A present for some good friends.
I'd bought some bits and pieces from a German terrain supplies company called Thomarillion late last year with the idea for making some Christmas presents.
Well, unfortunately, I didn't get time before Christmas to make these things but recently, I put this one together and gave it to our friends as a late present.
Stage 1.
Monday, I cast the rock Moulds.
Tuesday, I glued the basic structure together.
The base was an MDF oval bought from a local hardware store.
There is a block of polystyrene in the middle and the rock faces were made using Woodland Scenics Rock Moulds. I used Dental plaster to pour the rocks.
The Steps are made using Hirst Arts moulds and Dental plaster.
I used PVA Wood glue to stick it all in place.
Stage 2.
Wednesday morning, I used Polyfilla to fill any gaps and used several grades of sand, talus to give the ground some detail. The statue is from Thomarillion, whilst the statue base and pillars were made using Hirst Arts Moulds. I basecoated the whole thing with a spray of matt black. That evening, I painted the whole thing and did some washes.
The first colour used was a heavy drybrush of GW Shadow Grey on the rocks and steps. This was followed by a slightly lighter drybrush of Codex Grey on the rocks, steps and the statue and pillars.
Next was a light drybrush of Bleached Bone on everything folloed by an even lighter drybrush of Skull White.
This was followed up by painting the flat areas with Graveyard Earth.
I followed this with a drybrush of Bleached Bone on the ground.
Next was a wash of Woodland Scenics Stone Grey on the rock faces, Statue and pillars.
To give the rocks a bit more life, I used Woodland Scenics Green Undercoat in the nocks and crannies where moss would grow.
A quick touch-up of the black base was last.
With this, the painting was basically finished so I looked at the different types of vegetation that I had available.
I really like using the Woodland Scenics Fine Leaf Foliage. It's too fragile to use on wargaming terrain but something like this will hopefully be ok. I used this stuff to make the small tree.
The rest of the vegetation is various types of Static grass from Antenociti's Workshop and Woodland Scenics. The small bushes are Woodland Scenics Cluster Foliage, Light and Medium Green.
The vegetation was held in place using PVA glue.
Stage 3.
On Thursday, I varnished the whole thing with Matt Estapol Funiture spray and then Testors Dullcote.
All done.
We gave it to our friends on the Saturday. They seemed very happy.
The extra gratifying thing for me was that as I was making it, I had the picture of Aragorn tending his mother's statue in my mind and this was one of the first things mentioned by our friends when they saw it. Win!
Anyway, I thought I'd just put this up as a thread because it might be helpful to someone.
Cheers,
Steve.
