Holy **** that is absolutely breathtaking, it loos incredibly realistic already. That is going to be one awesome terrain piece when all painted up, keep up the good work

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Fantastic work. Thanks for showing the stages. Inspired me to buy some rock moulds and pigments. Looking forwards to seeing what you do with the lights.

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Simply beautiful. The hobby at its finest!

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Should be very proud of that!

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Painting / staining looks fantastic - looking forward to what you will do with the LED lights.

Thanks every one for the nice comments.



It is easier to use the pigments on rock faces than on the cast blocks. Glue seals the plaster and the pigments can't stain evenly.



I use future when I mix the pigments because they don't have a binder. They are meant to be used with the spray matte medium described in the WS Clinic.


Thanks
I have some experiments to do. Then I will come up with a new plain.

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I will try to get a base coat on the fore ground parts today.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Wow! That's amazing!

Very, very nice. Flawless in execution as far as I can see... I'm not much of a fan of the two different colours of rock though... The dwarves, being great craftsmen, I feel would have hewn the steps out of the rock as oppose to importing rock.

Other than that it's looking fantastic though

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I believe I made a mistake with the color. I wanted to match my dungeon set but still match the photos from the movie sets. I am afraid I won't be able to manage both. Please more comments When it is finished it will be too late





I may can lighten the gray and unify the colors with a wash.

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Well, you've created a masterpiece here, and I couldn't call it by another name. Still I have to agree with Sid.. you should try to get rock and steps/stones closer together. Maybe a touch of ocher (drybrush?) on the steps/walls and dark grey wash for the rocks? I don't want to ruin it with my tips though, so do what you like most ! THat's important!

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First your tips won't ruin it. Thanks for the complements.

It is not about how to get there as much as which way to go.
A more uniform color but lighter or darker
Cooler or warmer
I almost think I should make a poll

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In the end, thats a matter of taste. Do you want a dark cavern or do you want a cave enlightened by lava pits? Do you want it to be invinting ruins of a former dwaven realm or do you want it to be a nasty goblin pit? Since I liked the tones after the very first wash a lot I'd suggest warm, but darker tones maybe.

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Light source for lava test.



I used the hot knife to cut a quick star in a pink foam block.I painted the top black. The LED is behind a white sheet of paper with neon orange painted on top.



I will not need to build an elaborate light box. I should be able to run fibber optic bundles from the same source. there will be no need for a thick base for the lava.





I will be able to make much thinner camp fires with the new battery boxes. The tea candles are cheep but a bit large.

Don't be shy with the comments or questions. Suggestions are very helpful to me.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Incredible work, breath taking in fact.
As for colours I prefer the grey myself and perhaps you could paint some thin mithril veins towards the bottom?

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This is certainly adding a new dimension to the project. How do you plan to work it, will there be one highlight spot or are you looking at several lighting areas to cover the lava flow ?

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He builds Khazad-dum and adds lights.... and I thought I was mad

Rocks - I would go for a warmer brownish overall effect, but some areas could have a greyer or paler/darker browns in there like you get in sedimentary rock formations all over the world (and on other planets as NASA's Curiosity and it's smaller friends are discovering).

Try putting 'sandstone layers' into Google image search - loads of inspiration there. Metamorphosed sedimentary rocks can keep many of the colour qualities of their parent rock, but they are much harder. That would probably be more accurate geologically speaking for the Khazad-dum setting.

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The LED strips have given me more options than a clumsy light table would have.



I planned the model on a two foot by two foot board. At first I was going to add a foot to the front of the models, base for the bridge. This puts the seam between the models bases at the worst possible place. I made a small card model and discovered that I should put the stair on the short base. The lava under the bridge will look much better. I can hide the seam at the foreground of the stair.
I think the smaller board will take two LED strips the larger board three.


Some good tips Mad

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That is a good idea!

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Dorth are you a geologist? That would be crazy if there were two of us. But he is spot on. The outer most layers of the mountains would be comprised of sedimentary rocks, if they survive the uplift and weathering processes, so your sandstones, shales, etc. Nice layered rocks and such. But the bulk of the mountains will be comprised of igneous and metamorphic rocks, with igneous rocks becoming more common as you approach the core of the mountains. Still though, with the exception of foliation (the perceived "layering" in metamorphic rocks, the colors of igneous and metamorphic rocks can be largely the same. Mithril being an ore in mountain belts, would be most closely associated with high grade metamorphic rocks. So I would search that term for imagery.

But enough of the geology lessons. The colors look great and both are accurate, I think anyway. For me, my decision on the scheme would be dependent on the presence of the Balrog. When the mines are "dark" or only lit by Gandalf's staff they have the grey tone. When the balrog is introduced that's when things get brown, incidentally this is also when you see lava (actually it would be magma since it is underground, shut-up geologist, ok). When my friend and I built the bridge of Khazad-Dum I painted it all in brown tones since I had my balrog in mind for it. So really you can't go wrong, I would just use one scheme or the other.

Just an excellent piece of scenery. First class all the way!

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