The workbench photo above was taken about two hours ago when I was half-way through painting the bananas on the banana plants. I've since (after a break to watch Tour de France highlights) done the other half. Once I've published this post, I will be drybrushing them and then adding texture gunk to the bases. I should be able to get the rest of the basing done and drybrush the foliage tomorrow and then I can declare the banana plantation completed.
When I left you on Saturday, I had just started work on the terrain tiles for the banana plantation. I got them finished today. I had hoped that they'd be finished much sooner, but I hadn't allowed for drying times - the temperature has dropped and the humidity has gone up a bit since the short heatwave we had with the result of everything taking longer to dry. Using fairly dilute glue and paint mixes didn't help with that. The longer drying times and amount of water also combined to cause the tiles to warp, which I haven't completely corrected yet.
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| Turf mix, herbs and scrub mix added |
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| Close up |
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| Herbs "fixed" with paint/PVA mix |
Once the "fix" had dried, I then airbrushed the tiles with scenic cement (10% matte medium), followed by some extra cement added to the scrub by pipette. When that had dried, I sprayed the tiles with matte varnish to help seal everything in place.
This morning I prepared some "jungle grass" mixes:
The "short" stuff is a mix of 2mm, 4mm and a little 6mm static grass; the "long" stuff is a mix of 6mm, 10mm and 4mm static grass. This afternoon I added it to the tiles, working on 30cm x 30cm at a time:
"Errmm, I see something vaguely interesting in the background of that photo."
Vaguely interesting? Pfft! Well, if you must know...
With all the down-time waiting for things to dry, I decided to start priming and assembling the MDF buildings for this project. If you're wondering why some appear to be primed inside and out whilst others aren't, that is because I primed on the sprues and sprayed the faces which would be on the inside or on the underside of the building - some sprues had parts which would be both, so both faces had to be primed.
Despite buying another two cans (Halfords Camouflage Brown) yesterday, I ran out with one building part-primed and another that hadn't been primed at all:
I'll be buying some more cans tomorrow and hopefully will have these primed and assembled by the time I go to bed (seven of the nine buildings I've done were primed and assembled yesterday, including the two large ones).
The buildings will sit and wait a while before I do any more to them. Well, I might do the roofing and add some texture gunk to the bases, but finishing the painting will be delayed until there is better weather and I can take them outside to spray.
What's next? Once I've finished the bananas, I'll start work on the terrain tiles for the tree plantation. I think I know what to do now to avoid the warping issue I had, and I know that I can skip the turf mix (or add it more sparingly) - it was barely visible on the finished banana plantation tiles!
Great work on all Tamsin, and can see you've been fully utilising your time with all the buildings you've got built while waiting for the plantation bases to dry
ReplyDeleteIf the buildings are up to your usual standard, I very much look forwards to seeing them painted!
ReplyDeleteYour table is going to look fantastic Tamsin, I hope you do a battle report when you use everything!
ReplyDeleteThe bases have turned out fantastic Tamsin! Your focus & attention to detail is commendable!
ReplyDelete@ Dave - thanks! Getting the buildings done during "down time" means I've got a head-start later on. :)
ReplyDelete@ Herkybird - I'll do my best to make them live up to your expectations! ;)
@ Geoff - cheers! The big issue is going to be transporting it all to the club for a game, which is why I have deliberately done some bits that will be more easy to carry on public transport. I just need to find someone with a Japanese platoon for some CoC games. :)
@ Terry - thanks! :)