O.K. I finally got a lot of the important equipment and supplies for the Venusian Jungle terrain board. I started on the basic design and cut a few of the hill shapes, glued them together and then cut out the very small stream which runs into the creek which will have a pond in the middle of it. I will add in a few ruins, gun emplacements, bunkers. I will have to sand down the creek, even out the creek with Spakfilla and water. This is then sanded down. The hills, and any surface that needs it will have spakfilla put onto it to fill in gaps, even out the terrain, etc which is then sanded down. The whole table then gets a layer of sand glued onto it. This is sealed with PVA and water 50/50 sprayed onto it and let to dry.
Next I paint the sand, and put successive layers of dry brush over it making sure it is a gradual colour change and highlighted only slightly. I think I will likely use Grey/dark grey as my sand colour. It goes will with the pinks and purples of my Venusian Bauhaus colour scheme, and the grass colours which will be placed on top of the sand in patches once it dries and has had a final layer of PVA 50/50 and water to seal it all.
I plan to use a fine almost powdery coloured grass I got from the U.S.A. which unfortunately is not as course or heavy as I would have liked it to be. It means I will have to make sure there are no fans or breeze in order to make the grass stay put. I am being instructed/advised by one of the local gaming store employees on some of the finer techniques they use in store. He had told me that I will need to use the PVA 50/50 water mix and dab it on with a paint brush. Then add the grass, pat it down onto the table using one colour at a time, let it dry, and after the hour or so, pat the excess off, and repeat the process with each remaining colour. The grass colours I purchased are: yellow, Royal Blue, Royal Purple, Plum and Orange.
Once I get past that stage, I will have to work on the creek, and Kym will advise me on what to do with the 2 part epoxy I have for making water effects. I will also make Lilly pads using either the aluminium foil sealant from coffee jars which will be shaped to look like Lilly pads, or plastic bottle of various sizes which I will cut the bottoms off, cut a slit in them and gently apply heat and use a small pair of rounded tweezers to make the shape of the Lilly pad edges. depending upon which works best, I will then paint them and place them on the top of the pond. I also purchased a few packs of Starship Troopers Brain Bugs which look like large insects or water skippers (for the scale they are being use with). I will put these on top of both the pond and the Lilly Pads.
I am going to make a lot of bases with small clumps of foliage using a large collection of brightly coloured aquarium plants purchased after their Christmas sale. I will be making a number of venus flytraps, and have purchased a variety of alien man eating resin plants. I have also found a website or 2 that sell mushrooms and fungi, and I will be looking into buying some of these. A few well placed larger trees with some alien animals creeper vines, and so. I want the flora and fauna to break up the board, make it look like it is not all one height and all one mass of garish grass across the whole table. I know I will need patches of grey dirt, large brownish tree trunks, a few weird plants with teeth, eyes and creeper arms and dangerous animals and insects to be able to play with death world rules, and make the viewer intrigued and want to look more at the map to find all the hidden details.
Anyway below are 2 photos of the initial stages of the first of 2 map boards. Its is made of 2 board sections which are 1200mm x 600mm (4' x 2') and these will be mounted on a hard board base. The second board will be developed later on, and will be designed to make a hidden valley on the other side of an escarpment that fits onto the first board, and have 3 hidden and dangerous entrances for human an possibly bike mounted models to pass through.

