Hello All: i've decided that in order to save some money, I'm going to make my
own terrain. With hot knife in hand, I've turn the packaging from my computer
into ruins, and foam insulation into hills (I've got plenty of greens hill, I
need to make desert hills now). The one thing I can't do is trees. I've tried
to make them myself, but they always turn out looking like garbage. Therefore,
I've invested in some of K&M Trees for battles set in more temperate climates.
What I need are palm trees for jungle and desert battles.
After asking my local mini-gaming guru if there were any game
companies (besides GW) that make such trees. He could think of none off hand,
but he had a great suggestion: Use the plastic palm trees that bakers use to
decorate cakes! A quick skim through Jon Lovitiz's Yellow Pages helped me find
several stores that stock in bakery supplies and sure
enough, they have palm trees. The running price for a three-pack of 6
inch trees is only $1! A six-pack with three inch trees will run me 75
cents. I'll be going over to these stores to see if they are worth the money.
I'll let you know if they are.
> At 10:52 PM 4/22/99 -0500, you wrote:
> After asking my local mini-gaming guru if there were any game
If you go to a pet store that has an aquarium section you can usually find a
wide assortment of weird looking plastic plants. I have used several different
kinds as jungle underbrush great effect. It makes for a nice variation from
the ubiquitous flocked woodland trees and they are fairly cheap.
And nothing says "I don't think we are in Kansas anymore Funk" than having
your troops fighting through a forest of giant ferns and 20' high clover (in
25mm scale of course).
> After asking my local mini-gaming guru if there were any game
And if that don't work out, try looking for trees at model train stores. They
should have quite a varity, more expensive that cake decorations though.
Enjoy,
In a message dated 4/22/99 8:52:46 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> cthulhu@csd.uwm.edu writes:
<< After asking my local mini-gaming guru if there were any game
companies (besides GW) that make such trees. He could think of none off hand,
but he had a great suggestion: Use the plastic palm trees that bakers use to
decorate cakes! A quick skim through Jon Lovitiz's Yellow Pages helped me find
several stores that stock in bakery supplies and sure
enough, they have palm trees. The running price for a three-pack of 6
inch trees is only $1! A six-pack with three inch trees will run me 75
cents. I'll be going over to these stores to see if they are worth the money.
I'll let you know if they are.
-- >>
Mark,
Go back to your store owner and tell him to contact Stone Mountain Miniatures
and/or Musket Miniatures. They both make palm trees at reasonable
prices.
> After asking my local mini-gaming guru if there were any game
Very nice tree-sized primitive ferns can be made from old
badminton birdies. I got the idea when we were about to toss one.
Cut off the head, leaving as much of the straight "shoulder" as possible. Make
a single cut across the shoulder and cut apart the "feathers" to allow it to
be rolled up tighter. Trim off the remainder of the "ribs" between the
"feathers"
to leave palm- or fern-like fronds. Clean it to remove oils
and dirt*, roll it up fairly tightly, and stick it into a wad of epoxy putty**
on a 20mm (or so) metal base (for stability). Shape the putty into a roughly
cylindrical shape, with a round blob inside the rolled birdie. (You'll have to
hold the plastic to keep it from unrolling while the epoxy sets. Though you
might be able to tie it in with thread before mounting. Putting a pin through
the birdie may also help keep it together until the epoxy sets.)
After the epoxy has fully set, paint/wash the tree. Then paint
on the epoxy and base black; follow this with some thinned white glue on the
epoxy and base, and roll it in black tea (yup, loose or from teabags). Spray
with a clear coat to seal the paint and tea (2 coats), and voila!
This works best if the birdie starts off roughly the right color; my first (so
far, only) one started as a bright green, so I didn't even paint the "fronds".
Or, of course, for alien trees, use whatever color you find.
* When I prep soft plastic like the birdies, I like to shake it in a can of
sand before I clean it; this roughens the surface slightly, but fairly
uniformly, to provide "tooth" for paint to adhere to. (I'm thinking of getting
a cheap rock polisher for this purpose.) Then I wash it (as I do all my figs)
with Pine Sol or Simple Green before primering.
** Don't use Kneadatite for this. Besides being too expensive, it takes too
long to set initially. Instead, go to your local
hardware store and pick up some epoxy putty sticks. Devcon #S-80
White Epoxy Putty 10-minute epoxy putty is my preference;
Duro #SM-100 30-minute also works well (and generally is closer
to 10-minute, despite the label). Both are about $4 for a 1 oz
stick (less than half the price of Kneadatite).
- Sam