Thursday 9 February 2017

Building a jungle.

Nope Not finished just yet.  By which I mean I have finished this batch of trees but there are more still to come.

I purchased these via eBay. They cost £2.49 plus 99 p postage so all for less than £3.50. They did come from China and arrived within 1 week of ordering. While they were advertises as 50 when I can to use them (I had already given feedback) I found there to be just 45.  So If you order any just count them before you give feedback. And if you are short let them know.

But for the price 45 small trees is still good so I am quite happy. Trees have no scale so they can be for any size figure you choose. But for me I will be using them for 20mm Vietnam and 28mm Sci Fi. But there is no reason they could not work for other scales. And for the cost and swift delivery I think they were quite good value.

 As they come with plastic spikes at the bottom I first snipped the spikes off. Then having collected a large number of metal discs I used Milliput (a 2 part epoxy putty) to attaché the "Shrubs" to the metal discs. Then waited 24 hours to dry. Epoxy putty does take a while to dry so I find it best to wait overnight.







Once dry I painted the bases with Brown Acrylic paint that I buy cheaply in "The Works" book shop. While the paint was still wet I covered the metal base and the milliput with sand. It is actually "Builders sand" (as that is the cheapest) that has been passed through a sieve to keep it loose and very fine and granular. Again I waited over night. The following day I mixed up a quite runny brown paint (the same paint as before but mixed with water). And then all the sand on the bases were painted brown with a big brush.

As I already have 2 different types of trees for my jungle terrain there should mostly be ground cover. They are cheap and easy to make and will I have no doubt cover the table with terrain which will block line of sight and resemble jungles.

So there you have a very quick and simple terrain tutorial.
All the best Clint

24 comments:

  1. This is a really useful post. Thanks for the tips on where to buy and the knowledge....I will be using your techniques.

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    1. Thank you Solo. The paint is the most expensive part! But I buy the big tubes in the Works and they last for ages. I would also check out Poundland(or local equivalent) as sometimes they have cheap foliage. (I picked up one last week and will do it when I get some more metal discs). And I was pointed there buy another blogger (Cheers Joe).

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  2. This was clearly a great purchase, Clint. They may well be cheap but they certainly look very effective. Ideal for jungle terrain.

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    1. Thank you Bryan. I was very surprised how quickly they arrived. Trees ordered previously have taken several weeks. I must have just been lucky. As for the use of them I totally agree very cheap and very useful for jungle terrain.

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  3. Great minds... I've a load of plastic 'trees' that I bought for this very same purpose. I've no idea when I'll ever get around to using them, however....If ever?

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    1. Thanks Roy. My advice is clear off a shelf and do a stage each day. That way no pressure and each stage is easy and straight forward and only one stage should take longer than 1 hour. (The Milliput stage). the rest only about 30-40 mins each day. If you start today they should be done by Sunday morning.

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  4. They do look pretty good Clint!

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    1. Thanks Ray, not bad for the price and time involved.

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  5. nicely done Clint.. you can also get terracotta coloured milliput as well

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    1. Thank you Dave. I still have a few packs of Milliput (standard) un opened so I will carry on with that for now.

      And you should know I have started painting "You" for the West Bonus round.

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    2. Ash. Some kind of hero I assume....!

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    3. hero? Maybe, maybe not. I have had several ideas some of which have been mentioned. So I will say no more and let the brush say it all.

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  6. Well they certainly look the part Clint, funnily enough I am awaiting a delivery of some jungle plants from China too, they are just such great value.

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    1. Thank you Michael. I agree the plants are very good value. As mentioned above count how many is in the pack BEFORE leaving feedback. I know I am suspicious but they may be short changing everyone and if no one complains they will keep doing it.

      But I hope they are not and I hope you get the full amount.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thank you Matt. hardly original but it does provide a cheap and easy jungle when mixed with the other "trees"

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    1. Thank you Fran you have to like quick and easy terrain.

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  9. Simple, cheap and effective. Great purchase buddyg

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    1. Thanks Andy "simple and cheap" sum me and my work up very well. And absolutely no offence is taken by that comment.

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  10. Quick but very effective I'd say Clint, and very productive too. That's a fine lot of foliage you've got for the tabletop ;-)

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    1. Thank you Simon. Cheap is right, The way I look at it about 45 trees for less than a fiver when ALL things are considered. And as I now have 3 varieties finished jungles should be no problem at all.

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  11. So simple and very effective basing, though I think I'll be multi-basing a lot. You have convinced me though to try some single pieces too.

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    1. Thanks Joe I did not even think of mulit bases. How thick am I? (Do not answer!). I still have the one from Pundland to do (cheers again for pointing it out!) so there will be more as soon as I collect some metal discs.

      But I want a Vietnam game soon now with a good set of rules. I will try "FNG" by 2 hour wargames next ad see what happens.

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