Mordor Catapult crew

I made these guys a little more brightly coloured than your average orc by the addition of a brighter yellow spot colour.

The reason being that I wanted to pick them out more easily, not on the field of war, but when selecting them for a game.

I have a cunning plan for when the second catapult arrives from the carpenter's shop of my good friend, John Curtis.

I can use Shagrat, less the Mithril coat, as the captain who points out the target.

I think I'll make them stand out with a different colour, bright green or red perhaps.

Catapult Troll

 Our catapult Troll ('our' because my old mucker, John Curtis, is busy constructing a catapult)

I feel that too many limitations are put on Trolls so that they all turn up with pink fronts and grey backs.

I starting him off with an undercoat spray of Caliban Green.

The painting started with various dry brushings.

The chest in Vomit Brown, the front of legs and inner arms are Balor Brown,


The back, working downwards from Steel Legion Drab to Mournfang Brown with much of the feet and toenails retaining much of the original green

I then used washes,  Cassandora Yellow for the front, Carroburg Crimson for the back and legs and a splash of Guilliman Blue on the feet.

Some of the 'rocks' are balls of left over Greenstuff, others are stones from the drive.

I glued on some smaller stuff first as, obviously, the Troll, with the huge wheelbarrow, who delivers the ammunition, would have tipped the rocks on the pile, none too gently, and there would be fragments of stone everywhere.

As usual, when I see these models on the blog, I realise that they are unfinished.

I have noticed that his teeth and eyes are unpainted.

A second Rohan Royal Guard

The second Rohan Royal Guard has joined the first.

His horse is now Theodred's, so he rides the grey.

I tried to give a little variety by making him older but unless I went in for serious amputations, there was little else I could do.

The helmet plume is different but thank goodness for the main variable - the horse.

Putting these models up on the blog has it's uses, even if only for me.

I now notice he lacks the red edging to the horse blanket and that the original one needs another coat of green on the base.

Theodred

Theodred's horse (Brego?) has turned up.

It had been borrowed by a member of the Royal Guard.

Now I have a grey for the Royal Guard, ready painted, but the guard himself needs painting.

The Theodred model is a neat one.

I did set out to give him redish hair as I thought I'd read that somewhere but followed the images I could find making his hair similar to the rest of the Riders of Rohan but with a reddish tinge.

The horse was only attached by one rear hoof and, though I liked that pose, I put the rock in as extra support (it's glued to the front hoof) as I thought he'd be too fragile in games.

The three 'reds' used are horse leatherwork - Dark Flesh, armour edging - Khorne Red, saddle blanket edging, Mechrite and Blood Red in equal measure. The horse is Rhinox Hide with additions of Mournfang Brown as a highlight and Mournfang is used for armour leatherwork and the scabbard. Theodred's armour is Dark Angels Green and Shining gold.

Mamuk Mahud

The Mamuk Mahud follows the recent Mahud except for the still unknown desert colour.

His arm didn't settle in to the super glued slot properly.

These things are such a rough fit that you have to dollop in the glue and then hold the join for ages.

I've realised that the Mahud King, when on foot, doesn't lug that wood and wicker back pack around.

Thus the poor quality one I tried making is redundant.

Making a difference

I have a Mahud King but he's missing his weird arrangement on his back so I'm trying to make something that looks similar.

The 'wicker' is  Greenstuff impressed with some ribbon and then removed and the stick supports are heavy duty electrical wire.

Yeah. OK. So it doesn't look much like wicker, but it's a start.

I'll use telephone cable for the cross pieces.

The pieces of 'cloth' for the front (rear?) of the wicker is Greenstuff shaped, then pressed down between two pieces of plastic (a curry tin wrapper!)

I've used the same idea with Greenstuff to try to make these two identical Mahuds look different.

Usually I have trouble making Superglue stick, using too much perhaps.

This time I wanted to move the 'cloth' around but it stuck instantly and I couldn't adjust it.

Mahud Raiders

Please note the subtle differences between these two Mahud Raiders.

The angle of the blowpipes and shields, the colour of their kit bag at the saddle, The raised leg on one camel and the knock-kneed rear end of the other, even the slightly different highlighting on the pair.

However, does all this make a jot of difference when GW advertise that there are six different poses and fail to add that they've sold out of five of them, years ago.

They did this with half trolls and, no doubt, with other models.

All designed to keep us raiding the bank while trying to find the missing one.

Still, they're not half bad models.

Shame the painting has let them down in places - the ropes round the tusks are particularly bad.

More Mahud

 The second set of Mahud warriors have been a problem from start to finish - when I do finish.

I first ruined some of the detail by spraying too close or perhaps it was too cold.

It's not too noticeable but I know it's there.

Then I discovered that the notes I took on the previous batch were incorrect.

The base colour for the shield is Rhinox, not Mounfang as noted down.

I tried to correct this, after dry brushing (when I'd noticed the error) by washing the shields in Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil.

You can see the difference between the shields.

Then there was the discovery that the witch-doctor type in the picture to the left is, in fact, the Mahud King.

Trouble is, he is missing a piece of kit from his back and I'll have to make one up with wire and Greenstuff.

Then I've got the desert part of the base wrong in my notes and I still cannot work out the original paint scheme.

I've tried half a dozen paints but none of them seem right.

Again, the difference is discernible in the last shot showing new and old.

Lastly, I'd intended to have a sprinkle of dead grass on some of them.

Can I find the glue!

I've sent for a couple of camel riders but more problems there. The inverted camel in the background is not at all happy with his legs.

John's ruined fountain

John has again had the builders in and constructed for my table top, a ruined fountain.

Excellent work John.

I hope you gave them a bonus as well as gallons of Assam Tea.

Constructed largely from polystyrene and gravel with a base of two layers of foam board, it is perfectly topped off with a joss stick holder*,
as the fountain, which has survived the ravages of time and bored teenage orcs remarkably well.

John has even provided some green slime which, even more remarkably, was still sticky after 3000 years.

It will need a reset of the base colour to grey and a dry brush of light grey and then white to bring it into line with the previous ruins.

*Joss Stick Holder is the centre piece and is not to be confused with Joss Charles Buttler, the England batsman.

Rohan Royal Guard and Banner Bearer

I realised that, though the troopers were as finished as I can cope with, the horses were only partially so.

I've given a little more highlighting and finished painting horses head and leather work.

I'd not even given them teeth.

How on earth could we tell their age?

Note that the Royal Guard's horse is one of those expected to balance on one leg.

I have given him a piece of broken fence to tether a front hoof to.







I've yet to finish the rocket but I've cleaned up (washed) the new set of Mahud Warriors purchased from ebay, a few weeks ago.

I look forward to painting those but I'm unsure if I should use primer, then undercoat.

They are partly painted and I don't want to lose too much detail on the shields.

Perhaps I'll try removing some of the paint before I start.

Rohan Banner Bearer

The Rohan banner bearer has finally climbed into his saddle, staying there with the aid of a blob of Greenstuff.

The paint job on the horse is more carefully built up but is practically invisible on the table top.

Not sure if the subtlety is clear on this blog.

I thought I'd finished the Rohan captain and he is mounted up.

However, I've noticed his horse is yet to be highlighted and shaded.

He will follow.

Fences 2

After Henry's effort, I first added to the fences by producing another 2 along the lines of his.


That is with balsa used for posts and rails.

The next two were made using balsa posts with split kebab sticks to imitate split log fencing.

Then, as I'd recently stripped out some telephone wires, I used cock tail sticks for posts and inexpertly wove strands of the wire through them.

It would have held together better if I'd used wire the same lengths but real fences don't do that.

Perhaps, if I do it again, I'll go for the neater look.

I used spray cans from my hardly started 'Flames of War models.

Firefly Green and German Armour.

Both seem suitable.

The 'soil' is a mix of 'Brown Earth' and 'Dark Earth'.

I've used this for bases, rather than painted sand, for some time and yesterday read the instructions!

Seems that the 'Brown Earth' can be used on metal as rust.

Henry's fences

Henry's fences finished, though painting them with dark brown and dry brushing with green hasn't given me what I wanted.

I'll go looking for that on the next two fences, coming soon, which Blake helped with.

Ponds and fences

Despite the invasions of dozens 0f grandchildren, I have done a little in Middle Earh.

Using the plastic container from some profiteroles as a mould, I've cast a pond for Osgiliath.

I was happy that there were bubbles in it as they could easily be made into war damage.

However, falling into several pieces is too much damage.

Not enough glue in the filler mix?

I cajoled Henry into making two short length of fence using balsa wood.

I've sprayed them green and applied 'Brown Earth' and a few rocks but they are Henry's work.

Apollo progress

JPL in miniature.

The plan of the plin plon in our kitchen.

Busy with the second stage after spotting my error.


The fuel tank, top and bottom, of the upper stages, must be glued in before joining the two halves.

I made the same mistake on the third stage which was even trickier to correct.

The housing for the Luna Lander is yet to be painted but its legs are ready to go.

Rohan Captains 2

Just a couple more shots of these guys as I think the others were too brightly lit.

Though, looking at them now, I'm not sure there's much difference!

Rohan Captain

Slow progress with a house full of kids and the paints hidden away.

Here, though, are the two versions of the Rohan Captain.

Uh!, John. I said brief!
However, I can see you've put a lot of work into this so here you are.

Materials.

Item 1. Empty plastic Tesco salad dressing bottle. Eiffel Tower shape. 17cm tall x 5cm at base.

Item 2. Empty Aldi Caramel Mousse pot. Trumpet shape. 9.5cm tall x 5cm at base. Mouth 9.cm.

Item 3. Three empty plastic fruit and jelly containers. Bowl shaped. 5cm tall x 8cm at mouth. 3.5 at base.

Item 4. White plastic Asti bottle stopper.

Item 5. Expanded polystyrene packing c. 2 to 3cm thick.

Item 6. One white plastic cable tie. (Any colour will do).

Item 7. Cork for talon finials of tower. Cannibalise from wine corks.

Item 8. Some fine sand.

Item 9. 'bond it' high viscosity superglue.

Item 10. White PVA wood glue.

Item 11. One lolly stick.

Item 12. Couple of dozen small rocks from the garden. Approx. size 3cm x 2cm.

Item 13. Small piece of 3 ply. .5 of a mm thick. 10cm x 10cm square.

Item 14. Tetrion white filler powder.

Item 15. Range of acrylic paints.

Item 16. Various small paint brushes.

Item 17. A piece of kitchen tin foil.

Method:

Glue item 1 to the base of  item 2 with item 9.

Fill item 1 with item 8.

Glue item 3 one inside the other with item 9.

Fill item 2 with mixed filler.

While still wet press glued item 3 inside the flared end of  item 2. Excess filler will squeeze out. Remove excess and smooth round with a damp finger. Make sure the final visible rim of  item 3 is clean of filler.

Cut four strips of  item 5 to c. 4cm wide x  22cm long. Shape them roughly to a 'D' profile.

Glue all four equidistant from base to top around your finished plastic core with item 9. (Take care as the action of the adhesive on the plastic surfaces will generate heat effectively welding item 5 to the bottle etc.). They should join at the top.

Glue the screwtop of item 1 permanently in place with a small amount of item 9.

Glue item 4 to the screwtop of item 1 with the fins facing up.

Mix item 14 with a small amount of fine sand, a couple of teaspoons of  item 10 and mix to a plaster consistency with water.

Begin moulding tower over item 5 into four fused half-round towers which will meet at the top.

Press suitable sized piece of item 11 into wet mortar where the door will be.

Leave a space at the top of the towers to make the talon finials,

While your mortar is wet, press item 17, crumpled kitchen tin foil, into the surface to create fissures and the appearance of undressed rock.

Cut four talon finials from cork. Cut slot to fit over fins of item 4. Glue in place with item 9.

When secure continue moulding to the top of the finials which should also be covered and shaped with your mortar.

Glue or press in  to wet mortar suitable stones, item 12, in natural pattern. It is possible to mould rock outcrops from your moulding mortar mix. My model uses both techniques.

Glue item 13 to base with item 9.

Paint and dry brush to achieve the look of rock. Seal the finish if you wish.

If you want a surrounding diorama then dress a piece of ply with fallen rocks, scree and gravel.

Glue your tower to this.

I think that covers it.

John's Tower of Orthanc

Now for something really different.

Here's me old mucker, John Curtis, with his scratch built Tower of Orthanc.

It's a mile away from PJ's film version but is based more on original sketches by JRR himself.

I'm hoping John may drop a line with construction details.


To prove that his Orthanc is transportable, John fetched it to Tilly's Tea Room where I took the second shot, the first being his own taken on an egg timer or something.

The crane is just out of shot.

Eomer mounted

At last Eomer has arrived though his saddle needs adjusting.

I used the De Agostini guide in magazine number 18.

A little Greenstuff will make him more comfortable.

Eomer on foot was done a while ago but when using him as reference, I noticed some errors.

A little tweaking too.