OK to business, the new plastic Ent kit from GW. Now I have to say from the first I saw this model, I didn't like it. It looked too thin and gangly, and devoid of surface texture detail. I also especially didn't like the witchy-poo nose variety. It made it look like something from "Wizard of Oz". In short it looked "plastic". This was especially true since I have already made the excellent Treebeard model, which I could compare it to.
I had also had a look at the alternate metal ent, which I like with a view of similar surface detail of bark texture, as the Treebeard model. However I couldn't quite figure out the face of this model from the images I had seen, and wary of spending lots of money on a model I may not like, I left it.
So I was back looking at the plastic ent kit, and due to its cheaper cost, I thought I would give it a try and see what I could do with it.
I definitely avoided the long nose option and went for a more regular subdued face.
I decided to try and hide plastic-ness of the model, by filling and hiding as many of the joints I could with copious greenstuff puty. I also decided to add more surface detail of my own by adding a lot of clumps of lichen/moss again from greenstuff.
The kit has several branch options to use and several indicated notches where they can go. However I decided to go the whole hog, and use all the branches by drilling a few extra holes for them all to go on. So you can see how the whole thing turned out.
Once confession as such... after I had worked through adding all the large branches, I had one small twiggy branch to add. Since nearly all the other branches had gone on the back of the model, I had a large bare torso to the front , so I quickly drilled a little hole low down on the torso, so its addition wouldn't obscure the ent's face, and added the twig. It was only after the model was finished and painted that my wife, on viewing the model from the side, burst into giggles saying, "its got a willy!"
Oh well, I'll let you decide. See third ent picture below. (As usual you can click on the images to get a larger view.)
It will definitely be a shock for any orcs that enter Fangorn...
I would normally have finished the base with scenic flock and static grass, but my son asked if it could be left a raw earth, to reflect the orc-spoiled earth of Isengard, where this ent is having some fun, as seen by the dead orc on its base (also from the kit).
And together with a few more woodland friends.
In retrospect, and in fairess to GW, this ent model, does look at bit like the "background ents" as seen in PJ's moivie. So if you want heaps of ents cheaply, I guess these are the way to go!
