Goblin Town Dwarves - Nori

 Probably the easiest Dwarf, so far

Goblin Town Dwarves - Bofur

Bofur proved tricky, not because of the assembly, though filling in the shoulder gaps wasn't straightforward but more in getting the paint colours roughly right. Many of the range are empty pots now so I'm using alternatives.

F'rinstance, the padded jacket (armour?) said to be Scrag Brown, is Steel Legion Drab washed with Casandora Yellow.

The leg armour is Skrag brown or it's old equivalent, Vermin Brown.

 

Goblin Town - Thorin Oakenshield

 Thorin was much easier than Dwalin as the arms came on from the front rather than being a complete loop. I could paint his front and then fix them.

I still managed to mess up a couple of things. The shoulder armour wouldn't drybrush very well so the next try - painting it all with chainmail, them washing in Nuln Oil, was worse. In the end I painted them black them dabbed chainmail on the raised areas as well as I could.

I'd also painted his boots brown to start with. No idea why.

The first shot is before varnishing, the others afterwards with the base edge repainted..

I couldn't resist using just the right piece of 'log' for this base.

Goblin Town - Dwalin

 

An excellent model. However, combine the difficulty of putting together the three pieces accurately with a level of incompetence on my part worthy of our Prime Minister, and you have what can only be described as a complete balls up.

He took about three times as long as he should have done because of the errors I made. I decided to paint the arms/hammer separately as, once fixed, they would be in the way of the chest. Fiddling them on after painting though was doing damage to the paintwork so I carefully snipped the plastic 'back' to the component. Unfortunately, the hammer shaft had a bubble in it and snapped when I did so. Then, when gluing the second part of the now two part arms/hammer component in place, I tried fixing the hammer shaft at the same time. Despite waiting till everything set, the shaft was misaligned and had to be 'carved' back into shape.

Finally and impatiently, I glued on the two axes, forgetting that I'd not painted them! This made it difficult to paint the axes and back area armour.

However, he was done, eventually and varnished.

Without tattoos on his head!

Goblin Town Kili the Dwarf 2

 

I'd hoped to have two dwarves ready but Dwalin is proving difficult. There are a few minor changes to the colour scheme to be found at 'Tale of Painters', mostly caused by depleted paint stocks.

Again I've varnished him but it does muddy the waters a little.

What is highlighting and what is the reflective surface of varnish?

Again, a good quality plastic model with lots of detail.

The bases of these guys are still at the committee stage. My models always have a base that reflects their origins but the glittery black I chose for Dwarves many years ago, will look particularly out of place in Goblin Town. Shall I go for earth and grass for all them?

Goblin Town baseboard

In parallel with figure painting, there's also some construction work going on.
That's a board measuring 30in X 20 in.
That's the size of the top of the chest of drawers where Goblin Town will be placed on the map.

Unfortunately, I can go no further until I get hold of some small screws. The hardboard is slightly warped and though the battens are glued on, screws should tighten it up.

Goblin Town - Kili

 

I've previously managed to paint without using any of the established methods of holding the models - gluing onto corks, Blu tacking on paint pot tops etc.

However, these guys are even smaller, so I'm trying Blu Tack on cupboard knobs. So far, so good.

Goblin Town - Bilbo

 

I've used gloss varnish for both Bilbo and Gandalf as I put a fair bit of work in on them.

I wasn't sure about Balor Brown for his hair but a wash of Agrax Earthshade

browned it off sufficiently to keep J.R.R. happy, I should think.

His coat is Scab Red. An equivalent to that suggested in the White Dwarf.

His waistcoat is another equivalent, or near. I used Knarloc Green. Skin for him and Gandalf is

Cadian Fleshtone washed with Reikland Fleshshade. The scarf I've painted as the hair.

His short trousers are in the supposed equivalent  of Rhinox Hide, Model Colour Burnt Umber,

 which took a wash or two of Agrax before it looked anything like. 

There's a touch of blue on Sting as Goblins count as Orcs as far as it's concerned.

Goblin Town - Gandalf

So Dwarves it is.

Well, characters anyway, starting with the easiest - Gandalf.

I was really chuffed with him but rather less so, now that I see him blown up.

(I told him not to stand near the culvert!)

I've taken to shooting from a greater distance to gain more depth of field.

Of course, you can adjust that with the camera but that means reading the fine print Chinese manual.

I carp at GW  on occasions but I think they've given us some brilliant models in this box set

and these plastic characters seem comparable to resin at a fraction of the price.

 

Goblin Town view

 

All the work done so far, with both ladders up.

Remaining are the two ramps which I hope to use reversed.

(Watch this space)

Goblins first frame - finished

 

No, they're no better looking from the back.

These are the last of the Goblins from the first frame in the boxed game of Goblin Town. Note that I've ignored the GW view that these chaps are 'an army' and therefore should all be dressed the same. I've simply used Steel Legion Drab for bags and aprons instead of the darker Rhinox hide.

Now to spray white the black sprayed last frame.

Or perhaps I should go for the Dwarves?

Goblin Town Upper Floor 2

 

The second piece of the upper floor complete with the bridge nowhere.

Unlike the Whanganui National Park bridge,

this one has a final flourish with a totally unworkable drawbridge.

Ever supposing a couple of strong Goblins could wind that great chain round a wooden wheel, without it falling off, they would snap the bridge in half.

Goblin Town upper floor 1

 

The first component of the upper floor assembled

and inspected.

New base floor for Goblin Town

Progress!

All the poles being worked up but the new main floor is ready to go.

Shame about the colour change on the boards.

Process should have been identical right throughout but wasn't.

I used to log every stage but have, unfortunately, got out of the habit.

 

Goblin Town Extension

 Looks like nothing doing?

In truth, a whole lot but all boring stuff. Endless dry brushing of the GW Goblin Town extension. 2 large panels and four smaller ones. A major problem was matching the base colour to the original as I'm nearly out of Rhinox Hide and my ancient pot of Scorched Brown is no more. Replacements are not right.

Then endless painting of dem bones. Littered all over the panels and up the poles.

Captain Lackhand

Another stab at coming up with a coil of rope.

Either to tie up captives with or an item that the Dwarves fetched with them.

The thinner one is cotton, the thicker one from a party popper.

(Never throw anything away!)

A closer look at the captain's injury. I think he should get along to the M.O.

 

Goblin Batch 2

The next batch of six Goblins (six more to go) with their captain and Grinnah. Note that the captain, the shorty guy, already has an injury. Don't know when he lost his hand. Anytime over the past 8 years as this kit was used as a display box in the shop.

 

More Hair and scary eyes

 

Henry spotted that I'd missed the hair at the front. While there, I added the orange to the eyes though I thought they may be rather large for that treatment. However, once the dots went in, which I normally don't do for models as they simply look insane, I think it looked quite good.

Goblin Town and eBay extras complete

 

The last of the large floors from eBay now completed and in situ with all completed components.

King's bits, the weapon pile and packs

 

While waiting for paint to dry on the King, I've painted these little extras. The weapon pile, dry brushed with Chainmail, then the non metal bits painted, then the whole washed in Nuln Oil.

Finally an edging on the blades of Chainmail.

The bundle of packs, looks like five to me, is hardly enough for 13 dwarves and Bilbo, is it? Which gave me the idea for a cunning plan.

These dangling heads are not your usual skulls but look more like shrunken heads.

A little more of his totem which won't stand a chance against Gandalf's staff.

The Goblin King

I've painted this guy over and over and he just gets worse. I tried the dry brushing that someone recommended for a smooth finish but it ended up, rough as hell. My brush? My paint? (It is rather old) My painting? Ah! That's it! 

The photo shows even less of the flesh wash that is there except round his boils. That's a slightly watered down drop of Reikland Fleshshade which collects round the bumps and gives a

good impression of the sore area.

An uninteresting rear view.

 

Goblin Town, so far

 Like Topsy. Here's how we are, so far. One more large platform to go, then I start on the GW box of 2 level Goblin Town extension. It's been sprayed black though I'd hoped to spray brown and go straight into dry brushing lighter browns. Unfortunately, the brown spray is enough unlike these earlier one to make them look different. 

Goblin town platform 1

 One of the two large platforms from eBay is now complete. The skulls and bones in one corner are now buried in a pile of rocks. One obviously hit a goblin on the way down.

Here's the complete thing.

Goblin Town ramps 2

 

Here's the last of the three ramps from the eBay selection.

The coil of rope works OK so I might use it again, elsewhere.