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All should now be well.

Display case

All modelling has ceased again, due, this time, to our assistance being required in one direction and an invasion from the other. That and the usual allotment requirements now that spring is here and the dreaded Settlers. So, to keep the blog alive, here is my 'bad guys' case with two new glass shelves added. This has made room for all Mordor and Isengard troops plus a shelf for Theoden's and Eomir's riders of Rohan who must feel rather uncomfortable there.

I need another display case!

Morannon Command

About time too!

Trust the Morannon commanders to arrive late, when the battle's nearly done.

I didn't enjoy doing these 'Carve it Yourself' resin models.

They are fragile, distorted (see weapons) and need filler for some of the larger bubble holes.

Yes, they are very well detailed but what's the good of that if things snap off and small triangles of moulding appear when you are painting.

Then you have to carve them off hoping that what you leave is correct.

Another gripe is the non illustrated box.

Cheapskates!

Have I said all this before?

Apologies for the long gap, by the way.

Various invasions by family hordes and a brief holiday in the wilds of wet and windy Devon were partly to blame.

The main reason, however, is the purchase of a 25 year old computer game - Settlers.

Disastrously addictive.

Anyway, have to go and see how the little men are coping.


(I gave these guys rather more red than GW. They are Morannon Orcs, after all)

New Morannon swaps 3

The bunch of bananas round this guy's neck was a dead give away so I used Greenstuff to change his appearance.

The cloak was thin Greenstuff shaped so that it would go round his neck and meet behind. *

The fur was moulded around him after removing the 'bananas' at the front.

I left them at the back and let them protrude a little as a start to the fur.

Then it was simply a case of jabbing at it with a hobby knife blade and the sharp end of a moulding tool.

The chap on the left started out with a skin colour too similar to that of the middle guy so I used Fortress grey on him, washed with Nuln Oil.

The green fellow went a little wrong when I used Waystone Green over the yellow.

However, I don't think they turned out too bad after one had a close head shave and the other had a Troll pony tail fitted.

* I cut off some of the cloak/poncho which was hanging over the weapon but regretted it. However, why do GW sometimes give you a model with a large block of plastic in front of him when they could give you a clean model and a separate weapon with the two hands or a hand and arm as they've done elsewhere?

New Morannon swaps 2

Not quite the last of these 'weapon swaps' but I'm nearly there.

I think there are three more to come, of which one is already painted.

Then Gothmog and there's also a set of commanders somewhere.

This first trio are genuine weapon swaps -

- as are the next three.

One went well out of his way to do his swap and ended up with a Dark Eldar blade on the end of a long pole.

 I like the skin colour of these chaps on the right.

Rather than my usual rear view I've swung these round to show the shields.

 One has a rather neat hole (note to self - rough up this hole a little) and the other has borrowed a skull decoration from a Chaos Space Marine vehicle.

He's promised to give it back by the end of the month.

The banner bearer has also been on the scrounge among the debris left behind by some Chaos Space Marines.

The couple of holes in the banner also need roughing up a little.

The shield acts as a weapon of attack as well as defence.

I chickened out of painting the rear of the banner as I'd made such a mess of the front.

However, it isn't too bad for tabletop so I might have another go.

That will be in about 10 days time as we have a house full of family.

At least, I think that's who they are.

New Morannon swaps 1

 The missing Orc turned up - on the right.

Some fiction about his granny being sick.

Naturally he's on a charge.

That one led by King Theoden.

Then he'll visit his granny!

Late afternoon winter sunshine has yellowed these shots and while Page Plus is perfectly able to make adjustments - I'm not.

(Damn it - I forgot to rust and dust the new three)

Morannon Orc swaps 7

I could have sworn there were three remaining but one seems to have gone AWOL.

I've dibbled a bit of rather unconvincing rust about and trouser legs and boots are dusty now.

However, I note that these two could do with a bit of shading.

There's always something.



I'll start in on the remaining Orcs next - a slightly smaller number but they include Gothmog.

Morannon Orc swaps 6

Here's those Orcs that were out of focus in the previous post.

The next group, all with different weapons and a little bronze here and there.


I'll be going over them all with some rust and dust when this first batch is done (only three to go)

Morannon Orcs swaps 5

These first three are genuine weapon swaps with some adjustments to armour and/or helm too.

It's difficult to disguise them because of the stance.

It might have been worthwhile to have had some of them leaning backwards more.

These three, no matter what you do, will always seem identical because of the broad mush they have.

I've done my best by swapping weapons, giving them different skin colour and adding a shield.

The big change is the addition of the skull which takes some explaining.

It's obviously far too large to have belonged to a warrior on the side of light and reason.

It came about when the left hand Orc picked a fight in a bar with a half troll and won.

He's been lugging it around ever since.

(I'll sort out that bad focus shot tomorrow)

Morannon Orcs swaps 4

I'd hoped to have three groups ready to go by now but, every time I think they are ready, I see  an unpainted area or paint where it shouldn't be.*

In fact this is weapon adjustment rather than swap.

I've realised that the High Viscosity Superglue is exactly that.

It runs like the clappers (technical term)

So when applying it as a gap filler, where a weapon joins a hand, use a finer applicator than a cocktail stick and apply a small amount, then, when it's dry, apply more.

Otherwise you get a 'blobby' (another technical term) join.

* Just noticed that I've not painted the base edges!