Pete's Place

[chrisswim]

Pete, I’m not bring any of my armies to challenge those Stugs and their hex. I wanna survive.
Nice Pz-IIIs, looking very nice.

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Chris!

[foxbat]

I really like your Pz III, and the way you did them. The wash really makes them pop, and your opting for dark contrasting colours for the details (the ropes, the wheels, the tracks ) makes them really come to life.

[redleg]

Your work is simply amazing Pete! I do recognize those buildings - that's where you killed all my tanks!

[pmskaar]

Thank you both very much, Foxbat and Redleg! I appreciate it.

Redleg, the area around the buildings is now to be known as "The Alley of Death", not to be confused with The Valley of Death...or is it. LOL! Hope all is going well.

[pmskaar]

I have been working on some palm trees for my desert board. My friend Jeff, aka Polish GI, gave me about 30 commercially produced palm trees a few weeks ago. I liked the basic look of them but thought the trunks were a bit thick.

I opted to use picture hanging wire instead of the plastic trunks. I did use the top part of the plastic trunk for unstripped bark and dead fronds that are found near the top of most trees that i have seen. I decided to wrap the trunks in masking tape as well as the wire strands did not look quite right to me.

Here are a few pictures.


The original tree. I used one of my Afrika Korps Panzer IVs for comparision.


Another picture showing the plastic top with the new wire trunk.


Here is the modified trunk without plastic foliage top and wrapped in masking tape and a coat of paint applied.


Three trees. Not quite done yet but getting there. I primed and painted the top foliage group on each of these. I will do a wash on the trunk and fronds and also some drybrushing as well. The final step will be a matte varnish aka Dullcoat.

[redleg]

Those look great Pete!

[Hoth_902]

Pete,

Looking good. Really love how they are coming out. So you basically started with over the counter Palm trees and then modified them with new Trunks. Great job.

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Redleg and Hoth! These trees were a gift from Polish GI. I will be making some more in the near future.

[pmskaar]

Here are some more pictures, this time showing my 8 completed palm trees. Overall they look pretty good although my inner perfectionist is not 100% happy yet. I may try a slightly different approach to the trunks for my next batch.

[redleg]

That's awesome Pete! Amazing that you can turn some plastic trees into wargaming terrain that looks that good!

[pmskaar]

Thank you very much, Redleg! I will be making some more of these soon.

[Begemot]

Pete - Very nice palm trees. But I want to know: are they coconut, date or banana palms?


Begemot

[pmskaar]

Thanks very much, Begemot. The real question you are asking if it is a European or African Swallow. I don't know,,,,Ahhhhhh! LOL!

These palm trees are actually supposed to be some sort of North African palm tree, maybe date. They don't look perfect for the part but I guess they will have to do. Not a Banana Palm for sure. They look way better than the ones I attempted several years ago using the tree material in the Terrain Maker pack. No problem with deciduous or coniferous but for some reason palm trees just didn't quite come out all that well.

[foxbat]

Well done. In 6mm scale, terrain is perhaps more important than the models themselves. Well worth the work load.