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

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers GTF! Like I just said to Stryker, it's a balancing act between realism and ethereal magic and I've decided on a course I'm going to take as I type this; to keep him faithful to the movie and have a bit of scientific practicality: juicy on the inside to allow unrestricted movement, a bit crusty on the outside to give him that flakey mummified look, sort of like a Greek tiropita (feta cheese pie with filo pastry) DAMN I MISS THOSE!!

I am familiar with the Slavic version of the tyropita, which is called banica (pronounced "banitsa"). I love it, as long as the feta cheese (which I personally refer to as "fox poison") is mixed and softened (taste-wise) with cream cheese. And I love your analogy/explanation of how that applies to your approach.

Fox poison?! Sacrilege!!

Added green pastel paint for the skin but you can't see it now, cut the overalls a bit and sepia washed them (seems to be my cure for everything!), inserted his guts and glued them in place, sewed the boot bits together to make a tunic then added a nice red/purple/black colour changing material (no idea what it's called, any ideas out there?) which was glued then sewn on too; then added a small strip to the top of the chest to be movie accurate. Filed and glued the armour together with my 'double glue' trick, then hacksawed it into the battle damaged/rotted state I wanted, I'll file it a bit more later. attached the mail where it needed to be just with a drop or two of super glue. Got a tub of green glow in the dark translucent paint as well.

It's a very complex custom, for sure. Your patience and skill continue to impress every time.

I like what you did with Gimli's chainmail, very practical and saves the material for other customs. The undead dude is coming along really nicely, looks very gruesome.

GubernatorFan wrote:It's a very complex custom, for sure. Your patience and skill continue to impress every time.

Thanks GTF! If I don't challenge myself it gets boring

Theboo-bomb wrote:I like what you did with Gimli's chainmail, very practical and saves the material for other customs. The undead dude is coming along really nicely, looks very gruesome.

Cheers TBB!

Wired his cloak, filed, painted and attached his armour, gauntlet etc..









































I'll probably reattach his waist armour directly to his chest armour rather than leaving that gap for the belt, we'll see.

Very nice progress. Love the quilted tunic. The rather toy-like rib-cage-like armor improved tremendously with your repaint. I take it the red cloak might be tattered-up more before you're done. I wonder if the bluish/purplish colors on the body and head might not be worth making just a tad more subtle.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice progress. Love the quilted tunic. The rather toy-like rib-cage-like armor improved tremendously with your repaint. I take it the red cloak might be tattered-up more before you're done. I wonder if the bluish/purplish colors on the body and head might not be worth making just a tad more subtle.

Cheers! Those are decisions I'll need to make a little later, I'm trying to avoid the 'christmas' look of greens and reds and gold I guess by throwing in some colour like the purple to break that up. I've yet to decide whether to decorate his cloak with the obscure markings shown on the statue, they would just be 2D unless I decided to use glue glue to sculpt them, not sure.





Helmet and hair next, might involve some creative mould making and latex casting...

Redone his armour and I'm much happier with it now.

The armor looks much fuller now. Would the belt go over it?

GubernatorFan wrote:The armor looks much fuller now. Would the belt go over it?

I'm using that belt to attach the armour so he can still articulate his waist. I'll use a different belt for his sword and dagger.

That’s an inspired choice for the cloak. Really like how this is coming along.

Amazing custom work!

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s an inspired choice for the cloak. Really like how this is coming along.

Is inspired polite for odd? LOL. Cheers Stryker!

BAMComix wrote:Amazing custom work!

Thanks BAM!

Done a lot of old school latex casting using plasticine and random Celtic looking bits and bobs to make multiple copies of in latex, which I then used to make his crown fairly close to the 'official' one. I last used this technique on the very large Hunter Predator (from 'The Predator' movie) to make all his skin that worked as armour.





A SUPPRESSOR MAKES A SURPRISINGLY GREAT ROLLING PIN!











ALLOW TO DRY, NEW LAYER, REPEAT A FEW TIMES AND IN THE MORNING IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS!









CUT BACK AND MILLIPUTTED THE HELMET YESTERDAY TOO SO DRY FOR TODAY TO SAND.









FIBRE CARD TO THE RESUCE AS USUAL





LOTS OF LATEX CUTTING LATER AND BEING SPOILED FOR CHOICE PARTS WISE, I BEGIN BUILDING THE CROWN

































NOT AN EXACT REPLICA (STILL NEEDS A CENTRAL SPIKE AND PAINT) BUT AS YOU CAN SEE ABOVE, OFFICIAL DEPICTIONS AREN'T CONSISTANT EITHER AND THAT'S MY EXCUSE!  

















I'LL TRIM BACK THOSE CHEEK GUARDS, ADD AND CHANGE SOME DETAILS TOO, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'M SEEING IT TOGETHER AS IS IF YOU FOLLOW WHAT I MEAN.

Looks like an excellent start to the crown, and I'm sure it will look perfect when you're finished. Very inventive approach. And no, "inventive" is no euphemism.

GubernatorFan wrote:Looks like an excellent start to the crown, and I'm sure it will look perfect when you're finished. Very inventive approach. And no, "inventive" is no euphemism.

LOL Cheers! I need to made those stupid birds' heads that adorn each (just got interrupted by a crazy junkie who is so out of it he doesn't realise my old neighbour who was a dealer has been gone for a year now FFS..) crenel with just a 4.5mm plastic bb.

Detailing continues both with real mail and the crown. Found some ravens the right size to cast multiple copies of their heads to be the birds heads depicted on the crown. Did the latex thing again but with a bit of improv this time, since the beaks are long making the moulds narrow and deep, getting the latex at the bottom to cure was becoming a pain in the arse. I solved that by putting the plasticine containing the latex casts into a frying pan and then heated it up very carefully on my gas stove for about 10 seconds then after turning the gas off I left it in the hot pan which had heated up the plasticine (stinks a bit) still in it to keep 'cooking off' the latex curing it. You see the difference in the results, the short stubby useless castings are the ones I peeked at pulling the latex back a bit to find it wasn't curing properly at the bottom, the good casts are the results of the undisturbed castings that were forced to cure properly with the frying pan trick I just invented!

Still pretty inventive! I would not have thought of casting realistic raven heads, but that is definitely a viable solution. The crown is already coming along nicely, and I'm sure the painting will tie it together in the end.

GubernatorFan wrote:Still pretty inventive! I would not have thought of casting realistic raven heads, but that is definitely a viable solution. The crown is already coming along nicely, and I'm sure the painting will tie it together in the end.

Cheers! I think they are meant to be Celtic stylised vultures but ravens are carrion eaters too so works for me as I don't have any baby Celtic vultures lying around and didn't think to sculpt any  Did you like my frying pan curing solution?

shovelchop81 wrote:Did you like my frying pan curing solution?

Absolutely!

All the pictures finally showed up for me. Awesome work on the chain mail and that crown is really looking incredible.

That crown is looking amazing, the undead details are also really cool. He's shaping up very well.

Stryker2011 wrote:All the pictures finally showed up for me. Awesome work on the chain mail and that crown is really looking incredible.

I forget you're stuck with slow broadband, must be a nightmare for an admin!! And thanks for your patience and encouraging words.

Theboo-bomb wrote:That crown is looking amazing, the undead details are also really cool. He's shaping up very well.

Thanks TBB! Getting there!

Nearly done now, I glued on the birds' heads and new Celtic patterns to his cheek guards, then painted it all matt black primer, then gold; gave him a beard and hair using different types of fake hair. Might add some of those weird knotted patterns to his cloak using laces etc.. then some major weathering needs to be done with scissors and paint! I'll make his hair a bit more 'icky' and ink wash his armour, crown etc.. Need to make his eyes milky too.

Whoah. That is really cool looking. The scraggly hair and beard, and the crown are wicked. It already has a finished look to it, but I understand your need to go further.

Beautiful work. I agree with Mark, it looks almost done. They always come together so nicely.