Finished: Jungle Log Bridges

 

They're done! These have taken me a bit over a week, but there wasn't a great deal I could do to speed things up. Here are some pics of the individual bridges:

A close-up photo of some of the lashings:

Earlier this week I bought a wicker trellis section from B&Q which I spent an hour or so separating out the individual twigs. I've ended up with more than enough of the thicker ones to make a couple of wider bridges for vehicles:

and thinner ones for doing Japanese log bunkers and making some stand-alone bridges to span between "islands" of swamp terrain:

Wednesday Workbench 22 September

 

I've been taking things slowly with these, mostly because of drying times. I also took a good few hours out on Monday to get in a game of ADLG at the club (my Sea Peoples masquerading as Philistines against Mike R's Neo Babylonians). Shockingly, I won - it was a very close call as my army was only one point away from itself being broken.

However, they are very nearly finished now. As you can see, I have added some plastic plants to the "hasty" bridge along with some underbrush; I've also added scrub mix to all of the end bases.

There's not much to do now. I just need to fix the scrub mix and underbrush with scenic cement, airbrush the plastic plants with my brown ink wash and then seal everything with a spray coat of matt varnish. They should be finished on Friday.

I'm not sure what to do next. I still need to do some bunkers and entrenchments for the jungle project, but I will need to order some more materials as I'm almost out of my scrub mix. I might make a start on prepping the Korean and Ming Chinese figures I received a few weeks ago and get them ready for painting.

Paint Table Saturday 18 September

 

As you can see, I have made some good progress on the log bridges. Most of it has been done today - I finally knuckled down and did the lashings. 

The thread has been reinforced with thin superglue. That should harden it and prevent the ends fraying.

It turned out that I did have enough linen thread for these, but I will need some more as I plan to do a vehicle-width bridge (or maybe two) as well.

I decided this afternoon to do a rough-and-ready "trunks laid across the stream" type bridge as well. I glued some 10mm blue foam onto oval bases, then shaped the foam with my hot-wire cutter and a sanding block. I then scooped out a recess on each piece using the hot-knife for the logs to sit in.

Tomorrow I will be seating various log bits onto the bases with brown frame sealant. On Monday I will add some basing texture and might think about adding some small jungle plants.

Wednesday Workbench 15 September

 

Well, it might not be Wednesday any more in the UK, but it is still Wednesday somewhere!

I've taken things fairly easy the past couple of days, but I have made a start on the log bridges. All the lengths and support posts have been cut. I'm not sure where to start on the assembly though. I think it will be easiest to begin by adding cross-beams to the lengths and then use them to correctly place the uprights at the ends (and in the middle of the longest ones). 

I am planning to do proper lashings, so I think I will need a bit more linen thread. The lashings will be "reinforced" with thin superglue or PVA.

In case you are wondering, there will be two 6" bridges, and one each of 8" and 12".

Finished: Jungle Buildings

 

Well, finished for now. At some point I will probably add some tufts to the bases and I also need to glue the buildings onto their bases (the roofs will be kept as removable for access to the interiors). I was tempted to leave the more elevated buildings unglued to allow figures to be placed underneath the decking, but I did a couple of tests and there isn't quite enough headroom for kneeling figures.

Also, like you if you had read my post yesterday, I am pleasantly surprised to have these finished today.

Plantation Buildings

For my plantation complex, I wanted a slightly more "modern" feel to the buildings so I opted for corrugated iron cladding for the roofs and the walls of the barn. That didn't make sense for the tool shed though as the roof is flat, so I used fine grit sandpaper to simulate tar strips.

This "complex" could also work for a miner's/prospector's base.

Planter's Lodge

Tool Shed

"Outpost"

I believe this shelter was inspired by the Airfix kit. I'm not sure what purpose it serves on the plantation - perhaps a shelter away from the complex?

Water Tank

Barn

At some point I need to make up some bamboo tables and sculpt some coconuts and banana bunches to go in here.

All of these are from Sarissa Precision apart from the barn which is from Charlie Foxtrot Models.

The Village

I decided to thatch all of the village buildings. If you look back to earlier posts, you will see that I used towel strips for this. I should, perhaps, have tried it out first on one building but in my own inimitable style opted just to go for it and do them all at once. Had I been more sensible I might have achieved a better result, but they do still look good. I have learned a few lessons for if I do any thatched buildings in future:

1. Soak the strips in diluted PVA before adding them to the roofs (you still need to coat the roofs with undiluted PVA).
2. Make sure all the strips have the loops going the same way - down for a neat look, up for a rough look.
3. For the ridge strips, cut the towel at 90 degrees to the main strips
4. Cut the strips at least an inch longer than they need to be.

Village Huts

The first hut is from Warbases, the rest are from Sarissa Precision.

Big Hut

This one was from Warbases. The laser etched "woven palm" detail was not very deep, which meant that it doesn't really show through as well as it should, and it got filled too much for washes to help re-define it.

Village Community House

I only too a photo from one long side as the other is identical (apart from static grass pattern).

this was another Sarissa Precision kit.

Colonial Residence

I imagine this as the domicile of a team of missionaries or maybe a wealthy planter or miner.

This was also a Sarissa Precision kit.

I think that's enough buildings for me to be going on with. I might get some more of the village huts at some point and I have made a note of how I painted these for future additions.

Now I need to work out what I want to do next. I think I might have a go at making some log bridges for my jungle collection.