Marathon LOTR/TH WIP Custom Builds..Reaper/Rider Wraith Redone & Finished.

Worked out how to get the black acetone infused ink stains off my hands, just cover them in acrylic silver paint then peal it off, takes the black ink off with it! Done two shades of silver on all the armour.

That’s looking pretty sharp.

It does look very sharp. And very promising. Also, very pleased you have conquered the staining on your hands. And bonus points for the ingenuity of your approach. Wow.

He's really coming together,

I'd be a bit wary of acetone though, it can eat certain plastics and vinyls.

CHEERS!

fascinating build! Can't wait to see him assembled now!

thanks a lot for all the WIP shots, it's very informative, and a pleasure to watch insane creativity at work

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s looking pretty sharp.

Thanks! Figured since he's a supreme sorcerer taking over the world he would have a shiny set of mithryl armour!

GubernatorFan wrote:It does look very sharp. And very promising. Also, very pleased you have conquered the staining on your hands. And bonus points for the ingenuity of your approach. Wow.

Well it wasn't intentional, just worked out that way!

Rogerbee wrote:He's really coming together,

I'd be a bit wary of acetone though, it can eat certain plastics and vinyls.

CHEERS!

Yeah I know, learnt that when I was nine trying to get a tax sticker off a cassette cover!
That's why I'm using it, to break down the polymer's surface and allow the ink to be absorbed into it.

blackpool wrote:fascinating build! Can't wait to see him assembled now!

thanks a lot for all the WIP shots, it's very informative, and a pleasure to watch insane creativity at work

Thank you for following the thread blackpool!

Gluing the helmet together, still got some more bits for it, redid some soldering as it got caught on something. Painted the hands and feet, why purple ink? Why not, I like purple black and silver! Plus it has a sort of evil corpse like hue to it without being zombie gore, I'll do the nails next, not sure what colour yet though. Added a shim to his stomach activation button so it can still be pressed through all the armour since it's rubbery/soft plastic, I don't need speaker holes since he's so bloody loud!

If you know what you're doing with it then fair enough. Those are some great monster feet, you did a great job on them.

CHEERS!

Since you mentioned why you used the acetone -- would that be a way to get beyond paint rub in jointed figures? Apply a little acetone and then the paint or marker?

Rogerbee wrote:If you know what you're doing with it then fair enough. Those are some great monster feet, you did a great job on them.

CHEERS!

Thanks Roger!

GubernatorFan wrote:Since you mentioned why you used the acetone -- would that be a way to get beyond paint rub in jointed figures? Apply a little acetone and then the paint or marker?

Well that's the idea behind it, still experimental so not sure how well it works yet!

Waiting for glue to dry...yay... final helmet details added and armour attachment straps..

Almost there...

Yup! Well figure wise I haven't even started the throne or his weapons, still want to do the dio for the witch king but need some cement..
Attached most of the armour now, the torso piece was more interesting to attach than I'd expected but works very well. The thighs still need to be done properly, the shoulder pauldrons and some detail bits here and there but not much. The helm has gone through a couple of configurations but settled on a finished look now without the 'mask' like piece over the visor, thought he needed it but wasn't sure, had some kip and was positive he needed it so glued it on then a few hours later decided I didn't like it at all and he looked like a budgerigar! So took it off , I'm adding the crests/ears to fill in the blank areas and keep in theme with the wraith I've built plus they'll look cool once painted.

Some really cool design elements on this. Shouldn’t the underlying torso be purple, also....?

Stryker2011 wrote:Some really cool design elements on this. Shouldn’t the underlying torso be purple, also....?

I see what you mean now I look at it from your angle there, hadn't occurred to me it could be construed as flesh! To me it's always been armour, a breast plate like the ancient Greeks had. Not sure what to do now!! Need sleep!

He is looking so good!

CHEERS!

shovelchop81 wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Some really cool design elements on this. Shouldn’t the underlying torso be purple, also....?

I see what you mean now I look at it from your angle there, hadn't occurred to me it could be construed as flesh! To me it's always been armour, a breast plate like the ancient Greeks had. Not sure what to do now!! Need sleep!

Well the breast plate is actually over his black clothing so should be considered armour, however (I hate that bloody word now, just been on the phone for hours with the HMRC 'customs border control' having to use it and hear it over and over again, then losing my defence argument and 300quids worth of very rare, (I could only find one in the world for sale) beautiful airsoft SVU sniper rifle that will now be destroyed and they just billed me 40quid on top of that for some transformers.. ) with the robes on top it could still be flesh coloured.. does anyone have a preference? Just curious as feedback is what these threads are for aside from sharing tricks and tips etc..

I actually kinda preferred the black or nearly black flesh from an earlier stage, but this is your build and the expression of your philosophical and artistic interpretation of the character (I remember you explained that you wanted to leave something that suggested a leftover organic/human aspect to the character). To me, visually Sauron seems to be a mixture of black (dark) and silverish (metal) juxtaposed with fire (the Eye, etc). But I don't see why I, or anyone else, should be influencing your decision on this one (or any other). I will say that, artistically speaking, if you're going to have the blueish feet showing, it would make sense to throw in some of the same color somewhere else, too. Otherwise it is too isolated and extraneous (which still might be ok in some cases, e.g., if you gave some figure say red eyes or something). Update: I did go back and notice you also have blueish hands, so you do match the color around a bit. Maybe then showing a little bit of the same would make sense for somewhere around the neck. I would still make it a bit darker and deader as a color for this character, but that's just my taste.

At the end of the day it's your build and you should bring what you feel you need to to it. Whatever anyone does, it's open to interpretation.

Sorry to hear about your wrangles with customs. With all the crap going on around guns at the moment I can understand some of their zeal, doesn't make it right though.

CHEERS!

which still might be ok in some cases, e.g., if you gave some figure say red eyes or something). Update: I did go back and notice you also have blueish hands, so you do match the color around a bit. Maybe then showing a little bit of the same would make sense for somewhere around the neck. I would still make it a bit darker and deader as a color for this character, but that's just my taste. wrote:

The hands and feet are actually a lot lighter than the pics make them out, I just wanted a washed out ink on white to bring out the detail of the creases and veins etc.. Dark could work too, especially if I decide to paint the chest a fleshy colour, good idea. The eyes will be red if the LED is up to the job!

Rogerbee wrote:At the end of the day it's your build and you should bring what you feel you need to to it. Whatever anyone does, it's open to interpretation.

Sorry to hear about your wrangles with customs. With all the crap going on around guns at the moment I can understand some of their zeal, doesn't make it right though.

CHEERS!

Thanks Roger! As for the airsoft rifle...well since they stole 340quid from me today I went to my range and send down over a 1000 rounds on full auto with a couple of my SMG's to try and de-stress...so much for improving gun control by what they're doing! The stupid thing is at the end of the day the rifle is categorised as a toy not a firearm like my air guns but if it was a real crossbow, sword, Dane Axe, speargun etc.. it would be fine! Even air rifles (classed as firearms remember) would be okay if they were sold by a private seller to a private buyer! .

Rant over on this forum at least (been too angry to even post on my gun forum yet..most of what I type will get censored for bad language! ).

Back to the build... added loads of hot glue as promised in the helmet for structural integrity and on some armour parts too for the hips. The helmet is in the spraybooth now drying it's last coat of black after I spent a long time filing those ears down.

That looks so cool, love the contrast of the black and silver.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:That looks so cool, love the contrast of the black and silver.

CHEERS!

Two colours I seem to use a LOT of!

The helmet has just been painted silver and I'm liking it! It has a very Transformers Bayverse The Last Knight and Age Of Extinction Optimus Prime look to it (that's when movie OP has knight like armour and helmet with a sword and shield). Looks a bit flat in areas due to only using one silver so far but I'll fix that with some ink and a different silver to break it up. The red LED looks great in the eyes! I just hope it doesn't lose any power when I add the second one for the 'Eye' on top since they are in series and not parallel; the circuit board didn't allow for a parallel set up because of it's integrated push button switch.







Chest brand/insignia

And just before I call it a day (a bloody awful one in one way but productive build wise ) here are some pics with the helmet, pauldrons and hands all balanced in place to give you an overall picture of what he looks like altogether as is i.e. not finished and compared to a normal 12" figure.

Whoa! He is huge! And as we know from the ancient Egyptians, bigger is better! I love the intricate helmet, and now one can see it more clearly. I wonder if you could paint some more details (with different silvers and maybe gunmetal) on the shoulder armor, which looks a bit mismatched (because of less detail) right now. In general, I think the overall color scheme ought to match with your ring wraiths in the final product.

GubernatorFan wrote:Whoa! He is huge! And as we know from the ancient Egyptians, bigger is better! I love the intricate helmet, and now one can see it more clearly. I wonder if you could paint some more details (with different silvers and maybe gunmetal) on the shoulder armor, which looks a bit mismatched (because of less detail) right now. In general, I think the overall color scheme ought to match with your ring wraiths in the final product.

Sometimes people forget how big and heavy the 1/4 scale figures are! His helmet alone is at least 1/2KG+ that's a bag of sugar. The pauldrons do look very plain and I will fix that. When you say "ought to match the ring wraiths" do you mean I'm going in the right direction or are you thinking I'm veering off course? I think I'm going to mix yours and Stryker's ideas together and try the flesh tone on the torso so it's 'under' the rib and neck armour but make the flesh much darker and possibly more of a demonic smoky red/black with orange/yellow subtle flame highlights, inspired partly by the Lord Of Darkness from the film Legend that Roger is a huge fan of!

A Sauron pic I thought I'd lost!



My 1/12 LOD



My 1/4 LOD!!

Holy crap that Sauron is massive. Very impressive looking figure so far.

Indeed, I think you're going in the right direction and very impressed. Glad to hear there will be further detailing on the shoulder armor. If you do devilish flesh in places around the torso, I suppose you will be matching that on the hands and feet. That might match better with the red light you are going to use.
And, again, your Lord of Darkness looks awesome. I've always thought him a quintessential representation of the Devil.

Blimey, he's a big fella! You wouldn't spill his pint that's for sure!

CHEERS!

GubernatorFan wrote:Indeed, I think you're going in the right direction and very impressed. Glad to hear there will be further detailing on the shoulder armor. If you do devilish flesh in places around the torso, I suppose you will be matching that on the hands and feet. That might match better with the red light you are going to use.
And, again, your Lord of Darkness looks awesome. I've always thought him a quintessential representation of the Devil.

Rogerbee wrote:Blimey, he's a big fella! You wouldn't spill his pint that's for sure!

CHEERS!

Thanks guys!

Primered the 'now to be and already were' flesh parts with brick red, done a coat of regular red which will be followed by many different shades getting darker and fading to black the closer the parts get to armour or the black clothing. I'll also be trying flame effects with some paint to blend them into the flesh. A selection of parts there for weapons and I'm still figuring out the detail bits for the pauldrons, it's tough when you have the perfect parts but they're saved for another project! Doing a bit more work on the robes.

Ooohh. Cool prospects for weapons. It’ll be interesting to see the final flesh effect with the changing tones.