I want to branch out[no pun intended] to dioramas of vietnam,and after seeing that current "SEAL" dio,how can you use real vegetation & preserve it from browning & wilting ? I tied a test withspaying clear coat on a small fern & it stayed green,but got all wilty.Thanks for any ideas. Semper Occupatus,Rodo

This is just my opinion, but I think trying to preserve live plants will not be satisfying in the end. If you look in the floral sections of stores that have them you will be surprized at what you can find. Also some aquaruim plants will do with a little dry brushing and other weathering. There are a few post here on making palm trees and other tropical plants. You may have to come up with youre on techniques and scratchbuild a little.
And feel free to model this era we would like to see more Nam modlers.

thanx pfc,I didn't eventhink of florists[duh]

Michael's, Hobby Lobby and (especially) Garden Ridge if you have that store near you are excellent locations where you can find tons of stuff to help you in your search. My wife loves buying fake flowers to make floral arrangements there and now that I got into model building I don't mind going there myself with her to peruse for some ideas. Not that I know what the hell I'm doing yet but it never hurts to look! lol

If you have anything in mind you can't find near you let me know, I'll take a peek at my Garden Ridge and see what I can find for you.

http://www.gardenridge.com/

Using dried flowers is the easiest as mentioned by pfc but if you like fooling around with the real vegetation and love the smell of rotting greens then you can check out some info I wrote in the link below plus a webpage which I found to be pretty useful.

[url=https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/32069&page=1[/url]

I got some pics in my gallery of some of the stuff I experimented on. Besides a glycerin:water mix you can use wood varnish (clear or wood finish is fine) but it works best if the vegetation you use has some woody content (i.e. pine twigs).

Might as well include a couple of pics anyway. Be warned that preserving vegetation can get messy so be prepared to explain it to the wife or mom why there is some dead rotting stuff in the house (if it doesn't turn out).



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Happy Preserving.

thanks beachbum,so how did tou achive thse results ? Rodo

Rodo,

I'll have to say the secret is to be able to endure mucking around with rotting vegetation and tricking the wife that's its environmentally friendly to have plants inside the house.

Seriously though it needs a bit of experimentation and lots of patience. I've included the details of the glycerin:water mix in the description section of the photos and their soaking times.

Expect to lose some color but then you could always paint them back. The real secret is the plant should be plucked fresh and dipped immediately. Glycerin replaces the water in the plant cells and keeps the plant pliable after the moisture is gone. That's what happened to your earlier plants. They dried and because there was no glycerin it became brittle.

You can get glycerin from the local pharmacy. Be sure to dilute it to at least a 1:10 or more mix (Glycerin:Water). For evergreens like pine and cedar it probably be easier to just dry them and paint over with a wood varnish or lacquer. Dry in cool, dry place for about 7-10 days before painting them over with the varnish. When varnish is dry paint desired color. If your'e using a clear lacquer you may need to prime it first as the lacquer doesn't hold water based paints.