Middle Earth scenery

[steve_pickstock]

Ok, so I am weak!

I can justify it. It's not just the new 'shiny' thing, it's the fact that I get bored doing the same thing for a long time, and I have been working on the Musketeers for over four months now. Plus using the polystyrene has opened new possibilities and I am going at them like a man possessed.

So with the church done, the auberge and the wall scene well on the way to completeness, figures getting painted and general progress is coming along nicely with the Musketeers, I allowed myself to explore my other love - Middle Earth.

It started with this experiment




Eventually this will become a ruin swallowed by the woods of Ithilien or rotting in the wilds of Rhovanion, or possibly even one of ruins in the north, in Arnor.

Then I began thinking - which I probably shouldn't do.
You see the problem is the films.
Parts of them I love and parts of them I really really hate.
The biggest thing about the Peter Jackson films for me, is the design work that went into them. Weapons, armour and architecture, they did so much that was right in these areas but then screwed it up by making stuff up in the scripts. And don't even start me on what they did to the Riders of Rohan.

I knew what I was trying to do with this, but it still started out as an experiment, using a new type of foam that I got given called Depron. This is used for model aeroplanes, it's tough, light and quite an open foam. So I sandwiched some 10mm depron between some of the 3mm white polystyrene and added a moulded frieze from the blue styrodur - just to see what it looked like.

It actually doesn't look much in this photo, but it's solid, quite stiff and okay, with some work, I think it will do the job.

This next bit is tricky - getting the look of monumental masonry, and stairs! The stairs are going to be tricky. I turned the design over in my head - a lot. I didn't like the use of gryphons in the films, gryphons aren't really a thing in Tolkien, either as statues or as creatures.
In the book it is described as "The Seat of Seeing, also known as the Seat of Amon Hen, ... an ancient stone chair at the summit of Amon Hen. Surrounded by a battlement in the midst of a flat stone circle, the seat was built atop four carven pillars and was reached by a long staircase."

No gryphon.

A better view of the platform

Platform and seat

The seat in close-up


The trick will be getting the stairs fitted, but I'm happy with it so far.

[Peter]

Fantastic start of this topic! I like that throne!

[Bluefalchion]

Regarding the LoTR films from Peter Jackson, there were some aspects of them that I really, really hated. And there were some aspects of them that I just regular hated.

Therefore, I am very excited for this second project of yours. The vines growing over the ruins, a remnant of a long ago time.

And not a Gryphon or super-cheezy decorative sword or a Studio-54 elf in sight!

[Minuteman]

This looks like a great new project! Scenery for Middle Earth is a creator's dream, and your polystyrene architectural work is brilliant. Is there space in the loft though....? Rivendell? Helms Deep in its entirety?

[bothree69]

I'm very curious...
even if it is not understood I like the genre .....
I can not wait

[PaulRPetri]

Steve great work!!
I feel the exact same way about the Jackson films. It can be very limiting that his vision is the final take on all things LOTR. Reading the books in the 70's prior to any films it was great at that time, to see all of the various artists interpratations on middle earth.That all seems a bit lacking now.

[steve_pickstock]

Quick update on the Amon Hen model.

Spent some time this afternoon working on the pillars and the staircase. Once the supporting pillars are done, I can work out precisely how big the staircase needs to be.

Once again this is a little off, when it comes to square, but I rationalise this with the fact that the Seat of Seeing was about 1000 years old by the events of the Fellowship of the Rings, possibly even 1700 years old, things shift. I'll adjust it when I glue it all up.

Meanwhile I slapped a coat of paint on the Seat.





One of the other things I did today was to make some glazes.
Matt medium, water and washing up liquid, to make the basic medium. Then a mixture of Peat coloured acrylic ink and Black acrylic ink to get a dirty wash (aka Devlan Mud substitute).

So the Seat has been washed with the dirty wash and left overnight. The purpose of doing this is to get some depth into the 'carved' detail - the white tree, the stars and the moudlings round the seat.
Tomorrow I will drybrush it, and see how it looks.

The tutorial for the glazes is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BluWvC_nXik&t=254s
Midwinter Minis is a good channel with a nice balance between talking and doing.

Thanks for looking in and stay safe.

[steve_pickstock]

Well the good news is that the home-made 'dirty wash' worked.

The first four pictures show the seat washed and dried - so to speak.





With that I gave it a dry brush, with a flat brush using Vallejo Pale Sand. Not too light, but enough to emphasis the shading in the recesses.





Nice, I was quite happy with that but still gave it a lighter dry-brush using an old makeup brush and Vallejo White,






For the rest of it - the stairs are coming along, the supporting pillars are too, and I think the platform is looking good to go as well.

[Bluefalchion]

An aged, weatherbeaten stone seat, over a millenium old. I declare you have achieved it!

[PaulRPetri]

Excellent work Steve!! I have also become a big fan of makeup brushes for dry brushing. My wife laughs at me when I buy the pink handled makeup brushes at The Dollar Store, but I am secure in my manhood, (gulp).

[Peter]

Real nice chair! Now I must find where my wife hides her make up brushes!

[MABO]

The throne looks really good. You created a original stone effect, I would say. But I am also interested in the French Auberge...

[steve_pickstock]

The throne looks really good. You created a original stone effect, I would say.

Thanks.

But I am also interested in the French Auberge...

It's still coming along, I added the bases for the rooves today, this week I will start the tiling.

[steve_pickstock]

Hello all, on this bright but cold Friday afternoon.

So the current LotR project - Amon Hen and the Seat of Seeing.

Parts are assembled before glueing, filling, detailing and general assembly.

(ignore the hydra in the background, that's for something else)

The pillars which were always ambitious will go on first so that I can set them square, fill the voids and paint the filling.
Once that is done I will detail the bannister for the staircase, fit it and glue it in place.
The seat needs some bands of the 1mm styrodur on the edges of the plinth, and these will be detailed later.
The statues come from a GW set and look good in comparison, so they will finished in the same style.
The figure is the wizard from Caesar's Adventurers set.

[steve_pickstock]

Good day all.

First off, thanks to everybody who has looked in on this thread since I started it. Much appreciated.

So the last image I posted showed the components for the Seat of Seeing which sits on the hill of Amon Hen, all components together.

The next thing I did was to fill any gaps - using filler mixed with ModPodge to make it flow better, paint them with the undercoat - Vallejo Yellow Ochre, and place them together.
Here is the view from above

Sadly in this view you cannot see the mouldings that line the stairwell, which I am kind of chuffed about,

However once the pillars had been fitted and glued into place ...


... the truth emerged.
Somehow in the years since it was first built, the Seat of Seeing had slumped.
Some serious subsidence going on there.

The fact was that the pillars were not up to the rest of the work, so yesterday I took them off and started them again.
The originals were, I have said before quite ambitious and complicated. I had forgotten to KISS
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid
I dug out a 25mm thick block of styrodur and cut the pillars from that. This allowed me to be more precise and get everything matched up much better. It also took a lot less time, so in the time it took to make one pillar the other way, I managed to cut four, scribe the details, add texture, plinths, paint and apply a wash to fours.

The effect is so much better,

I also made some tweaks to the staircase.

So this where I am at now, painted and washed, but not yet all glued together.
.
Incidentally Gandalf was the only member of the Fellowship who didn't actually get to Amon Hen, though it has been suggested that in the film, when Frodo sat on the chair, somehow he linked to Gandalf - who was recovering from going fifteen rounds with the Balrog.

The next step is to assemble a platform for all to sit on, which is underway.

Cheers all, stay safe.

[Peter]

Maybe next time you can play some music from "KISS", so it will remind you to Keep It So Simple!

But you fixed it well! Go on Steve!

[steve_pickstock]

Maybe next time you can play some music from "KISS", so it will remind you to Keep It So Simple!

But you fixed it well! Go on Steve!

Sadly not a fan.

I was however listening to Wardruna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhiUacGzIg8
Which is sort of appropriate.

[Bluefalchion]

I really love this project. If only you could have been on Peter Jackson's production team back in the late 90's.

[Peter]

Sadly not a fan.

I was however listening to Wardruna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhiUacGzIg8
Which is sort of appropriate.

Not my kind of music that I would listen whole day, but not bad!

[steve_pickstock]

I really love this project. If only you could have been on Peter Jackson's production team back in the late 90's.

I am glad that you are enjoying it. I am enjoying it as well. I have had some of these projects in my mind for a long time.

I think I have already said that the design that Weta Workshops unleashed on the Jackson films was the strongest features of the movies for me. The armour/costumes, the weapons, and use of locations are the main reasons I go back and watch the film. I understand that they were working with budget constraints and can accept that.

I think some of the decisions made in the story-telling are a bit bizarre, When everyone else was putting so much love and devotion into the work, you get other people making abitrary and often strange decisions with the story line.

Thank you again for your kind words and support.