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 Post subject: Re: Mapper's Durin's Chamber Floor
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 4:03 am 
Elven Warrior
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Brilliant terrain here - fantastic work. Really like the dwarf heads on the columns. I need to get some of those molds!

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper's Durin's Chamber Floor
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 4:32 am 
Loremaster
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I have been really happy with the Keebler Studios mold - it is very well made with clean edges and has held up well under multiple uses. The dwarf heads were old warhammer dwarf heads I had in my bitz box that I made a mold of. Tried doing shields but they didn't work out as well, might have to try again though.

Thanks everyone for the kind words, keeps me going on pouring the plaster.

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin Chamber - plaster done
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 4:40 pm 
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Famous last words. I keep thinking I have all the plaster poured I need for doing the chamber when I think of something else.

As it stands now - this is what I have:

Image

The walls on the right are the latest change to my design, wanted to add some variation to the height level so now I have Durin's statue on a second level. I took some insulation board I have laying around that is bothering me on how to do the Dwarf Road and Lake Mirrormere and used that to add some variation.

I have most of what is shown painted by now but it all should have been done if I could keep on task and stay off ebay. I bought a cave troll body only for a good price and used the extra arms from the Isengard/Mordor troll to make a Cave Troll. So of course I had to make a broken column and a door.

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I haven't started painting my dwarves yet - still trying to decide on what scheme I want to go with. I think I have painted and stripped the banner bearer at least three times.

Looking at Durin's statue I wanted to build something behind it to help it stand out - took the dwarf fantasy coin I have and tried doing a wall with it - first embedded:

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and then bas-relief:

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Think I will go with the bas-relief

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And yes, I know that isn't Durin for the statue but I felt the Dain figure made a better statue.

Now if I can remain focused I should be able to finish painting the floor pieces and post an idea of what I have in mind.

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Last edited by Mapper on Sat Oct 07, 2017 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin Chamber - plaster done
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 4:58 pm 
Ringwraith
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That's awesome! Can't wait to see this finished up!

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin Chamber - plaster done
PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:49 pm 
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Fantastic project.

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - painting
PostPosted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 11:34 pm 
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Well, I got all the tiles painted ... then decided I didn't like the look of it. It was all too clean if you know what I mean. I had started to put pumice on some of the tiles to add texture and debris but that went against the stackable/storage of what I wanted.

So I am now going back over all the tiles with dabs of Lustrian Undergrowth and Stirland Mud to dirty the tiles up. The photo doesn't really show it, but the grey/black still shows up.

Getting there.

"Clean floor"

Image

"Dirty floor"

Image

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Last edited by Mapper on Sat Oct 07, 2017 10:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - painting
PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 12:22 am 
Elven Elder
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Nice progress

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - painting
PostPosted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:02 am 
Wayfarer
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Completely agree on a 'Dirty Floor' - when it's too clean well, you've realised that for yourself.

I'm torn on what scheme to paint some dwarves of my own, I feel your pain! :)
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - new column design
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:55 pm 
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I have finished the tiles for the game table; all have been base painted, dry brushed, wash added, dirtied up, duct taped on the bottom (for additional durability and to keep plaster dust off when stacked). Working now on the shaper sheet that will go on the wall on two sides of the game table. Here is what I have.

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Having this next to my painting desk I had to bring some pieces over and make some small dioramas.

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Playing with the column pieces, I was trying to design a new column for Durin's Stone and while I like the small column design I have now, I always felt it wasn't quite right. The new column prototype is on the left (minus the dwarf head), larger column in the middle and existing small column on the right. I feel the new column reflects the style of the larger column better.

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So back to making a new mold and more casting.

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Unfortunately, the weather isn't as good now for that process - it takes longer for the plaster to set in the mold, can't spray paint outside, etc. So I will continue on the walls while I make the new columns.

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Last edited by Mapper on Sat Oct 07, 2017 10:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 9:26 pm 
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“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

Well, when I stepped out onto the road to doing this, I had no idea where I would be swept off to.

What started as an idea of doing Balin's expedition to retake Moria (inspired by seeing this: http://old.tabletop-hdr.de/en/armies/ar ... s-dwarves/ ) has led me to buying more figures, making custom molds and using I don't know how much plaster of paris.

I had some dwarves and the moria goblins and the Mines of Moria set but I never really liked the columns in that set. I bought the Moria mold from Keebler Studios ( http://keeblerstudios.com/?product=moria-mold ) as I knew I wanted to work in plaster, as that is the medium I know best. I looked at some other molds he makes but thought I would just start out with the Moria one. I added some dwarf heads from Warhammer Fantasy to the columns and bought some fantasy coins to make some distinctive floor molds.

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I bought some Dwarf Rangers, Murin and Drar, Dain and Balin and a standard bearer from Ebay and GW to round out my dwarves. And some Moria Goblin Commanders for the goblins. My niece asked where the Balrog was so bought one of those and since I had gotten one Cave Troll cheap I had to buy another as they look best in threes.

I knew I wanted to build something that resembled a dwarf hold but not reproduce what was in the movies. It had to be where I could rearrange the pieces and be storable. The scenario I came up with is to have a chamber hidden in Moria that held Durin's Axe that Balin needed to recover to retake Moria.

My table that I would turn into Durin's Chamber is an old 2ft by 3ft WWII map table I have in my game room.

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I added a piece of vinyl on top of the glass as I found out dropping a piece of plaster from even a few inches up would break or shatter the plaster.

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For the background I took a larger roll of shaper sheet and did a rudimentary cave wall.

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My initial thought was to have a flat floor with a hallway of columns leading to Durin's statue and axe.

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I found this too boring and decided to add some elevation at one end. I took a piece of insulation board I had, cut into it and used it as a raised platform. This led to making a wall to front the board. Which led to another scenario of having to protect Flói Stonehand, Loremaster of Moria while he did the incantation of protecting the Chamber. So I had to buy some Grimhammers.

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Still not completely happy with the greyness of it all, I added a bridge and a canal of lava. Later I will build some canal walls.

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In case the Dwarves get too cocky about taking the hall, I have some ceilings to drop onto the board.

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At some point I will build more large columns, and a new style of smaller columns. As it is now, I need to paint my dwarves and goblins, etc and actually use the board for a battle.

I can also use the table for smaller scenes such as the scenarios in the Mines of Moria set.

Image

Sorry for the length of this post but it has been quite a journey to build this, and I wanted to share some of the thought process that went into it and the results. I think it was worth it.

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Last edited by Mapper on Sat Oct 07, 2017 11:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:33 pm 
Wayfarer
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It looks great!

I've loved seeing this project come together, and you've put a huge amount of work into the scenery. The level of detail is astounding. Makes me want to make my own version of Durin's halls.
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:27 pm 
Elven Elder
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A very enjoyable post and thread Well done. 8)

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:14 am 
Elven Warrior
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Beautiful! The engraved images work very well. I very much like the painting (definitely not too grey, I think), and the statues are great.
Very close to how I imagined the great Dwarven halls from the books! :yay:
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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:56 pm 
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superb modular terrain system. I wish I had time to learn the mold making aspects, looks well worth the effort. Fantastic piece.

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:40 am 
Ringwraith
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WOW inspirational, look forward to seeing more please

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 11:10 am 
Ringwraith
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I admire the attention to detail and the sheer flexibility of having so many components that can be arranged to make different sections of Moria or Erebor. Great work!

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 6:22 pm 
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Just wanted to thank everyone for the compliments and to say I probably wouldn't have attempted this or completed it without the support/suggestions and inspiration I get from the one-ring.

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:27 am 
Elven Warrior
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Wow! I've always wanted to do a Moria scene, but never got around to it. I might have to now though, that looks super cool :yay:

-PoW

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Durin's Chamber - Done!
PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 1:18 pm 
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Superb work in both the creative vision and execution, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading through this and viewing all the excellent pictures :yay:

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 Post subject: Re: Mapper - Afternoon in Moria
PostPosted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 9:25 pm 
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I have my table set up as Moria in the Mines of Moria scenario and have been throwing my goblins on the board as I paint them. As I was walking out of my work area I saw the afternoon sun hitting my Moria board. Just some pictures.

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Image

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Last edited by Mapper on Sat Oct 07, 2017 11:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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