Can yall tell me how to get the correct color of green for painting tropical vegetation, Ive tried appel barrel paints (fern green),(leaf green), but they look to dull and unrealistic if you mix colors please explain how.

Hey pfc,

As far as colors, I experiment with various Green colors with a hint of blue and paint different shades to make it more realistic.
To get rid of the dull flat finish, I gloss coat the vegetation to give it a wet, moist appearence using Future Floor Wax.
I just finished a Pacific Theater Dio using a Japanese theme with a lot of floral. It really turned out well.

I hope this is some help.

Don Porter

I've always thought that island vegetation was dark green....and definitely shiny.... I think Doatelo is right on. Palm trees seem to have a lighter shade green then most of the other, but contrary to popular belief, jungles have a lot more kinds of trees than Palm which tends to be more in the open watch an old Tarzan movie, those aint palm trees he's swinging from

You might try mixing some yellow with the green for some lighter shades. There are some plants that are darker. Also, on palm leaves, the middle "stalk" part usually has brownish coloration to it. Some of the dead leaves are brown too. It's an evergreen, just like a pine tree. They are distant relatives and look nothing alike, but the colorations are quite similar. Also, stuff that's been dead a long time turns gray. So here's the basic colors you'd probably want to use (using Tamiya's chart as reference)




I'd go with any of the following. Not exactly use the exact Tamiya paints (due to gloss and metallic stuff in it), but match these colors that shows up on your computer.
X5
X15
X25
X19
X28
X31
X32
X34
XF4
XF5
XF6
XF11
XF12
XF13
XF14
XF26
XF27
XF49
XF55
XF67
XF70
XF71

Use the lighter colors to touch up on places that look dead. Use the darker browns and light yellowish greens for the middle of palm leaves and the gray colors more for the dead leaf parts. Think of Agent Orange #:-) if this is for a Nam dio. If you're looking for some cheap palms, go to Wal-Mart, or any store that sells fake flowers and pick you up some inexpensive ones and cut the leaves off and use. You can usually find some ones that will work from $1-4. It will be hard to get an exact look, but they really don't look that bad. Just remember, the hardest thing to do in modeling is recreating something in nature, so don't get discouraged if they don't look exactly like the plants. Also remember that there are lots of vines and ferns in there too, not to mention lots of deciduous type trees. They aren't all just palms.

Tropical plants are very 'waxy' looking and if that's what you're looking for, a bright shiney look, then adding a coat of gloss or semi gloss over the green will do the trick.

Thanks for the replies this should get me on the right track.