From the Desk: Themed Gator Transport Tray

Here's my first finished Gator transport tray. It's one of the TableWar trays and I have to say I really dig the final result. The process to make it isn't hard at all, but it did take me about a week due to drying times. Here's what I did...

Step 1: Rings! Nothing fancy here. I just positioned the gators roughly where I wanted them, put rings in those spots, and super glued them in. I made sure to take out the models before gluing in the rings just in case some glue leaked or spread and ended up gluing my model to the tray. I also feel like doing a layout first before gluing them was pretty valuable.

Step 2: Plaster! I filled in all the areas outside of the rings with plaster of paris. No particular reason for using this over anything else. I just happened to have a ton of it on hand. When first mixed it pours nicely and then after a few minutes you can create nice smooth shapes in it which get a little smoother as it sets. I used a wooden craft stick to create a rough look of grooves worn by water. Speaking of setting, I let this sit for 2 full days before doing anything else. Mostly I just wanted to be sure it was fully dry.

Step 3: Paint! I used my airbrush to do most of this step actually. I used P3 Rucksack Tan for the main area, and P3 Ordic Olive (to match my Gators' bases) for the rings and edge. Then I did some drybrushing with P3 MWB. After that I did some washes using SWW Sewer Water and Baby Poop. Again, nothing particularly fancy here.

Step 4: Water! I poured Envirotex over all the sections of swampy area. I added just a touch of P3 Turquoise ink to the Envirotex to make it look a little more swampy. Again, nothing particularly fancy here. This step was just tedious due to the potentially messy nature of Envirotex. Long drying time here also. I let this sit for 2 full days as well, and made sure it was shielded from any dust or other particles that could ruin the look. Although given that it is swamp, it probably wouldn't be such a big deal.

Step 5: Grass! Last step was to glue on a whole bunch of Army Painter Swamp Tufts. I placed some of them strategically to hide places where the paint was more obviously rough, or where the Envirotex got a little overzealous.

And that's it! Super easy and I love the final look. And it makes an easy and safe way to transport this Gatorman Posse to their next feeding. Now I just need to make more of these for the rest of my Gators. Err, the Gators I should be painting right now!