Beast of Gorgoroth more completed !

Then I remembered the base!

There is a nice oval base which I've seen well decorated, by others, with broken spears and shields, even dead troops,

However, I've stuck with my Mordor theme of grey splintered rock merely suggesting that, arid though it is, there is some grass growing there, even some that's green.

How else do the great beasts survive?

Sorry John, no room, behind the beast for a pile of Beast poo!

Shame. I was considering plastic wood.

I also tackled the toe nails.

Beast of Gorgoroth completed

So here he is complete with crew and a dab of rust here and there.

The superglue has a tendency to take the paint off if the crew get dislodged, as they did occasionally when trying to persuade them into their allotted space.

I certainly could not have painted them once they were aboard.

Fearsome bunch.

The driver and his kinky prod.

View from a low flying Nazgul.

This shot is just to prove that there was some rust about and to have a close up of the pinned heads.

Beast of Gorgoroth 5

The top two shots show that, if the hand lines up, the shoulder doesn't and if the shoulder does then, of course the hand doesn't.

I cut the prod near the rear hand, then gouged out the part of the prod being held by that hand.

I removed about three sixteenths of the prod, cut away a little underneath at the back end and glued it in with the excellent 'Bond It' high viscosity superglue that John recommended.

It not only glues well enough but it's a gap filler.

Perfectly suited to this job.

Here he is with his kinky prod firmly held in both hands.

Not far to go now and I'm already thinking that I must make a new ruin next.

Beast of Gorgoroth 4

Here are the last three passengers, one with a most unrealistic rock.

I presume he's been chucking them for a while as that must be his last one.

There are none left in the pannier, not that there would be room for them.

 I might try to do something about this 'Blue Tack'  orc to dull his skin down a bit.

I think all 9 of them will need a bit of rusting before they go for their ride.

Just the driver to do (tricky because the hands don't line up) and the dangling heads which have, of course, become detached from the pannier.

They require pinning with some stripped garden wire.

 

Beast of Gorgoroth 3

The next three 'passengers' (crew).

I'm pleased to say that the driver's arm and prod have turned up.

I'm not pleased to say that the prod is exceedingly bent and arm and hand don't line up.

They are nearly a quarter of an inch out.

GW!

I guess I'll have to glue the arm then cut the prod so that the hand fits.

If I think on, I'll take a shot of the problem and add it here.

Beast of Gorgoroth 2

The first three passengers are ready to come on board the Beast of Gorgoroth.

There is a problem though.

The driver seems to be missing an arm and it's the one holding the 'beast prod'!

The damn thing will be totally uncontrollable.

Beast of Gorgoroth

 Here's the Orc people carrier, the Great Beast of Gorgoroth, with his pannier.

He was sprayed black and then dry brushed with Mechanised, Dawnstone and Admin greys.

The horn was painted Steel Legion Drab and then drybrushed with Karak Stone and Usmabti Bone.

 I regret the Mournfang Brown toenails though.

They could have used a similar treatment.

The copper bronze areas were Warlock Bronze dry brushed Dwarf Bronze and the fabric is Mechrite with Blood Red highlights washed with Agrax.

Now for the tricky bit - these guys, there are ten of them!

I did think about magnetising each one so that they could be removed when killed but they'd only get lost or damaged.

Yes - just noticed that I've not painted the quivers on the beasts back.

Clansmen of Lamedon

The Clansmen of Lamedon I painted using, as close as I could, the colours of 'The Tartan of Thyme'.

This is a reflection of how much I appreciate the two books in the series, 'Justin Thyme' and 'Thyme Running Out'.

There was no way I going to achieve the actual tartan,

I'm not sure that anyone could, but the colours are all there.

However, the copper orange, which I used for trim on the 'kilts', was too understated, so the obvious answer was red/orange hair.

So,yes, the purple plant growth is suppose to be heather (not grape hiacynth, Blake!)

If I ever do anymore, I'll replace a sword with a set of bagpipes.

I thought them good models. Dynamic poses and easy to paint.

Maggie's Rohan Cottage 2

Maggie should be proud of herself as she's done this (under instruction) all by herself.

Measuring, cutting, gluing the foam-board and again, the balsa for doors and window shutters.

Then a stipple coat of glue/filler mix for the walls and when that was dry, cream paint.

We're wondering if we should put a chimney stack at this end.

I'll take a look at the film to see if they simply had barbecues.

Trouble is, Maggie's not here enough to really get a move on with these models.

A Rohan village will take her years!

Dunland Wildmen (Huscarls)

Difficult to build in much variety in these guys.

Perhaps I should have risked more arm twisting or even temporary amputation to make the twins look a little different.

I gave cloaks different reds, shields different wood colour and metal and furs different browns.

If I ever buy more, I'll make radical changes.

There was once a box set of Dunlendings which would have offered plenty of variety but they are well out of print.

I'm none too happy with this paint job so may, one day, return to them.

The varnish is gloss, then overpainted with matt.

As you can see, it simply looks gloss.

(Thinks 'Do they have to have red cloaks?')