A CROWN IS BORN../ The Hobbit Dwarves etc.. WIP's & Finished Builds Part 2

I second what Sky wrote about the oil pastels and powders. Ephiane, who discovered (as far as we are concerned) the oil pastel coloring technique thinks that the oil pastel also might help protect the body, and she may be right. But I would still re-apply protective powder to it (you will have to remove it to repaint the body anyway -- if you will be repainting it to begin with). Otherwise, the powder definitely helps keep the body non-tacky, which is both for the sake of handling it (and everything it touches -- even powdered it will eventually make a spot on paper or cardboard, be warned), and for the sake of keeping the soft material in good shape. You might need to wash the body with soap and water on some occasion whether or not you are painting it, and it should be re-powdered. Again, several things work about as well -- corn starch, baby powder, cosmetic silicon powder.

Various items and resources relating to these are covered or linked in the TBLeague catalog topic (including maintenance, cleaning, painting, clothing), here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3013-tbleague-phicen-seamless-bodies-with-steel-skeleton-catalog-updated-continually

Theboo-bomb wrote:It's fantastic to see how it shaped up. That mail purse seems like a godsent. Can't wait to see the finished ork guy!

Cheers TBB! I'm liking the look of the mail myself and think it was worth the trouble to get hold of and work with, also a refreshing challenge for me,

skywalkersaga wrote:If you are planning to colour the Tbleague body in any way, one of the better things to use is oil pastel. There's a whole thread on it here: https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t260-painting-seamless-bodies-nsfw?highlight=painting+seamless+bodies

The powder is what the body arrives already coated in. Just a very fine, transluscent layer. To colour it with oil pastels, you'd have to make sure to wash the body first to remove the powder. The surface will then feel somewhat sticky/tacky. After you colour it (following the various instructions in the thread linked above), you then need to re-apply a protective powder of some sort (either corn starch or translucent makeup powder, which is what I use), which I believe just helps to protect the body (keep it from drying out?), as well as keeps the surface from being too 'sticky'.

GubernatorFan wrote:I second what Sky wrote about the oil pastels and powders. Ephiane, who discovered (as far as we are concerned) the oil pastel coloring technique thinks that the oil pastel also might help protect the body, and she may be right. But I would still re-apply protective powder to it (you will have to remove it to repaint the body anyway -- if you will be repainting it to begin with). Otherwise, the powder definitely helps keep the body non-tacky, which is both for the sake of handling it (and everything it touches -- even powdered it will eventually make a spot on paper or cardboard, be warned), and for the sake of keeping the soft material in good shape. You might need to wash the body with soap and water on some occasion whether or not you are painting it, and it should be re-powdered. Again, several things work about as well -- corn starch, baby powder, cosmetic silicon powder.

Various items and resources relating to these are covered or linked in the TBLeague catalog topic (including maintenance, cleaning, painting, clothing), here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3013-tbleague-phicen-seamless-bodies-with-steel-skeleton-catalog-updated-continually

Thanks guys! Not sure I'm sold on the preservation qualities of powder but definitely agree it will solve a tackiness issues. I'm not sure which route I'll take, pastels and powder or gundam markers and silicone oil, depends on what works best for me and gives it the finish I want as a Beserker will be a sweaty dude! Good idea about washing the body first, I am supposed to do that with all my Gundam builds to remove any mould release but rarely paint them..so don't bother.
Last time you'll see the armour in the 'white' as gunsmiths say, I made his bicep armour, some more crotch armour and his pauldrons out of an old Marx Knight helmet then had to carefully shape the fins so they won't collide with his helmet, more studds added and literally had just enough left!!

















JUST REALISED THAT THE PLACEMENT OF THE STUDS MAKE NO MECHANICAL SENSE! THEY NEED TO BE MOVED UP ONE SECTION TO BE HINGES...AH SCREW IT CAN'T BE ARSED...

shovelchop81 wrote:Last time you'll see the armour in the 'white' as gunsmiths say, I made his bicep armour, some more crotch armour and his pauldrons out of an old Marx Knight helmet  

Armourers use the word too. In the 14th century, when they stopped covering metal armour with cloth and the surcoat/jupon was phased out, they started to wear naked, polished plates. It was called "white" or "allwhite" armour.

Keep going. The finish is in sight now. That misplaced riveting would annoy the crap out of me. How much will it bother you later on if you left them?

shazzdan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Last time you'll see the armour in the 'white' as gunsmiths say, I made his bicep armour, some more crotch armour and his pauldrons out of an old Marx Knight helmet  

Armourers use the word too. In the 14th century, when they stopped covering metal armour with cloth and the surcoat/jupon was phased out, they started to wear naked, polished plates. It was called "white" or "allwhite" armour.

Keep going. The finish is in sight now. That misplaced riveting would annoy the crap out of me. How much will it bother you later on if you left them?

Interesting, makes sense. Gunsmiths use it to describe unprotected metal before it is Blued, plated or seracoated which is the more modern coating of choice for military and hunting guns.

That misplaced riveting would annoy the crap out of me. How much will it bother you later on if you left them? wrote:

I was just pondering that exact thought lol, guess I just needed a push...bollox... Will redo it now...

The progress is very promising. Re the TBLeague seamless body. Don't wash it unless you need to, for repainting or other reasons. If you want it shiny, Ephiane discussed something using soap in the Painting seamless bodies thread.

This guy already looks like he is alive and is going to wriggle free of your grasp if you don't watch him carefully. It's the paint job and that clawing hand... Or I have an overactive imagination, but I like the previous reasons more.

GubernatorFan wrote:The progress is very promising. Re the TBLeague seamless body. Don't wash it unless you need to, for repainting or other reasons. If you want it shiny, Ephiane discussed something using soap in the Painting seamless bodies thread.

Cheers and I'll read the threads before doing anything on the seamless body!

Diana wrote:This guy already looks like he is alive and is going to wriggle free of your grasp if you don't watch him carefully. It's the paint job and that clawing hand... Or I have an overactive imagination, but I like the previous reasons more.

LOL, perhaps it's all three? Thanks Diana!

Relocated the rivets so they make mechanical sense now, lost one in the process so had to make one from scratch that does the job.
Gave all the armour several coats of black primer, when that had dried I sponged on some airbrush quality silver acrylic (it's finer not to clog the needle valve) which is shinier than regular silver which I've just remembered I do have a bottle of (DOH!) so that'll be next then, after that weathering with rust and inks etc.. plus the odd white hand of Saruman on the breastplate and helmet.

Great! It's always a pleasure to see how you build a figure from scratch. The armor looks fantastic!

It really sells the metal look now. Since you are going to change the color, I imagine the armor somewhat darker -- although I realize I have little memory of the specifics, and besides you might want it to match characters you already have. But I'm loving it -- both as armor and as fantasy armor.

Ahh sir beautiful, beautiful! The moment when the colorful funny stuff is all uniformly primed is always so great. It's such a milestone that makes them feel more alive.

The mechanically wrong rivets would also have driven me crazy. I use brass nails for my gothic/milanese/fantasy armor so they have to be in the right place to begin with, haha.  It's over the last week that I spent a lot of time on armor crafting and nearing a finish. We both waste our times in very meaningful ways it seems.

Sometimes, when I sit at my workbench in the evening, making tiny armor, I think to myself....what is that shovelshop guy in Swansea working on atm?
:p

Oh and you should really get yourself a sheet of Worbla to easily make round stuff like the pauldrons without destroying your toys. On the other hand, your material is much better foldable in sharp angles.

And do you know the Molotow Chrome Pen? Not that it would fit an Uruk, hihi.

Keep up beautiful work.

The paintjob makes a huge difference. Glad you fixed the rivets.
I like using rhinestones as rivets. Cheap to buy. Easy to apply. Look good after painting.

Randam Hajile wrote:Great! It's always a pleasure to see how you build a figure from scratch. The armor looks fantastic!

Thank you so much Randam!

GubernatorFan wrote:It really sells the metal look now. Since you are going to change the color, I imagine the armor somewhat darker -- although I realize I have little memory of the specifics, and besides you might want it to match characters you already have. But I'm loving it -- both as armor and as fantasy armor.

Thank you GTF! Yeah this just the first layer, it'll be darker, cruddier and moe detailed weathering as he is a real world figure as opposed to 'The Hobbit' Wraiths I did since they are just spectres of light and dark. This will be a more complicated paint job than those guys I made below:

Ovy wrote:Ahh sir beautiful, beautiful! The moment when the colorful funny stuff is all uniformly primed is always so great. It's such a milestone that makes them feel more alive.

The mechanically wrong rivets would also have driven me crazy. I use brass nails for my gothic/milanese/fantasy armor so they have to be in the right place to begin with, haha.  It's over the last week that I spent a lot of time on armor crafting and nearing a finish. We both waste our times in very meaningful ways it seems.

Sometimes, when I sit at my workbench in the evening, making tiny armor, I think to myself....what is that shovelshop guy in Swansea working on atm?
:p

Oh and you should really get yourself a sheet of Worbla to easily make round stuff like the pauldrons without destroying your toys. On the other hand, your material is much better foldable in sharp angles.

And do you know the Molotow Chrome Pen? Not that it would fit an Uruk, hihi.

Keep up beautiful work.

Thank you so much Ovi! As for destroying my toys, I'm not, this is just how I work, using scrap and donor parts from junk and smaller scale figures that have been stored in boxes for many years never to be displayed again; I called it 'up-cycling' until all those Hipster wankers started using the same word that I'd been using for years to describe my builds and thought I'd 'invented' it myself...  I hate Hipsters!!
As for what I'm doing in the evening, probably a boring answer: sleeping lol!! I'm like an old man, going to bed early and waking up early. I'd forgotten about Worbla but think I'm too set in my ways to change techniques now after  at least 20 years of building figures, thanks for reminding me though!

shazzdan wrote:The paintjob makes a huge difference. Glad you fixed the rivets.
I like using rhinestones as rivets. Cheap to buy. Easy to apply. Look good after painting.

Cheers! Can you get metal rounded rhinestones? I've always had the crystal faceted cheap and rather crap looking ones that any applied paint chips off easily.

The rivets and layered paint are looking so good. Further paint should really make the armor look amazing — just like your Nine (nice to see them again).

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers! Can you get metal rounded rhinestones? I've always had the crystal faceted cheap and rather crap looking ones that any applied paint chips off easily.

I just use cheap acrylic rhinestones. I used to have issues with paint chipping off until I started using acrylic spray paint as an undercoat.

Sometimes nail art works, too.

It's great to see your Ring Wraiths again, and all in one place. A challenge -- these were all former kings, right, now Sauron's officers, hence presumably cleaner and shinier than the Uruk-Hai and orcs in the army -- hence the more complex (weathered?) armor you have in mind now, but also woudn't you need to build an even larger group of Uruk-Hai and orcs?

There are acrylic (or plastic) rhinestone pearls (half-spheres), which I have used. Not the easiest to paint safely, but if you have the right primer will probably work.

Fantastic display. Love seeing the progress of your figures!

Stryker2011 wrote:The rivets and layered paint are looking so good. Further paint should really make the armor look amazing — just like your Nine (nice to see them again).

Thanks Stryker!

shazzdan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers! Can you get metal rounded rhinestones? I've always had the crystal faceted cheap and rather crap looking ones that any applied paint chips off easily.

I just use cheap acrylic rhinestones. I used to have issues with paint chipping off until I started using acrylic spray paint as an undercoat.

Think I'll stick with metal then, got tiny studs and hairbrush bristles work well too.

skywalkersaga wrote:Sometimes nail art works, too.

Cheers!

GubernatorFan wrote:It's great to see your Ring Wraiths again, and all in one place. A challenge -- these were all former kings, right, now Sauron's officers, hence presumably cleaner and shinier than the Uruk-Hai and orcs in the army -- hence the more complex (weathered?) armor you have in mind now, but also woudn't you need to build an even larger group of Uruk-Hai and orcs?

There are acrylic (or plastic) rhinestone pearls (half-spheres), which I have used. Not the easiest to paint safely, but if you have the right primer will probably work.

LOL! I'm doing the Beserker then calling three enough mate! The Wraiths are cleaner because they are ethereal so apparently don't get rust or mud on their armour! That's how they were portrayed in The Hobbit anyway... not going to make sense when I do The King Of The Dead from LOTR but I guess he was raised after he'd been in the ground or left on a battlefield for a while?

csyeung wrote:Fantastic display. Love seeing the progress of your figures!

Thank you very much csyeung!

Right going to drag you through the painting process as it's 50% of the work to get fibre card to look like armour and some of you asked how I did that!

I ADDED MORE SILVER OF THE CHEAPER KIND TO FILL IN THE BLACK AS IT'S NOT JUST SHADOWS ON THIS PAINT JOB  SO IT NEEDS A FOUNDATION TO BUILD RUST, WATER STAINS, GREASE ETC.. ON. I ALSO PAINTED THE 'WHITE HAND OF SARUMAN' IN A COUPLE OF PLACES NEXT, THEN:

SPONGE RUST





SHARPIE BRONZE FOR MORE PRECISE RUST



MORE SPONGE SILVER TO BLEND THE RUST



DARK SMOKEY INK BRUSHED ON THEN WIPED WITH A RAG TO REMOVE EXCESS AND BLEND







USED A THIN BRUSH TO APPLY THE BLACK INK THEN IMMEDIATELY SMEARED IT WITH A WET COTTON BUD TO DILUTE AND BLEND IT, THIS CREATES SHADOWS FOR OVERLAPPING PLATES GIVING THEM MORE OF A 3D LOOK EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE 3D, ALSO ADDS TO THE GREASE AND GRIME LOOK.



I TOUCHED UP THE 'WHITE HANDS' A BIT AND THE ARMOUR IS READY FOR CLEAR COAT NOW, I'LL WORRY ABOUT ANY MUD ETC.. LATER.

Excellent. It really pops now, and not just in the gleaming sense.

It just keeps getting better and better! I must admit, griming up fake metal is one of my favourite things to do in miniature, and I really ought to come up with a character who has metal armour just so I’ve got an excuse to make some! XD Obviously this is a bit big for your purposes, but googly eyes and/or dried split peas/lentils are great for making fake rivets!

You may have already seen this whilst researching, but I remember finding this site yeeeears ago and it has some really useful references and techniques. Obviously it’s for full sized cosplay, and the site was built not long after the films were released so they didn’t have quite the same high res photos we do now, but it still has some useful stuff on there, plus some patterns for outfits that could be scaled down!

https://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Nasty/Orc/Making/MakeMoria.htm

(Also, it’s kind of blowing my mind that this December it’ll have been twenty whole years since the first film came out. )

GubernatorFan wrote:Excellent. It really pops now, and not just in the gleaming sense.

Cheers GTF! Yeah, nothing gleaming here! LOL.

Lynkhart wrote:It just keeps getting better and better! I must admit, griming up fake metal is one of my favourite things to do in miniature, and I really ought to come up with a character who has metal armour just so I’ve got an excuse to make some! XD Obviously this is a bit big for your purposes, but googly eyes and/or dried split peas/lentils are great for making fake rivets!

You may have already seen this whilst researching, but I remember finding this site yeeeears ago and it has some really useful references and techniques. Obviously it’s for full sized cosplay, and the site was built not long after the films were released so they didn’t have quite the same high res photos we do now, but it still has some useful stuff on there, plus some patterns for outfits that could be scaled down!

https://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Nasty/Orc/Making/MakeMoria.htm

(Also, it’s kind of blowing my mind that this December it’ll have been twenty whole years since the first film came out. )

Thank you Lynkhart! Don't think I'll be using googly eyes or dried peas though
Cheers for the link, I love how the casually add a £1,000 piece of equipment (bandsaw) in between items like glue and a hole puncher for things you'll need!!
Check these guys out, always drooled over the full metal armour work for LOTR etc.. especially the Gothic concept Ring Wraith armour and Witch King armour!
https://www.kropserkel.com/reproductions.htm

That paint work looks excellent, Alex. And Christine, what an interesting site.

You mean not everyone has a bandsaw/tablesaw/fully kitted out workshop at their disposal?!
Honestly, the most expensive bit of kit I have is a dremel and I’m always slightly terrified of chopping off fingers each time I use it! It’s weird because I used to use a bandsaw all the time at college and felt completely at ease with it!

Oooh, I love the Twilight Witchking crown there!

Random fact; the first LOTR film came out when I was 11, and me and my cousins were obsessed with it, going so far as to make our own home movie ‘trailer’ for it in the garden. It was, as you can imagine, utter crap, but to this day I still cackle at our reproduction of the infamous ‘hobbits hiding from the ringwraith’ scene, with my cousin in a halloween vampire cloak (with no hood and massive collar) and massive adult size gardening gloves as gauntlets. We thought it looked really convincing at the time. XD

Absolute masterclass armorsmith ! Thanks for showing and all the inspirations. The Orc itself naked, is just fantastic. What a shame to hide him behind that wonderfull armor.

Everything is looking excellent, shovelchop!!  

Lynkhart wrote:Random fact; the first LOTR film came out when I was 11, and me and my cousins were obsessed with it, going so far as to make our own home movie ‘trailer’ for it in the garden. It was, as you can imagine, utter crap, but to this day I still cackle at our reproduction of the infamous ‘hobbits hiding from the ringwraith’ scene, with my cousin in a halloween vampire cloak (with no hood and massive collar) and massive adult size gardening gloves as gauntlets. We thought it looked really convincing at the time. XD

LOL, this is brilliant, love it! The good ol' days of making home videos.....

Stryker2011 wrote:That paint work looks excellent, Alex. And Christine, what an interesting site.

Cheers Stryker!

Lynkhart wrote:You mean not everyone has a bandsaw/tablesaw/fully kitted out workshop at their disposal?!
Honestly, the most expensive bit of kit I have is a dremel and I’m always slightly terrified of chopping off fingers each time I use it! It’s weird because I used to use a bandsaw all the time at college and felt completely at ease with it!

Oooh, I love the Twilight Witchking crown there!

Random fact; the first LOTR film came out when I was 11, and me and my cousins were obsessed with it, going so far as to make our own home movie ‘trailer’ for it in the garden. It was, as you can imagine, utter crap, but to this day I still cackle at our reproduction of the infamous ‘hobbits hiding from the ringwraith’ scene, with my cousin in a halloween vampire cloak (with no hood and massive collar) and massive adult size gardening gloves as gauntlets. We thought it looked really convincing at the time. XD

Well some tinfoil on the gardening glove would have finished off the look very well, great picture either way! I have no videos or pictures when I was that age, I guess my parents do.

Ephiane wrote:Absolute masterclass armorsmith ! Thanks for showing and all the inspirations. The Orc itself naked, is just fantastic. What a shame to hide him behind that wonderfull armor.

Thank Ephiane! I am only using a cheap (but hard to find now a days) black 12" Jak's Pacific WWE body that has lots of joints on show, The next one will be a Beserker using a seamless Anubis silicone muscle body and only wears a loin cloth, a helmet, some gauntlets, sandals and war paint! So you'll get your wish!

skywalkersaga wrote:Everything is looking excellent, shovelchop!!  

Lynkhart wrote:Random fact; the first LOTR film came out when I was 11, and me and my cousins were obsessed with it, going so far as to make our own home movie ‘trailer’ for it in the garden. It was, as you can imagine, utter crap, but to this day I still cackle at our reproduction of the infamous ‘hobbits hiding from the ringwraith’ scene, with my cousin in a halloween vampire cloak (with no hood and massive collar) and massive adult size gardening gloves as gauntlets. We thought it looked really convincing at the time. XD

LOL, this is brilliant, love it! The good ol' days of making home videos.....

Damn you guys must be young uns! I had absolutely no way of filming anything as a kid! The closest I had was Kodak disposable cameras.

Final paint, a gloss clear coat, it was 50/50 whether to go with gloss or matte here but I liked the pictures of the statues I'm using for reference in gloss better than the matte finish; I also remember it raining in the movie at the beginning of the big battle in LOTR:TT but could be wrong! After that I sorted through a lot of leather for most of yesterday (sorting fake brown leather from real brown leather) and chose the real leather pieces I wanted to use. I cut the leather on his jerkin at the front of his waist and all around his shoulders (still held together by the wax cord I used to sew the jerkin together) this allows for a huge improvement in articulation shown below. I also sorted through all my belt buckles and made custom leather straps that had to be painted to hide the lighter sides of the leather underneath and where it had just been cut. I'm now in the process of carefully attaching all the armour in a realistic way that won't hinder articulation.

































PAINTED THE LEATHER EDGES