Overlords Jungle

[Overlord]

Heres some quick pics of some jungle scenery I have been working on this weekend:

This will go with my Pirates, Pulp, Predators, Darkest Africa, Stargate,........

[Grimm]

AH I realy like the Palmtrees tell me whow you do them .
The jungle looks good maby a bit to ``plastik`` but he is on  a very high standard .

Grimm

[Overlord]

"I realy like the Palmtrees".  Praise indeed from the Grimm.

The fronds come from artificial fern plants from a hobby shop (Hobbycraft in UK).  They come already attached to wire in groups of 4. I just cut them into individual plants.  I then wind the wire with several layers of garden twine to form the trunk.

The whole trunk is then covered in PVA glue and worked in using my fingers (Yes it does get messy!).  Once covered I smooth the trunks from top to bottom. This is important as when dry the rough odd strands of the twine then hang down in a realistic manner.

After drying out the trees are glued to a suitable base (Card or CDs covered in a layer of polystyrene in my case).  They are then painted before any groundwork or smaller plants are added to the base.

My camera battery has just died so I cant take a few pics to show the process at the moment, but will do when I get a chance later in the week.



Most of the jungle is formed from aquarium plants and are inevitably a bit "plastic" in appearance.  It looks worse in the photos than is does for real.  I could overspray them with matt varnish but probably wont bother.

[Malamute]

very effective.

[Bravo Six]

I actually like the plasticky look of it, as well as my own stuff. If I were doing a diorama I'd be worried, but it's a "game" afterall.

-Todd

[Darren]

Lovely stuff

Can you let me know where you got your aquarium plants from?  I'm trying to source some myself for some jungle scenery but the local pet stores seem to charge like a wounded bull...

[Overlord]

Afraid I can't help you alot.  I bought a load of plants from a garden/pet/aquarium centre 2 or 3 years ago.  Its taken this long to get around to doing something with it all!

The manufacturer of most of mine is Rosewood Pet Products, Broseley, Shropshire, TF12 5AN:
Item No: 01285 Grass mat - small leaf.
Item No: 01286 Grass mat - long leaf.
Each of these is a mat approx 6 inches square comprising around 50 seperate "stalks" and (at the time) cost £3.25.  

I have looked around again recently but cant find many good items in pet shops like Petsmart etc.  (This seems to be the case all over as I travel the UK a fair bit for work).

I found it helps to have a good mix of types to give a more convincing appearance.  These can be cut down to give a variation in size for each type, again adding to the variety.

[Overlord]

Here is a brief guide to putting together my trees:

 On the right is the artificial ferns as they come from the shop, 4 to a piece.  On the left is a single item cut from the main body.

 I then wind several layers of garden twine around the stem, making it slightly thicker at the top and bottom.  This forms the trunk.

 The whole trunk is covered in PVA glue and smoothed from top to bottom.
 A simple basecoat and single drybrush in a lighter shade.  The "stringy bits" hang down (If you smoothed it!) and add texture.

 The finished, based tree, with a Copplestone adventurer to show how they measure up.

[ChukTuttle]

Thanks for the step-by-step on making the trees.  I had seen something similar before, but cannot remember where.  Mine will be for WWII, Pirates, Pulp, and jungle-based games of Superfigs - like the Black Panther's home of Wakanda or the Savage Land.

[Grimm]

Ah that is very niche mmmh I need more palm trees  :mrgreen: