HOW TO CREATE SIMPLE JUNGLE

For a quick, simple but effective way to create jungle I have found that using aquarium plants really works a treat. All you need is:

Some aquarium plants!

As you can see, it can be quite effective.


If you want something more permanent you can base it quite easily.

Tools you may need:

* Coping saw or Jig saw.
* Craft Knife.
* Clippers.
* File.
* Sand Paper.
* Pen.
* Brushes.

Materials you may need: This is not an exhaustive list

* Aquarium or any type of plastic plants. These are great value for money. GW's jungle plants are absolutely great and, despite looking long and hard, I've been unable to find any that look better. However you will pay a premium. The plastic plants I brought cost in total £10 and I have loads.

* Hard Board. You can also use a good bit of card to base your model. It's easier to work with but can warp and prone to damage.
* PVA Wood Glue.
* Flock.
* Some Sand.
* Paints.

* Step One:
Most Aquarium plants will come on some sort of a matt.

These can be cut to make different size sections of jungle. You don't want them too big.

* Step Two:
Trace around the matting, draw a rough out line for the base and cut out.

* Step Three:
File down the edges and give them a slope using a file and sand papper.

* Step Four:
Glue down the matting using PVA wood glue. I then used decorators caulk around the raised matting to blend it into the base.

You could use filler, plaster, putty, anything really that allows you to shape.

* Step Five:
Next, cover the base with sand, paint it brown and dry brush it with Bleached Bone paint.

Then glue flock to the base.

* Step Six:
Simply add your jungle plants to the base.

* Step Seven:
Infiltrate your Kroot.


All the best,

Rus'el

Fantastic tutorial for simple terrain. I reckon this is worth of sticky status.

Fraggle,

Thanks!

Yes, excellent work. I've made some jungles recently but your suggested use of the matt solves some unnecessary complications that I've been running into.

Thanks!

Aye, a worthy sticky.

I did similar but on Flying Stand bases couple of years back when making my Urban Tau article and beginning to build a terrain collection. The idea being I could either thicken up already overgrown areas (and move aside as needed) OR Scatter them about to represent a open area in a jungle scene.

Note however the Tau in this image are clearly out of their element..





There is such a variety of Aquarium plants. My only recommendation is to give some types a blast with a matte varnish to dull their overly plastic sheen. Might add, after scouring Brisbane a couple of years back.. I think we have a poor selection locally, I do envy the nice fauna you found their Rus'El

~ Tael.

I don't know about hardboard (HDF) but I do know MDF when cut releases a lot of fine dust into the air so I'd suggest a respirator and a ventilated environment especially as it's often made with a harmful resin. I've quickly looked online and couldn't find anything to suggest that hardboard reacts the same.

Very nice tutorial, aquarium plants clearly benefit from being based, I should look into following that.

Rus'el, this is great! Thanks for sharing.

How do the plants fit onto the base? Do they need to be glued on?

The plants just clip onto the base. The great thing with this is that if you get bored with the plant layout or find better ones you can just change them around. And you can also thin out and remove bits during games (if you want) to help to move models around.


Great idea, I think I'll do that.


I tried a couple of experiments to get rid of the sheen but was unsuccessful. Is there a certain type of varnish you recommend or does GW's own work well?

Matte varnish wise I sprayed the above pieces with some Matte Dullcoat spray. It's great stuff, though do ventilate when you use it. I usually spray outside on my patio when the suns out (though in shadows, then place to dry in the sunlight)

Usually one pass is enough to dull the edge off the gleam, any more and you risk dud looking plants

Again, smart use of the mat they came on, I tossed mine as my goal was these smaller plant stands.

best,
Tael.

Rus'el,

its fantastic how you come up with "simple but effective" stuff, i am already doing some plans to use that stuff ...

Thanks mate! This is cool. You can move the trees when tanks drive over them! Things like that excite me
Simple but effective indeed.

Well I was just envying yours! I suppose the fake aquerium plants are always greener on the other side (of the planet)!!!

haha, that would make a nice signature ...

now i think it would be fun to make a whole table as a jungle, and the troops leave traces on the field where they walk/drive past.
(like in Jurassic parc 2 when the raptors hunted .. the hunters through the high grass) ...

god that would be to much effort i guess ...

Something like this eh Che?



This is a natural extension of Rus'El's thinking. Makes for a gorgeous table no?

As you can see there a spot terrain bases and larger more detailed plant sections. Creates a lush jungle so readily.

~ Tael.

not exactly ... i was thinking of far more green

but its really cool

Very inspiring, I especially enjoy terradactyl in that last image.

Very informative as well, I would be interested to see how the more dynamic in color aquarium plants would work to create a more alien look.

What!? How do you even play on that table? It is massive! Gorgeous no doubt, but certainly massive.

Do you have any more pictures of this table? I'm particularly interested in the cliffs. I've always wanted to make snowy mountain table that had huge, well, mountains on it (or the like). Large snowy cliffs dotted with pine trees just seems so appealing to me.

After being inspired by Tael's pieces of jungle scenery:

And taking the excellent advice form Vet Sgt's Thread:
Creating a playable Jungle table and other terrain.
In which he advises to use different sizes of vegetation to achieve a realistic jungle or forest. So, for instance, small = an individual shrub/plant, medium = a bush/sapling and large would = a tree.

Here's how I got on:

So to start with I used Tael's idea of using the flying bases for the plants; large ones for the trees and small ones for the individual plants. Using the flying bases just saves you time in cutting and sanding hardboard. As before I have used aquatic or plastic plants. (I was quite pleased with the palms that I found.)

Next, to give the PVA glue something to stick to, I lightly sanded the surface.

Glue your sand or flock the the base. I added some stones to the large bases to help weigh them down.

Paint and dry-brush.

And finally add your flock, moss and vegetation.

Here is all of my jungle pieces. (the two large ones I got for a good price on ebay )



Thanks for looking,

Rus'el

This is some great stuff. I originally saw a tutorial for aquarium plants jungle terrain on TerraGenesis.Anyone interested could check it out - but navigating the articles archive there is impossible so I can't point you to the exact spot..

What I really like about this method is that you can make the plants removable, as shown in Rus'el's original guide. That makes it extremely easy to place models in the terrain.

Tael, I really like your board. But I'm echoing Che's statements: More! :D A board completely covered in plants, along with some really tall trees, Kashyyyk-style.
Of course I shouldn't be talking as I have absolutely no jungle terrain (at the moment!)...