I am most certainly going to run out of superlatives in this thread...

What kind of tool did you use to cut the foam/how much do you think one would cost?

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'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Thanks again for encouraging comments!

@Sid, I used Hot Wire Foam Factory tools for cutting foam. I've found their scroll table to be particularly useful. The yellow-handled tool seen in one photo is their engraver tool - good for coarse engraving but a bit too heavy for e.g. carving the dwarven runes (used a ballpoint pen for that). I also used their sculpting tool to gouge the creek a bit deeper than the pool bottom level. I bought their 3-in-1 kit with the engraver, sculpting tool and hot knife + power source for $100, and the scroll table without power for $50 (it uses the same transformer that came with the 3-in-1 kit).

EDIT: Forgot to mention my trusty foam-cutting knife, bought at a local hardware store. This, and a large steel straightedge, I use for cutting larger rectangular pieces from blue foam sheets.

Thanks for the advice, I'll have a look

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Hi,

A few photos to show the current progress on the Moria west gate board. Here is the board with the first layer of putty added:



I then mixed some lightweight hydrocal (fairly thick mix) and covered the plaster cloth areas between the cast rocks / foam rocks. There is a window of few minutes to carve the hydrocal before it hardens - I proceeded to blend the cast rocks and foam rocks with the carved rocks... I guess the painting will be the final judge as to whether I succeeded.





Here is the board with second, smaller layer of putty added on the shoreline (the previous layer cracked quite a bit as it hardened).



The next photo shows part of the chamber wall, painted but not yet fully weathered, as well as the Doors of Durin awaiting for insertion into the Wall of Moria (once it is painted and weathered).



Finally, a photo of the two holly tree armatures getting a second coating of flexi-bark. I tried adding some of the most prominent branches as seen in the film, but did not even try to be fully authentic.



Next steps: foliage to the holly, talus to the board, overall painting, and the assembly of the chamber. Stay tuned...

Mailman brought more Realistic water, so I poured another layer on the river tile. So far it seems to cover the area fairly evenly...let's hope this is the situation also tomorrow morning.



The foam horses got a coat of blue and white paint.





Next steps: water effects on top of the hardened realistic water, and a coat of gloss on the foam horse + wave. Stay tuned...

Here are two photos of work-in-progress for the Watcher in (and out) of the water. The second photo has also Oin and Ori, who will soon get help from a handful of Khazad guards.





I did not want to have permanent dead dwarves on the Watcher base, so I did a new rock from blue foam. It ended up being quite tall, but I guess that's just fine. I plan to pour a bit of realistic water on the base once the Watcher is done and glued in place.

Wow love the water effects - looks very realistic. Your sketch of the dwarven door is awesome and the trees look great.

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You would of had me crawling on all fours like a BEAST!

Loving the look of the foaming horses

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

such an amazing project really eager to see the results

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Hi,

A short progress report on the Moria west gate board. Here's the board with talus added. The hydrocal rocks drank the scenic glue quite readily, and I had to reapply a bit thicker glue to finally attach the talus securely.



Here is the board with first layers of paint.



...and this is the wall of Moria with base paint and black wash:



The two photos below show the progress with the inner chamber; the second one has rubble added and glued, but not yet painted.





Here is a closer look at the rocky terrain, now with drybrushed lighter grey.



This is where I am now - some fine turf added, and the lake bottom has now been feathered with airbrush.



Next steps will be the drybrusing of the creek bottom with a suitable slimy green, and pouring realistic water (tinted with green) to the creek. When this is dry, an overall layer of water will follow, covering the entire lake. But even before that, I need to glue in the holly tree roots and finish adding turf. Stay tuned!

Thoroughly inspiring work!
Your scenery has an authenticy I can only aspire to

All the WiP shots of the water works are very helpful indeed

Moria is looking utterly fantastic!!
The inner chamber looks suitably worn down and lived (and fought) in.

Brilliant work!

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

I can only agree wit Sidthesloth! Exellent work and very inspiring!

I appreciate a lot, that you post a lot of work in progress shots, giving us an insight in your way of working. The Moria board is just perfect

Thanks Sid & Gunslinger, much appreciated! @Sid, I will definitely post more photos of the water features - working with Woodland Scenics stuff is new for me, too. I am almost done with the river tile, too - I'm not sure if I'm pleased with that, though... the water effects product created an unexpectedly non-glossy finish on top of the hardened Realistic water. That, apparently, is merely the effect of the non-smooth surface, since coating with floor wax or gloss 'ardcoat won't make a difference. However, from the figure eye level the water looks quite good. But I will add photos tomorrow, once I have the foam horses finished as well.

The speed of your work is fascinating. How many of you are working on these projects ?
I must say though that I agree with Sid, the realism is setting the standard that others can only hope to aspire to.

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Thanks for the kind words! It's just me working on the terrain & painting figures, and me & my friend playing the campaign. But I admit that I'm working overtime to finish the Moria gate terrain at super high speed - I will display it (along with two other terrain pieces - Weathertop and the Ford of Bruinen) in a local model show this coming Saturday (and I still need to paint a handful of Khazad guards as well). I will post pics from the event and the finished terrains in this thread.

Superb work. I missed the last bunch of updates, and it's amazing to see the speed and quality of your work.

No rest for the wicked - Saturday's model show is approaching fast, so I've been at it again. I'll begin with the river tile, which is now finished. We had a sunny day, so got nice light for the photo:



Here is a photo taken last night with artificial light - I liken this to "moon river".



I also finished the foam horses - here are two shots of the wave on the river tile. I used white poly fiber to simulate finer foam (and also to hide the gaps between the wave and the river surface / banks.





Here are two close-ups of the foam horses:





More on the Moria board progress in another post.

Just a quick update on the Moria west gate board. Since yesterday I've caulked the watcher's pool edges with silicone + masking tape, in the hope that these will hold the realistc water when I pour it in in a couple of days. Some additional turf was added to rocks to simulate moss and low vegetation.



Once I have water in the creek, there will be a couple of small waterfalls. These are made with Woodland Scenics water effects paste, spread on non-stick baking paper. The photo shows the stuff as white out of the bottle, but as it hardens into soft vinyl-like substance, it becomes transparent (two examples can be seen in the same photo). These can be trimmed to fit and attached with more water effects (but more on that in a couple of days).



Finally, two shots of the finished inner chamber. I used two GW dwarf kings as statues. Note also the Scibor Miniatures dwarf heads used as crumbled pieces of statues (I think these are intented to be used on figure bases, but add a lot to scenery / terrain pieces, too, and Scibor has some nice elven ruin pieces as well).





Next steps: pouring some water, and working on the holly trees. Stay tuned...

Wow! Just wow!!
The foaming horses are incredible!!
You've done a great job of the riverside too, very realistic (becoming a reoccuring theme here)

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton

Cor! I'm looking forward to the waterfalls!
The Moria pictures are amazing.... looks like it belongs in the film

_________________
'Though my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior'
-John Newton