King of the dead

Nearly forgot his majesty.

Because he's metal and because I don't trust super glue, I built a mound for him to stand on with the tab that goes into the slot, cut down and only inserted partly into the mound.

This would be more like the wire idea.

School models

 Here are some recent results from the youngsters at Swell Primary.

A little rushed but we only have one hour per week.

 Look how carefully that shield has been done and none of them are more than 11 years old.

Well done kids!

Army of the Dead

 OK So some look a bit better than others but they all look a bit naff.

Perhaps a single piece of sturdy wire, next time.

Not too long so that they hover but closer to the base so that the wire is usually hidden.

Actually, when playing, these don't look so bad.

Dead man hovering

Had an idea for the bases of The Army of the Dead.

I imagined them floating above the ground, rather than the solid look of other models.

I checked out some plastic beads at Hobby Craft but at the stupid price they were charging for a small pot full, I backed off.

Then I came across a frame made of translucent green plastic and I thought it would provide, not only the gap above the ground but also, with some luck, an ethereal light.

I could enhance this with green drybrushed away from the figure and gloss varnish.

We shall see.

Mordor Orc Shaman

This Mordor Orc Shaman was fun to paint.

The Base shows a skull, (pinched from a Chaos Space Marine) pierced by a metal spike which would not stick in the hard rock.

Hence the pile of stones to keep it upright.

As usual, the colours as they appear here do not match the original very accurately.

Neither are they much like the illustrations in De Agostini 82.

Next up will be Eomer and tricky he looks too.

Mordor Orc Banner Bearer

This guy too, was started before Gamling but I held back on painting the back of the banner.

The sloppy free-hand painting is entirely due to the Orcs 'couldn't care less' attitude.

Nothing to do with me being rubbish.

The base is supposed to be a piece of lava flow that solidified in this curved rock shape. (Green Stuff)

Again the pieces of rock litter the place.

I varnished the sections as I went on, as before, with gloss, then the clothing and flag were coated with matt.

Mordor Orc Captain

In truth, The Mordor Orc Captain was started before Gamling but I was still messing around with his base.


The idea was that he was stood in a small crater caused by Mount Doom, with chunks of those 'razor sharp rocks' littered around and a piece of pumice in the foreground.


The pumice looks like skulls but that was not intentional.

Again, plenty of trouble keeping the paint on so nearly every section was varnished separately as I worked.

Gamling

My best result, so far.


Gamling in metal has a great deal of detail and, I think the face is particularly good compared to plastic.



I had the bright idea of placing him on a tree stump but neither he, nor I, am convinced.

The metal was a real problem - poking through the paint as I worked.

In the end, I was applying paint and immediately varnishing, making the task take much longer.

I've since found out that a rub with a brass suede brush before basecoating helps.

Battlefield

 Lewis and Henry quiet for a minute as they pretend to concentrate on a game.

We'd actually put out a selection of troops as if in action and then the two of them moved them about, as if playing.

Lewis and I did have a skirmish game later in which his Mordor Orcs beat my Gondor Foot