Hi All,

For my 1:35 diorama set in Borneo, 1945 where Pte. L.T Starcevich won a VC. I started this dio back in November and it's about 70% done.

The first palm was made using aluminium foil, but unfortunately the fronds looked too stiff and rigid. So I started over, this time I used natural Ficus Benjamina leaves, using a similar technique to Santiago Tre (csago). The trunk is made using a bamboo skewer plus string and tissue paper.

Here is the original:

New and Improved:


By the way, the photos came out nice and crisp but kitmaker seems to have destroyed the detail for some reason?

Hope you like it anyway,
Chas

nice job. look forward to the finished product.

Thanks for the comment Preston.

I owe a lot to Santiago for his inspirational ideas and groundwork tips which has helped me along. Thanks Santiago if you happen to see this post!

Chas

Wow Chas this is great! I know what you mean about csago's work. Inspirational indeed..
You have done a bang up job on the palm. Have you photos of the rest of the diorama? You have set the bar high with your tree
Cheers
Brad

Chas - well done. The fronds look fantastic. A bit of distance on the photos and it'll be hard to distinguish them from real ones.

Thank-you Brad and Scott for your nice comments,

Hoping to do a small feature article on the build, should be ready in about a month. It's pretty hard to keep secrets but I just had to see what people thought of the palm, especially after so much frustration and time spent on it.

Chas

Just the real stuff ! Great job ! G.

Looks awesome Chas! I am glad to see some progress shots of your work. It looks great!

-Mike

A very well done palm complete with coconuts as well. You've managed to capture the overall configuration. Personally I think the first one is just as good as the configuration is more critical than how rigid the palm fronds are. A very small nitpick but you can actually add a bit of depth and contrast to your palm fronds with having the tips of the leaftlets brown and yellowish brown especially on the lower fronds to further the realism.

Looking forward to reading about your approach as I've used similar materials as well in my jungle article.

Thanks Guy, Mike and CK,

CK, I used your jungle article for help with painting which was fantastic. That is something I will need to alter, i.e the browning/yellowing leaves. Thanks for the tip.

chas

Chas, beauty job on the palms !!!
Very, very realistic.
Glenn