No I haven't completely cracked up and gone all mystic, but rather I was looking at ways to speed up the painting of my vast number of palm trees. On my previous attempts I had no preparation to the plastic ,models other than trimming what little flash there was. So in attempt to see if I could get any better effects I decided to use two other methods of preparation with my two versions of 'painting'. I used three pairs of identical models; in the photograph above the left hand pair have had no preparation, the centre pair have been washed in warm soapy water ( that well-known method) and the third pair have been dipped into acetone (nail varnish remover) - this latter process I hadn't heard of but, #1 son suggested it.
There are two pairs using each preparation process so that one will have a wash of green over the leaves (using a mix of Tamiya clear blue and yellow - as I'd ran out of green!) and the second one used a thinned acrylic green of a similar colour.
Here's: the results:
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| No prep, left a wash, right painted |
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| Warm soapy water prep, left wash, right painted |
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| Acetone prep, left wash, right painted |
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| All six, top row washed, bottom painted. |
My conclusion was that there was little to no difference in either method or in any of the preparations So to speed up the production of trees, I won't be preparing any of them! The variations in colour between the two methods and the slight variations in the initial plastic colours , imo give a nice variation too.
Here's: another variety of palm, given the no prep treatment:
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| Original on left and the washed version the right |
The trunk have all been painted in the same way, a painted dark brown base with a high-lighted dry-brush of a lighter brown..
With the above methods I've finished about forty tree spending about five minutes on each, through the three stages, leaves, trunk and dry-brush..
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| About half-way there! |
In the above photograph, beneath the plastic the trees are lying on, is one of my new polystyrene sheets I'll be using . They're 4 foot x 18 inches and I'll be working on these over the next few weeks.
A fairly boring post this week, I know but thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.
Looking great for me ! :)
ReplyDeleteThansk you Michal, they look good to me too
DeleteI do suspect I may have those type of Palm trees as well.
ReplyDeleteIf so I must say I found them very well, cheap and no fuss and well worth the few pounds spent to get 50 of them... Probably as many as I will ever need.
Yep, I'm with you on all accounmts too, I still wonder at those who buy the extortianately priced boxed sets of Palms trees
Deletegreat looking trees, in my opinion they dont need prep. its also just as easy to get army painter dip and do the whole lot in one go - it'll take ten mins max!!
ReplyDeleteI'll not be 'prepping' any in the future either (and I'm still trying to get some Army primer too)
Deleteits a bit pricey but lasts forever!
DeleteI'm probably going to a wargames show in JUne and will try and pick some up
DeleteI must admit I've just taken to giving mine a quick blast with a green Tamiya spray and it seems to be working.
ReplyDeleteI would think that that's going to be a much quicker solution too.
DeleteVery useful looking trees and really it's a bonus they don't look much different painted!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain, there is only a slight difference bedwtween painted and not painted, but I think it's worth the little extra effort that it takes to paint them.
DeleteThe subtle color diversity is well seen...very nicely done sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, the colour variation is also part acheived by the slightly varying colour in the plastic fronds.
DeleteWell I think they look rather dashing Joe!
ReplyDeleteThanks you Ray, but no more so than your good self!
DeleteVery nice technique Joe and good work.I really envy these nice palm-trees and is very keen on buying these myself.Do you have a tip or a link to get these?Thankyou very much.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ptr. I got all of , mine from Ebay.
DeleteSearching "model Palm trees", should get you started.
All but 20 or so came p&p free from China iirc.
The firm I found the cheapest was "everest" and I mostly went for trees at least 4" tall (100mm), but larger if I could get them, whilst the largest I have is (I think) 7 inches tall (175mm)
They're also found under "Collectables", "Model trains"
Great work Joe!
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob (nice to hear from you again btw)
Delete