Rhacophorus nigropalmatus (Wallace's tree frog) on a lotus bud

Sometimes serendipity strikes and you get the perfect photo of something awesome and whimsical, such as a tree frog on a lotus flower bud:

Sometimes, you just have to fake it. So I have files for you to fake your own Wallace's flying tree frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus) sitting on a lotus bud. Ignore the sketchy paint job.

I could have gone with a Javan tree frog (Rhacophorus margaritifer), like the stock photo, but R. nigropalmatus has a wider range across South and Southeast Asia where it overlaps with lotus flower farms. And that I can't really tell the difference between the two species and fudged the color palette.

Print recommendations:

• The frogs will require supports. I like using layer heights of <0.2mm, but at 0.2mm expect to do a fair amount of clean up to reduce layer lines (I used thinned-out wood filler)

• The larger lotus bud might require supports depending on your printer

• I like printing the stems with supports to keep the print from sliding off the print bed

For the paint, I used a mix of powder pigments mixed with a PVA-based glaze (Mod Podge) as well as enamel paints used in miniatures (Testors).

WARNING: I recommend against painting the toe pads on the frog and the divots in the flower bud: with good-enough tolerances they should snap together, but glues (such as cyanoacrylates) work better plastic-on-plastic.

The smaller models fits with the lotus flower mood light.