Pegasus Hobbies Palm Trees

By Anthony Karl Erdelji

When it comes to trees for the gaming table, you have a few different options. There are expensive pre-made trees, pitiful looking "glue clumps of foliage on to our plastic trunk" trees, and there is the very time consuming "home-made" option. None of these sound very appealing. That is why I was so please when Pegasus Hobbies, under their Museum Models label, released their own set of plastic palm trees. For only $9 you get three large palm trees made of hard plastic. They are durable, cheap and for the most part ready to use right outside the box. Of course, proper painting makes everything better, so lets get to work!

Quick note: Pegasus Hobbies makes two different sets of palm trees; type "A" and "B". This article features type "A", but all the advice below will work on either set of trees.

To begin with let us examine what is inside the box. You get three tree trunks, three tree stands, and fifteen palms fronds, five for each tree. Before removing the sprues from each piece, take a close look at the palm fronds. You will notice they are numbered in the order they should be placed on the trunk, one through five. If you forget the order of the fronds, do not worry. It is a simple matter of remembering the largest fronds go at the bottom and the smallest at the top. Now use a pair of clippers to remove all the excess plastic, including the ones with the numbers.

You may want to customize some of the trees. The plastic in the palm fronds is thin and slightly bendable. Feel free to bend some of the fronds into new positions. You can also cut off a few. The tree trunks are much thicker, but by using gentle hand pressure you can put a slight bend into the trunks. Once satisfied with the trunk and fronds, set them aside for the moment. The trees will need a much wider base to be stable. A quick trip to the arts & craft store and I came back with some thin 3 1/2 inch wooden circles. Before doing any work on them they must be treated with a coat of wood sealer to prevent warping. Once it is dry the sides of the bases are sanded to remove any burrs.

Next some thin sheet metal (Wargames Accessories Miniature Bases) is superglued onto the top of the bases. This is not only extra protection against warping, but adds weight and makes the finished product more stable. Using a hot glue gun a circle of pennies is attached to the top of the base, on top of the sheet metal. Again, this is done to add weight to the base. Depending on the desired height of the trees, you may also glue some additional material to the base. I used pieces from a cork coaster on one base, but cork is just one of many options. The tree base is hot glued onto the base, and the trunk is attached with superglue.

To smooth out the gaps in the base we next need some DAS Pronto modeling clay. DAS Pronto is much better than most other fillers because it does not shrink as it dries. Shrinking may cause the base to warp. Take a chunk of DAS Pronto clay and mix it with a large glob of white or PVA glue. The glue will help the clay to stick to the base. Press the glue into all the gaps and smooth it out with a moist finger. Now go wash your hands. Press some rocks into the wet clay. Almost any rock-like material will work. I used broken pieces from a resin building. Finally, use a hobby knife and poke several holes into the clay. This will help the clay to dry thoroughly and faster. Set the tree assembly aside to dry overnight. Once the piece is dry check the rocks to make sure they are secure. The glue & clay mixture should hold them in place, but in case they are loose, remove them and glue them back down with white or superglue.

Now for some texture. Using an old brush spread some thinned white or PVA glue over the entire base, with exception of the rocks. The base is then sprinkled lightly with a small number of Woodland Scenic talus. They look better concentrated in one or two areas of the base, rather than scattered haphazardly all over the place. The base is then sprinkle with a mixture of Woodland Scenic light and medium gravel. Gently shake off the excess gravel and set the base aside to dry for about an hour. Once the glue is dry gently brush the base with a large flat brush to remove any loose gravel or talus. Prime the base, tree and palm fronds with Home Brite black primer. Be sure to get all the nooks and crannies of the base. We are now ready for paint.

The palm fronds are painted on both sides with Testors Medium Green enamel spray paint. Allow at least two hours drying time for each side. Since the undersides of the fronds will not be visible on the gaming table the following painting steps are added only to the tops of the fronds. For some color variety, random areas of the fronds are sprayed with Testors Flat Olive Drab enamel spray paint. Just a little "here and there" is enough. As soon as this layer dries drybrush the ends of the fronds with Vallejo Yellow Ochre. Set the fronds aside and return to the tree bases.

Both the base and tree trunk is painted a very dark brown. Spray paint would have helped here, but I decided to use what I had lying around, which was Delta Ceramcoat Burnt Umber with a bit of black added to the mixture. Use a large flat brush (I used a #16) and thin the paint so it can flow into and completely cover the texture. Be careful not to brush too long or vigorously, as this will weaken the glue holding the texture into place. Gently brush on the paint mixture, let it dry completely, and then apply a second coat if necessary.

After the dark brown layer of paint is dry drybrush the base with Vallejo Flat Earth, followed by a lighter drybrush of Vallejo Yellow Ochre. Paint the edges of the base with Vallejo Flat Earth.

The rocks are painted with Vallejo Khaki and highlighted twice with a mixture of Vallejo Light Grey and Vallejo Beige, adding more of the mixture each time.

The entire tree is drybrushed with Vallejo Khaki. It is then drybrushed with Vallejo Iraqui Sand, concentrating on the higher, more textured, areas of the tree. A final drybrush of Vallejo Ivory is used on the top, bulbous portion of the trunk.

Going back to the bottom, random areas of the base are covered with some thinned White or PVA glue. These areas are then sprinkled with Woodland Scenics dark green static grass. Let the grass set for five minutes, then blow off the excess. Let the glue dry (about a 1/2 hour) and then drybrush the grass with Adikolor Sun Yellow.

Breaking out the hot glue gun again, put a drop of hot glue onto a pinch of Woodland Scenics Underbrush and press it onto the base. Use a pair of tweezers to shape the bushes, pulling away any loose or unwanted material.

Now it is time to complete the final assembly of the tree. With the addition of the paint it is now likely the fronds no longer fit over the mounting peg of the tree trunk. Use a hobby knife to scrap the paint off the mounting peg. Test fit each frond before gluing them into place. Since it is likely you have now forgotten which numbered frond is which, just remember the largest fronds go on the bottom. The first frond to be mounted has angled stems. Once as sured of the fit and proper placement, add a tiny drop of superglue and slip on the first frond. Push the frond all the way to the bottom of the peg. Repeat the process for the rest of the fronds, adding a tiny drop of superglue each time. As soon as all five fronds are attached spray them with some super glue accelerator to avoid fogging. Since terrain tends to get bashed around quite a bit (at least it does at my local hobby shop), a good protective coat is a must. Since my standard flat varnish, Testors Dullcote, is rather expensive I chose to use a combination of varnishes. Each tree gets two heavy coats of Windsor & Newton All Purpose Flat Varnish. Allow a few hours of drying time between coats. Since W&N varnish has a slight sheen to it, the trees then get a final light coat of Testors Dullcote varnish. Now they are ready for the gaming table!

A few final notes before building your own Pegasus palm trees. You should not feel the need to go out and buy everything I used. One of the best things about making terrain is attempting to use up the excess modeling supplies and paint you have lying around the house. Now, being the "Painting Doctor", I do have quite a large selection of modeling junk to choose from, likely much more than the typical weekend miniature gamer. Feel free to substitute nearly any of the materials listed to whatever you have lying around. For example, I added the sheet metal because I have tons of it, but provided you seal the wood base it is fairly safe to ignore this step. If you have a big bag of Games Workshop gravel, then there is no need to go buy a bunch of Woodland Scenics gravel. Don't have any broken resin building or talus lying around? Try rocks from the garden, or take some dried clay and smash it with a hammer to make your own rocks. Use what you got!

That being said there are a few items that I think are indispensable for this project:

Hot Glue Gun: Cost about $7 from a craft store and has a bunch of uses. Mine not only came in handy for this project, but I also use it for filling gaps and attaching miniatures to paint jars while painting. It also has a bunch of ordinary household uses. Go buy one!

DAS Pronto Modeling Clay: $4 from a craft store. DAS Pronto itself is not a critical material in this project, but a filler that does not shrink is important. Most other fillers shrink or may be too expensive to use in mass quantities. If you have something lying around that will work, go ahead and use it. But frankly, to be on the safe side I highly suggest DAS Pronto. It is cheap and you get enough for dozens of trees or other terrain projects.

Wood Sealer: $7 from a craft store. Assuming you do use a wood base, then it MUST be sealed first. Nothing it worse than having your terrain project wobbling on the gaming table. If you do use a different material for the base, then you can skip this one. On a few other trees I used tin coasters instead of wood. No need to seal tin!

3 1/2 Inch Wood Bases: $.25 each. I mention these only because I did not have them lying about. Found them at my local craft store in a big bin of different pre-cut flat wooden shapes, such as hobbyhorses and teddy bears. These circles were supposed to be basketballs.