Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Ray Rivers on June 09, 2012, 07:36:15 PM
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So... after getting myself partially unburied from the work I let pile up during the LPL, I have turned to my next project and that is to put together at least 3 large jungle terrain pieces.
Inspired by "Dr Mathias's Arboreal Extravaganza" I have decided to try to replicate his work (more or less... :)) on the trees I will be making for my jungle.
Warning: If things turn to Dog Poo, this thread could end abruptly. :?
So without further ado... let's take a look at a photo. 8)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle1-1.jpg)
The base is some sort of acrylic material I have hidden around and is 3mm thick. Dowel rods were used for the tree trunks. The large branches come from "lolly" sticks which are a verrry hard cardboard. Holes were drilled in the ends of both the dowel rods and "branches." More on this when the time comes, if I make it that far. o_o The roots were made with a foam core base and then rolled up paper napkins (sturdy paper) glue on top. Abrupt edges were smoothed out with milliput.
I decided to also break up the base a bit, and inspired by the good Dr. Mathias I decided to try to do this with napkins and PVA glue.
The next step will be appling toilet paper to the trees and the broken ground. Dr. M. made it sound easy... we shall see... ???
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Looks pretty bad... eh?
Undeterred I got me a roll of toilet paper, water and PVA glue and started gluing.
At first, I hadn't a clue as to how to put on the paper, and tried to use nicely cut pieces, but as I got the hang of it I just grabbed big uneven wads and plastered away.
It was actually quite fun! :)
Here is the result and where I am now with the project:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle2-1.jpg)
Not quite up to Dr. M's standard, but good enough to keep me motivated.
I'll be adding plants and veins next. Hopefully soon.
Cheers!
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I,ll be watching to see how you progress - keep at it.
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Looking good, keep em comming. :D
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Looks perfect so far, they're not what I'd call pretty until the end :)
I like the irregular edging, certainly an improvement over my rigidly circular bases.
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Looking good. You might want to consider using a glue gun to add to the tree structure. I think there is an example here on LPL somewhere. You can quickly achieve some really convincing root/vine effects with a good bead of glue.
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Looking really good so far Ray. :)
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Looking good, eh? lol
Got a little more done last night.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle3.jpg)
I added veins to the trees. I used thread from a mop for this. :o But they seem to look ok.
Then I started adding in, what will be lots of vegetation. At this point I broke my scalpel, spent a half an hour searching for the tip on the carpet for fear I'd do someone harm and decided to call it quits.
I don't own a hot glue gun, and other various cool things for building. I'm your basic crap builder so we'll see how this all turns out in the end.
Probably badly... :'(
:)
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Wow the trees look really good and love the mop vines hanging down.
I always have the lost bits on the floor problem. Anything that falls past the table dissappears into the viod and no matter how much I look or kneel with my head on the carpet those things are gone. lol Eyesight fine for modelling closre to my face not fine for anything else it seems.
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Looking good to me so far.Nice vines too.
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Don't put yourself down Ray, they look great so far and I'm sure they will only improve 8)
cheers
James
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James... some of us are just building challenged. ;)
Today's labor started right off with me breaking my hobby scissors while cutting open a new tube of super glue. ::)
Nevertheless, here is the result... about 25 plants or so added to the base:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle4.jpg)
Notice the "Alien" plant in the center... :D
The next part is what I fear the most... adding the foliage to the trees. I plan to use fake flower leaves so this is going to be interesting so see how it comes out. (You wouldn't believe how many fake flowers we have in our house... amazing.)
I'll mock it all up first and if it looks okay, I'll return to the base add a couple more odds and ends, sand and start painting.
If I don't return... this project has gone in the garbage! :(
Off I go...
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If I don't return... this project has gone in the garbage! :(
That would be a pity, as it's looking very nice. I don't know what you could do to ruin it beyond repair. Set fire to it?
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Set fire to it?
That's always an option... lol
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I think those trees are definitely looking good!
Kind of mangrove-like...
I'm never too sure about too many plastic aquarium plants, I must admit, but they usually work okay once everything is blended it.
By the way, I love the fact that you've put 'yourself' in the photos Ray lol
I always think of that explorer miniature as you now, thanks to your avatar.
I shall be most disappointed to discover that you don't really come with a pith helmet and a huge bushy beard ;)
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Very nice!
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Actually Capt'n, I only grow my beard on away trips. I have found that all the accumulated food debris in the hair can be a handy reserve if the adventure gets a little tight.
:)
But yes, indeed, the piece looks like it should be in a tank with turtles. 8)
I'll try to fix it up the best I can with some Spanish moss and tufts.
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Actually, I had always kinda felt I knew how to do the canopy of the jungle, but it was the tree trunks that had me somewhat baffled. Thanks to Dr. Mathias, I now had a method and the making of my jungle terrain rapidly climbed to the top of my to do list.
So to continue.. the canopy:
I started with a standard plastic flower arrangement:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle5.jpg)
As you can see to the side... we have millions of plastic flowers in the house so the loss of a few won't be noticed. :D
I then stripped everything off the flower armature so it looked like this:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle6.jpg)
Then came the hard part as I had to cut the armature so that it would nicely fit on top of the trunk and have a nice pin coming out from it to give it support.
I then did a mock-up to see whether or not my idea would actually work:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle7.jpg)
Damn! ;D
So the next part was to replace the leaves from the flower back on to the armature, snip off the "branches", super glue it to the trunk and add a bit of milliput for a nice transition.
Here is where I am right now:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle8.jpg)
BTW, I also added a couple more flowery things to the base and cut down some of the mutant plants.
Looks like this project is full steam ahead! ;)
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Interesting idea with the leaves, Ray.
I don't think it does it for me.
I was thinking of a more canopy with lichen rolled in some leaf material.
Something like Nock leafs.
Maybe I am not looking outside the box.
I do look forward to see how it turns out.
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Well... I've done lots of smaller pieces and they have all used aquarium plants, so in the end I knew that the canopy was going to be something plastic and very leafy and thus artificial flowers.
To be quite honest, I am not a terrain man. I do the best I can.
In this case, I have been wanting to do some large jungle trees for a long time but just didn't have any idea how to do it. Dr. M. provided the tutorial for making the trunks, but even so, I was in serious doubt as to how I was going to do the canopy. When I stripped the flowers and found the armature, with a damn near perfect fit to my trees... that was a miracle! It provided me with an easy solution to finally put together some real large trees.
So overall, I am very pleased with the way it has turned out. For me, this is an amazing piece of terrain.
Here is a photo of the construction, now complete:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle9.jpg)
Painting, adding grass/tufts and a bunch of undergrowth still to do.
Cheers!
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Looks great!
Realising that the armature was perfect for your trees is exactly how to do it - keep your eyes peeled and your mind open for ideas!
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Looks great thanks for the illustrated tutorial but aren't the leaves a bit to big for 28mm figures?
Best regards
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Yep, ideally smaller leaves would have been better.
I used what was available... and cheap.
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You could try cutting the larger leaves into smaller ones, as many do to get palm-style trees.
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You could try cutting the larger leaves into smaller ones, as many do to get palm-style trees.
Exactly what I was thinking.
something like this maybe
(http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/africa/images/valleedemai10.jpg)
Also, I'm no expert, but I thought that plants with giant leaves like that don't grow so tall.
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Excellent work...shall copy these to replace my simple jungle trees
Eric
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Almost finished. The piece is now painted and varnished.
Last step will be the addition of some flock and some tangily bits to make it look a bit more jungily.
;)
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Ta Da! :D
Not the greatest, but it will serve
Here is the piece complete:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle10.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/lavaslair/Jungle11.jpg)
I'll probably be going after my wife's dead bonsai for my next project. ;)
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Not bad at all, you're going to need about thirty stands like that :)
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Good end result there Ray 8)
Try not to loose your figures in it though after (or even during) a game lol
cheers
James
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Turned out very well Ray.
Yes, sacrifice the bonsai to the cause of scenery!
(Every year I venture into the flowers, fruit and vegetable tent at the local agricultural show, and every year I loiter for about 20 minutes by the bonsai displays... Because I have this mad idea that one day I will create an entire table using only bonsai trees and real flora... Then I remember it will cost me about 3,000.00 GBP and I forget it for another year... ;))
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Yes, sacrifice the bonsai to the cause of scenery!
(Every year I venture into the flowers, fruit and vegetable tent at the local agricultural show, and every year I loiter for about 20 minutes by the bonsai displays... Because I have this mad idea that one day I will create an entire table using only bonsai trees and real flora... Then I remember it will cost me about 3,000.00 GBP and I forget it for another year... ;))
You could do it the other way and have the table ready in about 200 years lol
cheers
James
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you're going to need about thirty stands like that
:o
Which is why you don't see a lot of jungle covered boards. ;)
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Yes, sacrifice the bonsai to the cause of scenery!
The poor thing is dead actually. :'(
It's been out on the balcony for a year now and the wife (who loved that plant) every now and then prompts me.. "Do you still want the bonsai, or not?"
In the end, I guess, by making a jungle piece out of the bonsai will be kinda like having your favorite pet stuffed and preserved for posterity. lol
Which reminds me, not to derail my own thread... but did you see the video of the flying cat? o_o
Orville the flying cat :o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePNdcdNm9fY
Don't think my bonsai will receive the same notoriety though.. ;)
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Ray,
The trees turned out real nice.
It really came together.
Well done.
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Cheers, Mate!
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I really like the finished piece Ray, it wasnwell worth the wait :)
Can't wait tonseenwhat you do with the Bonsai. ;D
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Orville the flying cat
I don't often use 'text speak' but WTF!
lol
cheers
James
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OK! You won me over at last with the end result.
I could have sworn it would never work - but it does! Kudos!!!! lol
Very nice idea for the liana!
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Very nice jungle piece Mr. Rivers.
I'm expecting to see more bat reps on Venus from you now. :D
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I like it Ray.
I was initially a bit skeptical about the size of the leaves, but all massed together with the dense undergrowth, they have a very dramatic effect. Not a literal representation, but a great table-top one.
Result! :)
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Thanks, Ya'll!
I added lots of stuff to the base besides the plastic plants (like clump foliage and Spanish grass) to make it all look a bit dense and tangily.
Storage will be easy. With all the plastic plants in the house I can just set it anywhere and it will just blend it... :o
:D