When I was first working on my Pulp terrain, I bought a whole bunch of discount aquarium plants on Amazon and eBay. The first batch was to create bases with famous fauna to give an exotic jungle look. I also bought a number of trees and plants that were already glued to their bases. These were done in various types of resin, with the plants attached. I left these to do later and finally wrapped the next batch up.
Looking at the different sets, it was clear it would be a lot of work to remove the plants from the bases. The bases themselves had some heft (I guess so they would not float up). So, I decided to let them be and see what I could do with these to use them in more swamp based terrain boards. This was because the plants mostly had exposed roots and I thought that made sense.
Looking at the plants, I liked some of the greens and in other cases I did not. My first step was to dip the bases of all the plants into Minwax dark brown stain. I got some on the plants themselves, but that was OK, as there would be some overpainting or flocking. I then set those aside and let them sit to dry. And sit and sit and sit. Let’s just say they ended up siting in my backroom for a very long time…
Well, the time finally came for me to make some space and finish these up. The next step was to hit some of the plants with various shades of green spray paint. It was mostly to tone down odd green colors or add some color variation to mono toned bushes. The plants that had color variation and looked my earth bases were left alone.
Next, I needed to finish up the bases. I hit them all with a brown Woodland scenic wash and them dry brushed them up a bit with medium brown and tan dry brushing. Nest was flocking. I normally favor bright green (my jungle plants went that way). However, I wanted to tone down the base and give more of a wet moldy look. So, I pulled out some Scenic Effects mixed dark forest blend. I then applied this to all the bases, while leaving the brown basing to show on the lower levels and random sections. I applied this using white glue, so it would stick well.
The last step was to hit everything with some Krylon dull coat (really satin), with a focus on the flocking to lock it in better. With that, I have a who bunch of swamp plants for the next game! I still have to finish those narly trees I have in a box….
- Manteuffel