Daftest Africa - African Villagers

[flatpack]

Digits,
If it helps, Blotz do some paddle wheels in different scales, that could be fitted to your boats ?
I only know, as I’ve bought them in the past, then the Sarrisa paddle steamer came along, and the Blotz paddles became redundant.
Flatpack.

[Digits]

Cheers matey, I will check them out.....

Edit: ordered a small wheel to convert for the smaller of the two craft.  The other will have encased wheels.

Also ordered a pair of floor hatches....useful.

Thinking in time of ordering the harpoon from pulp figures but of course, they didn’t KNOW there were dinosaurs up there.....

Will most definitely order some of the pulp minis merchant seamen....rugged looking bunch....reminds me of the chaps in King Kong.

[flatpack]

Glad to be of help.
Have a good one.

[FifteensAway]

Here is a link to an aerial photo of the Ituri rainforest in the Congo:

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/green-landscape-with-forest-near-bunia-ituri-royalty-free-image/753294907?adppopup=true

It shows quite a diversity in colors of the canopy.  Found it while looking for inspiration beyond Digits fine work here on LAF.  I hope to create both triple canopy forest pieces - with fairly clear of undergrowth bases such as is the norm within the interior of a rain forest and also dense jungle pieces with very crowded undergrowth for the verge of the rainforest.  And Digits work, especially the buttressed trunks, will be a great guide.

[Digits]

There are definitely lots of shades of green there.

Just watch, if you are doing smaller scale (15mm and smaller) to achieve that triple density, you need LOTS of trees.  Be careful not to make it so dense you can’t manoeuvre your hands, and thus your figures through it.

[Cacique Caribe]

Bloody Beezlebub!  The photos are messed up again.  How's a man to engage in proper idea stealing without the visual necessary.  Heck, I guess I'll just trundle off to that other necessary!   

I thought the exact same thing for a bit.  Thank goodness everything seems to be back and the idea thefts can go back to normal.

Dan

[FifteensAway]

YIKES!!!  Got out my trusty ivory beaded abacus and did a little calculating and to get an accurately scaled triple canopy rain forest in 15 mm I'd need trees 30 actual inches tall!  Holy mahogany, bat man. 

After due consideration, half scale is much more workable - and playable, an essential element - so max height of 15" will be a limit.  And that is just for the 'overstory', the canopy will probably top out at 12", the understory around 9", the shrub layer at no more than 6", and the ground level limited to stuff shorter than an actual 15 mm figure (a bit of a challenge but workable).

And, Digits, to answer your concern, like you, I will build pieces that will sit on the table and the game will primarily flow around the representations - though there will be some built in access points into the rainforest and, less so, into the jungle pieces.  I guess the real challenge then will be to differentiate between the open play areas within the rainforest and/or jungle and those areas outside such as grassland - rivers will be pretty easy to differentiate.  Have to add in kopje and riparian woodlands into the mix.  While the extra material to achieve the same 'detail' in space is one challenge in 15 mm, there is the advantage of being able to represent a larger - and thus more versatile - area in the same table space.

Now, where around here can I find that liquid latex for bullet-proofing my verdure?

[Digits]

My take is simple, I will only end up with half a dozen of the tallest trees, topping out at about 450mm each. Certainly not true scale height but a fairly good representation on table of that top layer.

I will then concentrate on a larger spread of medium height trees at about 25 - 30cm.  The trick with these fellas will be to ensure they are wide in the canopy.  This will mean I don’t have to build so many, as all that wire twisting kills my wrists and there will not be such a density of trunks to make figure mobility impossible.  I am also finding these smaller ones cheaper to make and kinda therapeutic (indeed I made the armatures first three more yesterday whilst playing parlour games and watching crap Xmas telly (not you ma’am, you’re lovely!)

As for the lower levels, a few stands with palms and scrub adds a dash of exotic (and in my case prehistoric ) gloss, and I like the look of the bamboo thickets.

At a ground level.....yes tricky but I'm trying not to overdo the aquarium stuff.  I’m trying to stick to the less colourful plastic foliage and mix it with mosses and flocks.   I’m not too worried about grasslands (didn’t see any evidence of them when I lived in the bush myself) but I do like the idea of a little tall grass along the riverbank when that gets done.

The real tricks I think:

1) Get an effective mousepad mat.  It needs to complement your jungle.  Yes, a red earth is realistic for example....but a muddy mixed green fills in the visual gaps when you look down on your jungle.

2) Try to make your largest pieces as realistic and interesting as you dare.  Hopefully this will disguise the true lack of density and it will dominate anyone’s top view of the table.  Add in a few small traces of colour and interest such as bird life etc to draw the eye in.

3) Keep it green...avoid the lurid aquarium plants that shout “alien” unless that’s what you are modelling of course)

4) Remember it’s still a games table.  You have to be able to game on it.  It’s not just about figure accessibility and fields of fire etc.....but if you make it too dense, you will loose figures that only come to light when you are packing up and all those hours spent painting your mini masterpieces will be hidden in the shadows!

[von Lucky]

Sage advice, Digits.

[FifteensAway]

Well, one trick from model railroading is to create a flat based canopy of desired size and then put more detailed trees around the edge.  That covers space but does make the interior of the piece either inaccessible or, with a removable canopy, sort of plain.

Now, that photo I linked to - reminds me exceptionally so of many a bag of lichen I've seen.  That makes it easy but hazardous since lichen can be fragile when it dries.  Lots of ideas floating around.

[Scrubber]

Camera crew as per conversation.
https://eurekaminusa.com/collections/civilians-film-camera-crew-28mm.

[Digits]

Cheers Brian.  Not sure between this one and the a Pulp set tbh.  I will think on.

Meanwhile.....I know I was going to rest from trees for a bit...yet I’ve managed to pick up wire for another 9 armatures, plus the three I’ve been making.  That meant I’ve had to order another pot of liquid latex, have to buy and cut out another set of place mats, buy more paint and foliage.   Having just bought a packet of polyfibre....I may need another!

So....looks like I will have twenty trees by the time I’m done!

Oh, ind I’ve also ordered another twenty palm trees.

[Digits]

So...going to have a large herd of wallowing hippos. 



I will need to modify ears and nostrils.  I’ve ordered a Wargames foundry waterline hippo set too.

[Scrubber]

You need an oxpecker or two to go on the hippo’s.

[Digits]

Funny I was thinking of putting an egret on one.   Not sure I could find oxpecker in 28mm!