(Part 2) Best products from r/TerrainBuilding

If you work with XPS a lot, a hot-wire table is a big convenience. It's certainly not a requirement though.

Really though, all you need is the 'obvious' stuff. A straight edge of some sort and a utility knife is sufficient for most cuts. The same knife will work for whatever other carving you'll be doing. Beyond that, the rocks and wire brushes others have mentioned are good for adding texture.

A couple small, cheap things I find handy:

• Pins - These are handy for holding things together while glue dries. I also use them as temporary feet to keep a piece off the ground while paint dries. Being able to paint all sides at once is a huge time saver.
  
• Sand paper - This is handy for smoothing off edges when you want a more rounded look. I use a sanding sponge. It's convenient, but not worth the trouble if you already have sand paper laying around. Also, sanding makes a huge mess. Do it outside and cover your mouth/nose.
  
• Acetone / Nail Polish Remover - This stuff melts foam quickly. You can brush on small amounts to create an acid effect or give stones a weathered, 'monument valley' look. I don't use it terribly often, but at 99 cent a bottle, it's nice to have.
  
• Clear school glue - Handy for small water/slime/etc effects. It's not as good as the 'real' fake water they sell at hobby shops, but it's dramatically cheaper, and much easier to use. It even comes in a couple colors. I wouldn't create a river with it, but it's handy for filling cauldrons and such.

Green Stuff - I'm still going through this 36" roll of Kneadite. $5 more than Games Workshop's product, but 5x more putty.

Primer - Rust-Oleum Sandable Primer is my gold standard. I've used it in all seasons in Mid-West USA with no issues, and it always dries with a perfect finish.

Black wash - Nuln Oil is still my liquid talent, but for large projects I use Vallejo Black Wash. Almost twice the price of a pot of Nuln Oil, but over 8x the amount of wash. Economical for terrain pieces and large models, but not quite the same quality.

Paint - I've been hooked on Citadel paints since 3rd Edition, but I'm slowly transitioning to Vallejo and Army Painter. The latter has color-matched primer and acrylic paints, which has really saved my sanity on the large projects I typically work on.

Woodland Scenics Foam Tack Glue. $16 for 12 oz. on amazon. It works great! Dries fast and clear and it holds really well, even if you routinely drop things like I do.

Probably not, but I can give you a rundown of the materials I used.

Palm trees

Tall leafy plants

Vines

Small plants

More small plants

Grass

All the materials were airbrushed- everything but the palm tree foliage got a black-green spray from below, and a pastel green or lime green spray from above (the palm trees got the lime all over, then the pastel from above). These were applied lightly so as not to completely cover, but still allow the base green plastic to provide coloration.

Next anything that came on a base or mat was removed from it. For the small plants and grass I glued them one on top of another to increase their height, so they'd be taller than a human-sized figure. The bases got the double-height plants, while the tiles got the single-height ones, so there's a sense of progression in height.

The bases (60mm MDF) and tiles (MDF cut on a scroll saw) were sanded and sprayed brown, then drybrushed tan. I glued the palm tree trunks to the bases before spraying, so they got the same brown base. The palms were heavily drybrushed khaki, then washed with VMC Smoke for texture, then I reattached the foliage. I used a bit of PVA to attach flock to the bases and tiles.

At this point it was just a process of drilling holes in the bases with a pin vise, and gluing plants in with PVA. Once those were all done, I added more of the grass pieces to fill in any gaps.

Overall it was pretty straightforward, just tedious.

What you have looks great.

For making good wood effects in Popsicle sticks use an X-acto or any other kind of knife and lightly cut the wood vertically, some deep and some shallow cuts, looks great once you paint and dry brush it. For foam you can do the same thing, use a stiff grill brush, or use a little tool that I like to use which can be found Here its the metal tool on the far right. Just scrape that over the foam and instant wood effects.

This is pretty cheap and will do the job super easy

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3mm mdf on amazon returns with several options.

Try this, you could inquire before purchasing:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E5YICCE/ref=s9_dcacsd_dcoop_bw_c_x_1_w

Also maybe this:

https://www.dickblick.com/products/hardboard-panels/?clickTracking=true&wmcp=pla&wmcid=items&wmckw=14945-1008&gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLmrH6TiTQ2PSY-sETOF4Bl5L-tRVPe73QDpC4EN90b7YRykAcjuUOMaAi7oEALw_wcB

I've a friend who does laser cutting and he gets his at:
http://www.artistcraftsman.com/

Good luck!

Bememo 33 Pieces Model Trees 1.18 - 6.29 inch/ 3 - 16 cm Mixed Model Tree Train Trees Railroad Scenery Diorama Tree Architecture Trees for DIY Scenery Landscape, Natural Green https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B8JGBTH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_l6EACbVVCZF08

I liked these ones best so far.

Modern toy playsets are really great value for terrain. Have you checked out any of the TMNT stuff? This one stands at 42 inches in height!

Theefun 400-Watt Portable Halloween and Party Fog Machine with Wired Remote Control for Holidays, Weddings - impressive output https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MDNTD7A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JXs7CbRNS6VZE

Honestly, I think as long as it's a fine wire mesh you'll be pretty good. I just found this on Amazon, which would certainly work but you could probably to to your local hardware store and see if they have any metal screen and it would probably be a bit cheaper.

A "junk yard" area could also be a cool addition, with burned out car shells or even just some dumpsters (covered in old graffiti obviously).

I've found that the extra Gloss Medium Acrylic I had from painting works pretty well for the thin layer of water effect. Normally you mix it into your color of choice but I tried out some samples and it gives you good control over where and how thick a layer you have.