Making impregnable jungle terrain?

[traveller]

I need to make a fair amount of jungle terrain and I am looking for techniques for making it on the cheap. As miniatures only will move on paths in the jungle it can be solid "blocks" of vegetation terrain. Anyone tried to use for instance styrofoam only covering the top and edges with foliage, logs etc? Any other ideas?

[Belgian]

I actually used similar technique on some jungle bases. The bulk of the base was filled with foam which was soaked in pva and green paint, when dried glued on the base and then covered the foam with smaller bits of foam and vegetation (stuck in trees and the like). Was quite cheap but labor intensive as I made the foliage myself from shredded foam.

[Hammers]

I actually used similar technique on some jungle bases. The bulk of the base was filled with foam which was soaked in pva and green paint, when dried glued on the base and then covered the foam with smaller bits of foam and vegetation (stuck in trees and the like). Was quite cheap but labor intensive as I made the foliage myself from shredded foam.

I have tried thie technique but can't make it work. In theory i thought it would work but it was just a mess cutting foam and glueing stuff to it.

[has.been]

1) cheap (damaged/) polystyrene small hills
2) paint damaged/exposed bits (I use matchpots of dark brown) don't have to be neat.
3) dip lichen into slightly watered down wood/pva glue & place on the hills (do this bit on newspaper as it is messy)
4) take 'jungle' (I have a cardboard box into which goes:-bits of the wife's old dried flowers; cheap fish tank plastic plants;
    broken bits from Christmas decoration &  any thing else that  looks right.)and fix bits through the lichen. If it doesn't come with a spike/stem I make use of cocktail sticks, pins or loops of wire (paper-clips are good for this)
5) let it all dry then with drops of wood-glue & flock hide any awkward bits.

[Rhoderic]

I have tried thie technique but can't make it work. In theory i thought it would work but it was just a mess cutting foam and glueing stuff to it.

I've recently had a similar experience making the same sort of "jungle blocks" out of styrofoam with copious amounts of modelling foliage materials on top. A damn lot of work and a surprisingly large amount of Woodland Scenics foliage went into a couple of pieces which ultimately did not look convincing at all. I may still give it a second go, but not before I've spent more time "researching" real jungle vegetation (which I've already sunk quite a lot of time into, but I kind of enjoy it). If I'm going to spend all that time and material again, the end result had better look convincing this time around.

[Silent Invader]

Not something I've had cause to make but thinking it through....

Seems to me that with the styrene block you're covering too much flat area with foliage, which is time-consuming, expensive and potentially very messy.

What you're missing is the verticals .... Trunks and vines, etc.

Perhaps an alternative method could be to use the head of a chunky natural fibre scrubbing brush....

Such as this one with the handle cut away
http://www.bentleybrushware.co.uk/products/wooden-gardening/wooden-brushware/hand-scrub-brushes/10-5-churn-brush

.... then covering only the head, and maybe a bit of the sides, with foliage? 

Like I said, no idea if it'll work, it's just a thought

[fastolfrus]

There used to be some resin pieces (a few years ago) for jungle terrain sections.
From memory they were pieces about 4 inches square and three inches high.
Basically a hollow box with vertical detail (tree trunks) and a sort of foliage shaped top that looked a bit like a cauliflower.

Might have been Snapdragon castings?

As to how to make your own... I'll pass on that for now.

[Belgian]

Have been thinking of building some sort of scifi jungle board myself for a judge dredd like setting. The foam I mentionned before isn't styrofoam it's the material used in chairs (like the stuff used for miniature trays for transport). I teared it in large chunks and soaked them with pva and very dark green paint. When dry then  glued all the pieces on the bases with a hotglue gun (would go mad using slow drying pva) to create a dense uneven surface to glue on nicer clump foliage. Then stuck in plastic palmtrees, twigs with foliage and plastic plants quite straightforward. Maybe this gives you a better idea than my previous rambling.

[Hammers]

Have been thinking of building some sort of scifi jungle board myself for a judge dredd like setting. The foam I mentionned before isn't styrofoam it's the material used in chairs (like the stuff used for miniature trays for transport). I teared it in large chunks and soaked them with pva and very dark green paint. When dry then  glued all the pieces on the bases with a hotglue gun (would go mad using slow drying pva) to create a dense uneven surface to glue on nicer clump foliage. Then stuck in plastic palmtrees, twigs with foliage and plastic plants quite straightforward. Maybe this gives you a better idea than my previous rambling.

Nono, I got you the first time. Stille did not work for me, softfoam.

[6milPhil]

I remember seeing someone do similar with wooded trees. It was based around an oval cylinder, with half-pipe tree trunks around the edge of the cylinder and then whole tree trunks around that in the spaces between the half trunks. All the leaves were done as one piece with shaping to suggest the trees within.

The cylinder was painted quite dark, and then the trees painted as standard - very effective.

[fastolfrus]

Was the tree cylinder in one of the wargames magazines a few years back?
I think I saw something like that.
Left the tops loose to use the tubes for storage too?

[Za Zjurman]

how about this...

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=41545.0

[traveller]

Thanks all for your great ideas!

I guess the question now is if I should go for polystyrene or a soft low density foam.....decisions, decisions..

The link to Dr Mathias thread is invaluable. Just amazing results from very basic materials.

[Hammers]

how about this...

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=41545.0

That is very good but not what I believe we are talking about. Solid "blocks" of vegetation terrain is what we are looking for, made economically.

[Old-N-Busted]

A cd some torn up cork tile a few fish tank plants a hot glue gun and you get






simple and quick BUSTED.