Aquarium Additions- Personalization, Part II

If you've read the first half on plastic aquarium plants, then you know that this section of the Blog will address painting tips to transform an underwater ruin into a battlefield ruin.

 The key with personalizing pet-store terrain is to have selected terrain that is the right scale and overall look, without having worried about color at the time of purchase.  By thinking about your armies and campaigns, you can modify the store-bought terrain to the proper color-scheme with relative ease.  (None of the projects here took more than a half an hour of actual painting time.)
Be creative and have fun- your tabletop battlefield will quickly become more interesting and detailed. 
Here are three projects based on my most recent trip to Petco for terrain.  (Grecian ruins, sunken tank, and ruined farmhouse.)     {I do not know when and if these products will no longer be carried; as of the writing of this blog, these links are working/accurate.}


IIA- Modifying Grecian Ruins
     The pillars that I purchased look eroded by water.  They are a light color with white highlights.  There is nothing wrong with this, of course, but in the universe we play in, things tend to be dark.  There are a lot of washes available.
Here is the single pillar that is available.

Here is the difference after a coat of Devlan Mud Wash (from Citadel)

The larger ruin is getting a different, more detailed, look:

First, a near uniform coat of a deep tan to darken the overall coloring and look.

Then a coat of wash on one side of the pillars, and some ivory highlighting on the other side.
(there are now three colors on the piece)
I also added some flocking to represent moss that had grown over time.

IIB- Modifying a sunken tank
The first thing that I did was try to decide if it should be the wreck of an alien or Imperial tank.  I decided to try for an older version of an Imperial tank, perhaps from the time of the Great Crusade.

The tank as it was purchased.

Everything except the treads gets a coat of dark green.

The treads get a coat of tan with dry-brushed highlighting to simulate both rust and dirt.

The "grass" at the base and some indentations on the tank are flocked to represent moss and other plant growth.

Finally, some metallic additions that represent both signs of former glory and changes in the metal over years of exposure to the elements.

IIC- Modifying a ruined farmhouse
  When I saw this farmhouse, my initial thought was to try and "save" it, but then I realized that it already looked as though it might have been through a fire, perhaps even an explosion.  There was a huge hole in the back, destroyed windows and doors and ragged holes in the roof..

As purchased.  The green roof didn't remind be of thatch.

A basecoat of vibrant yellow.

Highlighting with what Citadel calls "Bleached Bone"

Some brown and flocking town down the walls and ground and finally make the roof thatch colored.

Grey adds some depth to the rocks and walls and provides a lighter base for the chimney.

Black brushed over some rocks, the chimney, and all of the openings show the soot of a major fire.

(A view of the back and the holes that inspired me by reminding me of an explosion.)