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Sunday, May 04, 2014

Escape from the Dwarrowdelf ... along Durins Causeway... WIP

The Watcher in the Water terrain board, is 95% finished... I am just busy pouring the Realistic Water Resin, layer by layer, but things have cooled and become damper here in NZ as Autumn kicks in, and its affecting how quickly the resin is drying through...

So while it does its thing in its own time... I made a start on making Durin's Causeway, for the Fellowship of the Ring scenario; the Escape from the Dwarrowdelf. The Dwarrowdelf is the place with all the huge pillars, off of which is Balin's tomb...

This terrain feature covers the scenes from the movie as they leap across the broken steps whilst escaping the Balrog... and we hear those immortal words; "Not the Beard!"  ;-)

So my 25mm thick Styrofoam sheet order arrived from Forman Insulation, which my Hotwire Foam Factory crafting kit has been waiting to get to grips with... and I made a start today.

I would have started yesterday but a bit of DIY home repair was on the cards first. I had to repair damage to our bathroom wall after the heated towel rail came off after an exuberant son said he 'just pulled the towel off it, and it fell on the floor'... hmmm..... anyway...

Here's what I got done today;


Here I am using the HotWire craft tool, to cut out the stepped sections... makes it real easy... A glass of vino and some MiddleEarth music as accompaniment helped the time pass effortlessly...


Oh and I had FotR on pause on the TV to get the look of the thing right!

And reverse angle...


I have not yet cut out the broken stair section... I made that one piece intact, until I had all the pieces in proportion and correctly positioned.

My only slightly nagging doubt is, is 25mm wide enough for the scenario? That means a single file run through this scenario, pursued by goblins from behind and others awaiting in front...Should I make it double the thickness for the arched causeway sections? This would thus make it possible for two regular models to fight side by side... In the movie it's clearly wide enough for two people to stand side by side, but our models bases represent the fighting space they need... I guess you could call it either way...

I will of course base it and put an MDF sheet up the back to support and protect the main upright... and I will blend the edges into a rocky surface...possibly using some of that expanding foam stuff which I can then carve...

The only real issue, as my son nonchalantly pointed out, wandering through the garage to see how I was doing, is storage. "Where you gonna keep it Dad?" ... Hmmm ,... its 28" high and will stand on a 2' x 3' board once finished... hmmm... oh well I am sure I'll find a spot for it, somewhere... ;-)

Ah well, that's my terrain work for the weekend... other painting has seen me finish the 4 Wood Elf swordsmen Tim sent me, and after finally getting round to watching the 'Making-of' discs from Hobbit #1 AUJ, Ext Ed.. it motivated me to get on and paint up the Hobbit Dwarf set... I have got another five done now; Thorin, Dwalin, Bombur Bifur and Dori, which now makes six in total done with Balin that I did some weeks ago. I now have made a start on Fili and Kili, and Haldir (for the Lothlorien scenario) also sneaked into the painting queue... I'll feature these in a subsequent post...

22 comments:

  1. Wow! That is an impressive demonstration of terrain-building skills. I can't wait to see the finished article.

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  2. Looks fantastic! The FotR 'Journeybook' has 2" wide segments, IIRC. If you don't widen them the fellowship will get bogged down in an epic traffic jam unless you have a houserule to allow some sort of leapfrogging.

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    1. Yes, thats kinda what I was thinking... I'll think I'll use these first pieces as a template to cut out another matching set to make the causeway wider...

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  3. I agree with the before mentioned comment, and make it wider. It just seems more natural that if need be the Fellowship would have to stand riskily close to the edge and in other members fighting space to fight their way out. Same for goblins, they'd risk anything to bring numbers to bare on the Fellowship. Excellent terrain work Scott, it's helping me as I too, need to build Moria scenery soon, starting with some scaffolding!

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  4. Can't wait for the follow-up! Already at this stage it looks awesome!

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  5. It already looks quite grand Scott and I think it looks like a lot of work coming your way.

    Christopher

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  6. That terrain piece is right out of Hollywood. Nicely done. I always err on the side of caution with figure bases being large and make platforms, etc. where figures would stand larger than needed. If your stairs are 1 base wide and single file is your desire, then you're good.

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  7. Impressive scratch-building, Scott.

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  8. Great start, looking forward to seeing this finished.

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  9. That is one impressive piece of work, I can't wait to see more.

    That glass of vino looks huge.

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    1. Thanks. LOL, ah, ha I was using that clever camera trick, as used in filming LOTR; put the object closer to the camera to make it look bigger... ;-) actually it was a rather large glass too :-) ... wifeypoo's latest diet fad is the 'Mediterranean diet' - so I have the green light for red wine!!! :-)

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  10. another small terrain project then Scott! I am in awe Sir.

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  11. This is an epic build mate. Where on (middle!) earth will you store it when it's done???

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    1. I know! Storage... er, yes, well... err... I think it will have to sit on a low table that's currently storing an array of small terrain items in the games room... I'll have to have a tidy and sort for it to fit its space... Either that or I'll be taking over the spare bedroom!

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  12. Seriously impressive yet again. Really enjoying following your terrain building work

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  13. Thanks all for the encouragement - Yep I'm going to go back and double width the causeway sections now, though it may need to wait till next weekend as I usually do terrain work at the weekend when I have more time to mess about with it. Weeknight evenings usually paint mini's...Cheers, Scott

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  14. Double wide seems best otherwise how will the Balrog pursue? Otherwise it looks great!

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    1. The Balrog is not actually in this scenario, so thankfully that's not a factor, but there is a cave troll and that's on a 40mm base, so that is a factor!... However it could come on the board and be waiting at the bottom of the causeway, which could be a nice surprise for the Fellowship when they get there!

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  15. Great to see some terrain that uses height as well as breadth and length. We all tend to game on flat surfaces so it will be great to see some height for a change.
    As usual, very impressive and you haven't even finished it yet.

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    1. Indeed, adds a bit of drama... if someones falls off, they are very dead no matter how many Fate points they have! I just hope the models done suffer the same fate and I have to redo chipped paint work. I think I'll be "blu-tac-ing" them on as they traverse this terrain!

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    2. black cotton wool along the bottom?

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  16. That is a lovely bit of work Scott, bravo!

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