Smaug the Magnificent

Son of Fundin · **Joined:** Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:04 pm **Posts:** 258

It was, there is an article in the tomes of wisdom (then scultping and converting I think).

mertaal · **Posted:** Sat Dec 14, 2013 1:13 pm

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Outstanding model. Thanks for the pointer.

I wish he'd finished up with a painted photo though. If I'd gone to all that effort I think I'd probably go to the expense of having it professionally cast a few times.

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:00 pm

I did have to dust this model with a soft paintbrush before I could do any painting. :oops:

Apologies for the poor quality pictures: it was a dark evening and flash would have given too much glare.

At first I thought that it might look good painted a bit like a balrog; not black, but with fiery hot lines between the scales. After trying this out on a small area, I soon found out that it looked dreadful. Dreadful in a bad way. :roll:

So, having undercoated it in white, I am now in the process of undercoating in black. Already he is starting to look more menacing and dramatic.

This picture looks shiny because the paint is still wet.

It has proved quite tricky painting in the tiny gaps between the scales and I need to check it over in daylight.

For the wing membrane, I tried a wash of black just to see how it would pick out the details. As you can see, it worked well, so now I plan to repaint it a pale colour before washing with browns and reds to get a leathery look.

It's all very dark at the moment, but that should really bring out the scales when they are painted, giving the model lots of detail and texture.

Who knows? Perhaps I'll actually get this thing painted and based in the next year (or 10!).

Phantom_Lord · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 12:57 pm

I had forgotten all about this amazing project! Good to see the hobbit brought u back to it! Did peter jackson do some good after all

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:14 pm

Er, no.
Nothing to do with Peter Jackson's pitiful travesty. I've only seen the first effort on DVD and didn't bother with the other two.

I'm reading The Hobbit to my son again and it is this term's topic for my class at school.

Phantom_Lord · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:29 pm

oh K you said the hobbit inspired you and I just automatically assumed it was the movie

Personally I agree that the movies are nothing compared to lord of the rings but they look amazing, personally i'd watch the second movie just to see smaug, that dragon was very well done (as is yours

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:46 pm

I might borrow it and skip to the dragon just to see it.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 1:48 pm

Wonderful to see this again after all these years, and great to see the painting beginning.
What colour are you aiming for red, brown or green ?

Quendil · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 2:02 pm

Can't believe I missed this thread. Outstanding :yay:

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 4:49 pm

Gandlaf the Grey wrote:

What colour are you aiming for red, brown or green ?

He will be predominantly red with, perhaps, some gold highlights.

Thanks, Quendil.

Gandlaf the Grey · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 4:52 pm

Gold highlights, interesting.

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:34 pm

What gold paint are you thinking of using Natarn? GW, Vallejo?

The reason I ask is the newer golds are a bit of a nightmare to work with nowadays. No matter how much you shake them it seems you are always painting with the oils or thinner in the paint rather than the paint itself. This works fine while painting in general but if you plan to drybrush with the gold it could cause you some problems. Best way round this is to try and get hold of a pot of the old GW Shining Gold - stuff is the best there is and works a treat with a drybrush. Just a heads up.

Grungehog · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 5:41 pm

Good to see this coming along into the painting realm, have you made a base for him yet? I have made a template of the gw base, using the dimensions online. it is just an ellipse made of card, but I could send it to you by post if you want. pm me if interested.
Btw your Dragon is one of the things that inspired me to sculpt my own one

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 6:11 pm

Thanks, Kev. I still have a pot of the old GW shining gold, so hopefully that'll work. I'm not really sure what I'm doing, but I'll test it and see.

Thanks also to you, Grungehog for the offer of the GW dragon base dimensions. I have already made a base of mdf in a circle, a bit larger than GW's as my dragon is larger. A while back, when I had a couple of GW's mumakil, I drew round one of their bases, which I think are the same size as their dragon's base. Although my dragon would fit on it (just), I thought it would look a bit cramped and, as I'm not going to use my dragon in any tournaments (and will have to work out my own stats for him) having a GW base isn't an issue any more. Thanks for the offer though.

I'm really glad that my dragon inspired you to make yours and I really like what I'm seeing in your WIP. That's the great thing about this website; we can fire each others' imaginations and try new projects as a result. I'd done a little bit of sculpting before joining this website, but it was the esteemed Mr Freddy who inspired me to really get into sculpting when I read the article about how he made his ent.

theavenger001 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 6:15 pm

He's back! I look forward to seeing this progress (again). It will be sweet to see all your hard work sculpting picked out and enhanced by painting.

Grungehog · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 6:41 pm

the Smaug base is longer by a 4cm than the mumaks

Natarn · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:23 pm

theavenger001 wrote:

:D He's back! I look forward to seeing this progress (again). It will be sweet to see all your hard work sculpting picked out and enhanced by painting.

Or obliterated by my clumsy brush strokes!

Wow! That's hilarious! I've just looked at the GW site to take a shifty at their Smaug model. How much? I said h-h-h-how much?! Is it made of metal? (Gold?) I'd say GW are laughing all the way to the Lonely Mountain!

Thanks, Grungehog. I didn't know that the base was that size. I was thinking of the stumpy GW cat-dragon base, which I think is the same size as a muzak's. Please could you tell me the length and width of the oval? I may adjust my circle a little. I'll think about it.

Grungehog · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 9:45 pm

the oval base of a normal dragon is a fair bit smaller than the mumak base, I have actually commissioned an ebay seller to laser cut me the base with correct GW Smaug size but he's taking his sweet time if all goes well it should be available from him for everyone pretty soon, I say this because I find my base a bit flexible and I would like a firmer base for the sheer weight of the beastie.
off the GW website "The base is 9.2 inches (or 23.1 cm) long and 5.4 inches (or 13.3 cm) wide."

I Am Frodo · **Posted:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:39 am

Thats magnificent. (groanworthy?)

Truly regal and awesome dragon, well done.

Natarn · **Posted:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:20 pm

Grungehog wrote:

"The base is 9.2 inches (or 23.1 cm) long and 5.4 inches (or 13.3 cm) wide."

Thanks for that.

My base is 22.5 cm in diameter and is circular, which is not too far off the GW base in length. I think I'll stick with my circle as it'll enable more scenery modelling on the base and offer a wider more stable and dramatic setting for Smaug.

The base is the same size as I cut for my mumak.

Here's a picture with an orc next to the leg to help get an idea of the scale of this beast and the size of the base.

Smaug the Magnificent

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