Very nice!



I have been working on mine for a while

Joking aside some custom molds are just the thing

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

I was trying to shame myself into finishing


How is the project lake working out?

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

Still working on it, I think using the velum vs normal paper is what is causing the rippling - had glued down a view using normal paper with mod-podge sealing it and some Realistic Water on top and it worked better but I didn't like the picture so trying again.

Feel like I should have several ones going at the same time since I have to wait for things to cure.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

I am waiting on work space to free up. Too much going on

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

This is great work. Looking forward to seeing more of it!

Rumors have reached Balin of a chamber at the Mines of Moria that contain Durin's Axe. He knows that with that axe he will be able to reclaim Moria for the glory of the dwarves.

That is the scenario that I have currently going on in my mind while I try and decide how to build my Moria board.

Below are some initial columns I'm considering and still haven't decided on to have just an axe or paint Durin as a statue holding the fully painted axe.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

The Durin statue is a great idea. Will look awesome!

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Commission Availability : BOOKED SOLID (again lol)

More of my work at

www.ShadowandFlame.co.uk

It looks good do both!

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

With the second delivery from Victoria Miniatures and some spare axes and arrow quivers I finished outfitting the rest of Balin's expedition force.

Tried a paint scheme on the columns - black base paint, grey kinda stippled on with stiff brush, dry highlight with white. Light outside made the right side of the picture more green than it is.

Now to make some more large columns.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Those are some very well done conversions. I'm also liking the look of the terrain. Keep up the great work!

Go for a green wash on those columns, I think it will add some character to them.

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Commission Service Available

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Gandlaf - thanks for the tip. I knew they needed something else but couldn't figure out what. The green wash helped a lot, especially on the dwarf heads I had added to the columns.

Again, thanks.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Made enough columns to get a general feel of how I want the board to look. I have a 2x3ft table that I will be building the board on. While I like the look of the columns being close together - there wasn't enough space for the larger miniature bases to maneuver/battle. Definitely worth my time to lay it out in different configurations to decide how much to cast and build.

The board will be oriented the long way, with a staircase at one end and Durin's statue at the other. The main hallway will be lined with the smaller statues/columns with the larger ones forming outside hallways.

Still haven't decided on how to do the main door and staircase. My thought process has this chamber under a Dwarf Spell of Concealment but once they enter the chamber all bets are off. Currently I am building floor pieces with fissures for goblins to come out of and I am thinking about six small doors around the outside of the chamber to provide random entrance of goblins.

Built some custom molds to reduce the number of casting I have to do - the small columns went from two casts of parts of two molds for one column to one cast of one mold making 2 columns. The custom molds for the larger columns will have even more savings in casting.

Anyway - some pictures:

12 small columns worth of plaster plus some dwarf heads and floor pieces - I have found once I have filled up one tray of the dehydrator I am tired of casting for the day.



A look from a door down the hall towards Durin's Statue (not the final spacing of the columns - just playing with the camera)



The prize - Durin's Axe (still working on painting it)

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

After vacation and family visiting - finally have a chance to work on this. Managed to get the small columns put together and painted, now have 20 of them - this will be the long hallway to the statue:





Just finished making the molds I will need for the larger columns and for the unique floor molds for the hallway.
Hirst Arts and Keebler Studios molds on the left, floor molds on the top, column molds under that and the dwarf head mold.
The Hirst Arts floor mold I am putting together in different sizes so I can vary the layout.



When I was showing my niece what I was doing, her first question was "Where is the Balrog?" Told her I didn't have one but would think about it. When one came up on Ebay - it turned out to be someone local so I messaged him and he pulled it off so neither one of us would have to worry about shipping. He also had about 20 metal LOTR figures to sell so I bought it all for a good price. Will probably strip it and paint it again so I can feel like it is mine.



Now all I have to do is start pouring plaster, painting, etc., etc, etc.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

Beautiful work, I love it! The casts are good, the painting great. I like that it doesn't feel standard, and the colours have a dark, subterranean feeling to it.

By the way, the reflecting floor looks magnificent already. Might actually be a great idea for the finished table as well (and, it seems plausible to me that the skilled Dwarves could make such surfaces, even from stone).

Very nice. Your progress has put me to shame

The custom molds are well done.

I will have to make a deep column mold I like the small column mold too. I have only used the parts for doors. Very well done.

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

Fëanor - I agree, I like the reflection of the columns. Made me think if I just used black construction paper under the glass it should would reduce the amount of plaster to be poured.

Then I remembered my shaper sheet that I was experimenting with - so I stuck that under the glass.





A quick and dirty way of having a textured base but using the glass allows for having a even playing surface. Looks good and better than a plain table top but I still think I will continue with the making of floor pieces.

OmW - glad you think I was making progress, I sure haven't felt that way.
I use a food dehydrator to dry my pieces, I was lucky that my bigger molds still fit between trays. Hadn't thought about that when making the molds.

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"Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

I have been working on My Hirst Arts and Dwarven Forge dungeons for years. I finished painting the Cavern Kickstarter. So I have begun to cannibalize some of by floor tiles. I am going to build the new sections so that the whole floor tile fits a box to make storage easier. I purchased the axe floor mold from Keebler Studio. I need to make a custom mold for that. I have a rubber Zuzzy mat I also use. Sorry to say that Zuzzy is too unreliable to recommend.

I like the idea of the shaper sheet under the glass. Have you looked at the home improvement store for textured wall paper or even Marble like vinyl flooring? Several people on some of the crafting sites are using homemade stamps to paint large dungeon floor surfaces.

I always enjoy your post. Nice progress.

New product
http://www.4botindustries.com/#!Cavern Floor Molds now available. Get your's today./c7fg/55b955c20cf2dce5af63bfc7

https://www.facebook.com/groups/44641935828/ for a photo of the wip wall molds



I have only cast the 1/2" floor mold twice. I am going to use it for deep water cast. I am waiting for the new wall molds for some new modular elevation sections.

I like what you have done with some of the Keebler Studio parts

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

Just brilliant work, I have initially missed this thread - inspired by the geared up Dwarves heading into the halls. Very impressive!

Superb work, just superb! This is a great thread

Those converted Dwarves with back packs are such a great idea, perfectly executed. Also, putting 'Durin' as a statue on that pedestal/tomb piece looks fantastic. I'm now following this thread with interest

Keep up the great work

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My WIP: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=27174&start=180