For the sake of prosperity - here are my progress shots from my entry to the Total Warfare Diorama challenge. Some of these I have posted already on the challenge thread, but I wanted to include everything here in one place. Looks like I will finish this by the skin of my teeth. No photos yet of minis in place - but I built it - so they will come.
I was initially thinking of this as some ruins of Osgiliath, but I ended up following Brushstrokes sandstone painting guide and those colours don't really suit the fair city. So now I like to think of this as an outpost somewhere in Gondor - near the border with Mordor - subject to constant raids from Orcs and other nasty things.
So I started with a wooden base of MDF board and pine.
There's a gap in the board because that is where the river will go. To cross the river you need a bridge. It began with a plywood frame.
All the stone work is cast from Hirst Arts blocks. First, the cobblestones added to the bridge frame
Then some of the form work, arches, balustrades etc
The bridge in place on the board
A close up of the stone work
Next I wanted a dramatic archway that a well known Gondorian hero could charge through
Doesn't look very dramatic yet does it! Patience my love....
Next component was a ruined statue and wall made from a mix of GW plastic statue with head removed, a resin base from I don't know where, and more Hirst blocks
Here's a shot with the primer sprayed
The last major component was a structure to represent residential dwellings of the occupants of the outpost - not necessarily soldiers. The outpost supports both the military and civilians of Gondor. So I built a wall with some windows and doors to represent attached dwellings.
Doors were cast using a Hirst mould - and then painted
Seems the orcs have been doing their own painting
I added sand/soil and paving to the base, and lots of rubble
I sculpted the river bed out of self drying clay and added in some plaster cast rocks
As you can see, the whole board was sprayed with primer - Army painter desert yellow (I think that's the name - too lazy to visit the shed to find the can). Then it was time to wash with seraphim sepia and dry brush with Tallarn sand followed by bleached bone, add some vegetation and various chattels like barrels, boxes etc
Then I painted the river bed, added some vegetation including some reed beds.
I have added some water effect to the river - though not that happy with it. Not drying in time. Anyway - well done for making it this far! The next pictures will be of the final product. I had a bit of a kerfuffle with my driver of the Great Beast - lost his arm and lance in the vacuum cleaner I suspect. So I had to sculpt a new arm and used a lance from Bretonian knight box set (I think).
Anyway - thanks for looking. The final product is not far away!
{ PORTAL }
Print view
Top
