faces-->extrue again---> pull them along the normal.
Here is quick test of that, the yellow arrow is the noral of the face, remember to turn off "keep faces together" before extruding. The only problem for this method is you need a a lot of poly if you want more 針.