I seem to, once again, have got ahead of my intentions and been distracted by yet another conflict. I was led towards a relatively small range of miniatures, from Pontoonier Miniatures sculpted by Paul Hicks intended to represent the 3rd Anglo-Burma War of 1885. I have to admit that this was yet another conflict that I knew nothing about so I found myself totally absorbed in the research of the period.
Even before finishing my first model I just found myself wanting to create a piece of terrain and more specifically a bamboo jungle!
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| Original sketchbook designs |
Pieces of foam block off cuts were stuck with PVA to a scrap piece of Plasticard. Once the glue was dry I used the old Dremel tool to chamfer the edges of the card and worked into the foam to remove any obviously straight edges.
Once completely dried I used a bit of generic household filler in the gaps and helped to build up the edges a little. A PVA with sand mix was applied the flat areas and few extra larger pebbles added for dramatic effect. On the top surface a few pieces of dried twig to represent fallen logs and then a liberal dressing of embroidery thread for jungle creepers.
BBQ skewers and cocktail sticks were pushed in, sometimes with a little PVA, to represent the bamboo staves making sure to give a irregular feel to the copse. These were then given a liberal spray with a grass green acrylic, the base then painted with a chocolate brown emulsion.
Several layers of dry brushing later and the stand is starting to take shape; bamboo painted I could then add some light green clump foliage and static grass, this I also stuck over the rocks to give a mossy feel. The final touches came from ‘Pets at Home’ a large pet shop that the good lady wife occasionally insists we visit to look at “the cute an fluffy animals”! The leaves for my bamboo grove started life as a plastic aquatic plant bed and although I paid £5 for it I think I still have enough for another half a dozen groves.
Now I just need to get on with painting the figures.
More bamboo building ideas can be found here: Bamboo grove revisited
What an excellent and perfectly formed tutorial, and timely too as I'm working on scenics for a jungle game in late April. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled that you feel that it will help, looking forward to seeing the results in April. All the best,
ReplyDeleteMichael
Well explained and well worth the effort i am pretty sure this will help a number of wargamers in how to create bambo,nice figs as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's done more than help, I've made my first one and you can see the result @ http://6milphil.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bamboo-radley/
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for ideas about how to build some bamboo groves for my pulp games set in Asia. Thanks to you and 6milphil I have found two tutorials in one day. Now all I need to do is head out to the pet shop and get some aquarium plants.
ReplyDeleteColKG
Glad to be of service Colonel, pleased that our posts have helped.
ReplyDeleteLikewise. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post thannks
ReplyDelete