Matt's WIP (25/03 - "Lords of Gondor" Aragorn and Boromir)

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:18 pm

Thanks for the comments everyone and Shieldmaiden, your suggestions are duly noted, thanks for the input!

TheBucklandBrewer · **Posted:** Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:02 pm

You've done some really fantastic and unique conversions here! I scrolled back a couple of pages, and I really love what you did to Aragorn!
Great job on Boromir aswell!

There's just one thing that 'bothers' me a bit if I can be honest... and it's the bases the horses are mounted on.
I think it would look much better when you first paint and highlight the sand, instead of keeping it just like the sand-out-of-the-pot.
I used to do the same, simply because I was scared to ruin the real sand, but once I tried, I never stepped back. Painted sand/gravel lifts a mini to a little higher level ;-)

John Wayne · **Posted:** Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:22 pm

Nice work. Love the Boromirs together. Realy does look the pose from traveling to rivendell. :yay:

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Fri Oct 05, 2012 7:38 pm

TheBucklandBrewer wrote:

I used to do the same, simply because I was scared to ruin the real sand, but once I tried, I never stepped back. Painted sand/gravel lifts a mini to a little higher level ;-)

Thanks for the kind words! What colours do you use on the sand?

John Wayne wrote:

Nice work. Love the Boromirs together. Realy does look the pose from traveling to rivendell. :yay:

Thanks! That was the aim and bar the cloak I'm rather happy with it!

TheBucklandBrewer · **Posted:** Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:42 pm

Monotone_Matt wrote:

Thanks for the kind words! What colours do you use on the sand?

I usually start with a darker brown, such as Scorched Brown, and then start to drybrush Bestial Brown, followed by Snakebite Leather, Bubonic Brown, Bleached Bone and Skull White.
Depending on the region I may do some changes now and then... For Rohan I'd definately should go from Bestial brown to at least bleanched bone
There's a lot of things you can try :-)

At the bottom of these articles I've done a couple examples:
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/kb.php?a=199
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/kb.php?a=145
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/kb.php?a=148

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:45 pm

Thanks for the guide and reference material! Will definitely give it a go if I ever have any spare time ever again... Work and uni are robbing every last minute from me!

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:21 pm

Update time!

Found some time to convert an Aragorn miniature I ordered off ebay (a biscuit to the first person to recognise which set it's from) by removing his sword arm, replacing it to make him look like he's signaling a charge and adding a hood out of green stuff. He's gonna be leading a bunch of rangers of the North that I recently acquired!

In addition, I started work on my first ever painting comp entry:

Would be grateful for any tips or suggestions, as I'd love to win! Haha

garmenhord · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:26 pm

looking good, i like the dirty old look of gandalfs sword

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:34 pm

I haven't actually painted the sword yet haha! The first time I primed him, the paint was too thick and it obscured the features of his face. So I set about removing the paint with gin (was the only solvent nearby haha) and it splashed onto his sword, removing some of the primer.

However, I do intend to give him a dirty sword when I get round to it!

garmenhord · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:58 pm

Oh lol , but it looks good tough! U could just leave it like that :lol:

Telchar · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:23 pm

Very good Aragorn, and Gandalf is looking good as well. Isn't the Aragorn form Heroes of Helm's Deep? (or whatever it's called, the one holding his sword two-handed and close to his face)

can you strip a plastic mini with gin as well? And does it leave a gloop like dettol does?

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 4:42 pm

Sorry Telchar, no biscuit for you, haha! Thanks alot for the feedback though, glad you like them!

And if my knowledge of chemistry serves me correctly, any alcohol should do. Also, it shouldn't matter if the model is plastic or metal as the solvent only strips the paint. I have never tried Dettol (I hear nail varnish remover works too) so I can't compare, but I found dipping the model in alcohol and rubbing the paint away with some kitchen roll did wonders. Make sure you rinse (or lick, haha) the alcohol off afterwards, that should get rid of the smell. Oh and careful if the model's superglued together, as the alcohol will dissolve that too!

(PS: I read that you should leave the model in Dettol for around 24 hours; alcohol is pretty much instantaneous! And you only need a little bit)

KnightyKnight · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 5:54 pm

That's a converted Breaking of the Fellowship Aragorn (used to be my personal favourite sculpt for him, until The Three Hunters version came along

) and a very nice conversion indeed.

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:05 pm

A jammy dodger for KnightyKnight! I agree, it really is a great pose and yes, Three Hunters Aragorn is even better. Unfortunately, the cheapest one I could fine was 12 pounds on ebay, so I thought I'd use it as inspiration for a conversion instead!

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:39 pm

So I finished off my Last Stand Gandalf (as I have now named him) and Breaking of the Fellowship/Dunedain Leader Aragorn:

First up Gandalf. Was a bit unsure about his base (he's supposed to be standing on the bridge of Kazad-dum) but after a paint job I'm rather proud of it. I hope I get a few votes when the competition starts

And here's Aragorn. Pretty standard, I like the colours although there isn't much of a contrast between his Two Towers red undershirt and his battered leather armour. Ah well!

Unfortunately it's already quite dark so the lighting isn't optimal... Feel free to criticise away, I'm determined to get better!

SidTheSloth · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:59 pm

WOW!
did you sculpt that cloak???
its really really good!!!

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:00 pm

I wish! I sculpted the hood though

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:31 pm

In the spirit of breast cancer awareness month and in complete disregard of the dozens of unpainted models sitting on my desk, I used up some left over green stuff to convert two presumably male RotN into females (which must be the first ever gender swap in Middle Earth on record?) and to give Halbarad a hood. After all, I'm sure even the Grey Company has gender quotas they need to uphold...

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:36 pm

haha very good. nice sculpting work. now paint them pink

Monotone_Matt · **Posted:** Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:44 pm

Haha good idea, maybe I could flog them off and donate the proceeds to charity

Matt's WIP (25/03 - "Lords of Gondor" Aragorn and Boromir)

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