ROAD TO INSANITY

 I've realised there are more Uruk Hai than a sane person would attempt, but I've never been accused of being sane, so I've finished a few more, and have another 20 more on the painting desk with many more to go ! LOL First on show today is a standard bearer, took a while to find a decent reference picture from the movie, rather than other sources, but glad I pushed on with the initial thought.

Next is a captain, which you saw a few in the movies.

Last today is a Shaman, which obviously didn't appear in the movies, but is from the Tolkien foundation licence, you can see GW's standard approach creeping in again (skulls anyone) ! LOL

Need a break from all things Tolkien, so may well do something totally different this week, while still working on some more monsters, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

I WANT MY MUMAKIL ?

 I've actually finished this quicker than expected, but will probably mean no Monster May(hem) post next week, but we'll have to see how that goes. So here is the one from the movie that I've based the model on

Then this is quite different from the basic GW model which looks like the below picture.

So after a fair bit of greenstuff work I ended up with this.

As you can see from above I added the driver as well, not just the details to the tusks and front legs, I also add to blend out a lot of the seam lines as the detail didn't line up well, and if I was doing all this work I needed a good base to work from, happy with the end result though. So that's all for today, so until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

YOU SHALL NOT PASS

 

So who could forget the classic scene shown above when Gandalf faces the Balrog, I've spent a lot of time recently rewatching this scene, in preparation to paint these two characters, and one thing I noticed was that the Balrog isn't glowing all over, but in sections, almost as if as if the skin is breaking open at points where the skin is tight due to movement. The other thing I noticed was his wings weren't solid and actually made of smoke (that's going to be fun to try and replicate ! LOL). With all of this in mind I pulled out my special edition Balrog ( you didn't know there was a special edition, it was released with all metal wings instead of plastic, and you can really feel the weight ), and looking at the basic model compared to the reference, it needed some work, first was his mohawk of flames, needed to spread across the shoulders and not just be a solid line, it also needed some small outbursts near it's elbows, these were all done  with greenstuff, I also greenstuffed the base to look like flagstones,  fitting the Mines of Moria.

When it came to the painting I started with all the flames and areas that would be cracking. I basecoated them GW Yriel Yellow, then put GW Iyanden Yellow contrast all over, for the tips I used GW Fuegan Orange Wash. For the hotter parts I started with GW Yriel Yellow, then Flash Gitz Yellow, and finished with GW Phalanx Yellow, making each layer smaller than the last. Once this was all done and fully dry I basecoated all the black including the wings, I highlighted the black with GW Covus Black, and some areas had some orange worked in as well, which I noticed in the reference picture (easier to see in hand than my terrible photo's ! LOL) For the smoky effect on the wings I used GW Apothecary white contrast, which I applied in a random fashion to give the illusion of smoke, this was a liitle too brigt on it's own so I layered GW nuln oil wash over the top to darken it back down.

Gandalf was a lot simpler and just tried to replicate the colours from reference pictures, pretty happy with how he turned out, and here is a shot of them facing off against each other, although I didn't build a casam for them ! LOL

So that covers my first submission for Monster May(hem) plus additional figure, hopefully I should have another to show next week, and I've got a couple more that I hope to do by the end of the month, so until next time stay safe, and have fun ! 

Cheers Dave

ARE YOU READY

 So May is rapidly approaching, and it is the time for Monster May(hem), Keith has already got the sign up post up, and you can find it at his blog angrypiper . So what is Monster May(hem) well you paint up monsters during the month of May, if you want to get a double win you could paint up a Dragon, which counts for Keith's other challenge Year of the Dragon, which runs until the end of the year. For me I'm going to try and use the time to paint up a couple of large Lord of the Rings models, these are from my own collection, not the box of wonders I've been working on, but I'm thinking of selling as well, as I'm never likely to play LOTR. With this in mind, I've done some background pieces for one of them, why do them before the challenge, well there's a whole squad of models needed for one, which would take away a large chunk of time from the actual Monster. So first up today I have the base required, which has almost a squads worth of bodies on it.

Next up are the crew for the monster, I've photographed them as archers, spearmen, and leader.

You'll notice that the bases are just black, as I'm going to sell this one, I'll leave the basing dilemma to who purchases it ( do you go for earth or wicker ?). That's all for this post, so until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

GOING BERSERK

 Not a large post today, but I have managed to finish three models, a trio of Uruk Hai Berserkers. Colour wise I've tried to match the movie reference as close as possible, but I've kept the hand prints minimal, and in different places that I spotted in the movie.

These were a good test for the colours of the Uruk Hai, as I have a lot more to paint in varying forms. That's all for this very short post, so until next time stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

IF YOUR NAMES NOT DOWN YOU'RE NOT GETTING IN !

 As many of you will know there was characters that appeared in the Lord of the Rings book that didn't make it into the movies. To combat this GW got a licence from the Tolkien foundation to produce models that appear in the books and not the films. The first one today is Tom Bombadil, for the colours I found a reference picture from Fantasy Flight Games, which I liked and replicated.

Next today is goblins we heard in the first movie but didn't see playing a drum.

These next two are Goblin leaders that didn't appear in the movie either, and on the second one you can see GW's influence in the sculpt as the skulls creep in ! LOL

That's all for today, there will be no posts next week, as I am away from the computer on a small holiday, and will have to try and catch up on all your posts when I return, so until next time stay safe and have fun 

Cheers Dave

WHAT A BEAST

 The next LOTR model is the Ringwraith on Fell Beast, this is the original metal release model with plastic wings, it needed a bit of refining on the joins, some areas needed to be trimmed and others more greenstuff added to hide the seam lines. I've tried to match the colours from the screen shot I found, and involved a lot of mixing of colours.

The wings took the longest time, with so many glaze layers to match the reference, but did manage to replicate the patterns.

The only addition to this model I did was to add in some reigns, these were made from folding some masking tape over in itself, and then cutting off the desired thickness, and sticking in place.

Below is the screenshot I used for reference.

Pleased with how this one turned out overall, but lots more to do, so until next time, stay safe, and have fun !

Cheers Dave

THEY HAVE A CAVE TROLL !

 And now so do I, well a painted one at least ! LOL The box has a wide array of models in it, so I'm picking out interesting models to work on, while I slowly chip away at the bulk of Uruk's and Goblins, and I really like the cave troll model, so this was the next to get finished.

I've also got five Ringwraiths on foot finished, while I finish the two on horseback, and the one on Fell Beast.

Expect a lot more LOTR models as I work my way through, but I may get some other stuff finished every now and then to break up all the same colour painting ! LOL So until next time stay safe and have fun !

Cheers Dave