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

GubernatorFan wrote:The helmet's looking gorgeous. As for the armor and body flames, I imagine whichever way you go would be nice. A heavier armor for the ruler of Mordor would not be out of place (all my impressions are based on the movie, and I think the best look we had was in the very first LOTR film in which the ring was cut off together with his finger). There was nothing on fire there until Sauron went nuclear after the ring was cut off. Then again, you have other sources of inspiration, and I love in particular your integration of the Eye atop the helmet. It seems to me that the illuminated body flames might need dremelling only near the base -- images of flames often show them lighter/whiter there, and more colorful and darker near the top and edges; and I assume they are translucent enough to carry some light through the undremelled portions. But you're the one with the experience in this.

Love that Sauron meme! I'll be posting that on FB!
If you consider the timeline this is a while after Sauron had the Ring cut off so he's still recuperating but also building his power so he would be in a semi-physical form in my mind at least since he's sort of halfway between his peak of power and his earlier self (before he had the power of the One Ring) which means it doesn't matter which way you like to think he looks at either end as long as one is physical and the other is ethereal..does that make any sense?
As for what you said about the lighting of the flames that is correct and exactly what I'm doing .

shovelchop81 wrote:Love that Sauron meme! I'll be posting that on FB!
If you consider the timeline this is a while after Sauron had the Ring cut off so he's still recuperating but also building his power so he would be in a semi-physical form in my mind at least since he's sort of halfway between his peak of power and his earlier self (before he had the power of the One Ring) which means it doesn't matter which way you like to think he looks at either end as long as one is physical and the other is ethereal..does that make any sense?
As for what you said about the lighting of the flames that is correct and exactly what I'm doing.

Happy to be of help, meme-wise (I was using it for the photo, so I can't really take credit). Yes, what you say makes sense. As for the flames, I'm happy to have deduced it correctly. I figure that as long as you get some light in there, they will no longer suffer from the (simplistically put) orange-piece-of-plastic look that I think Roger is objecting to. Not that you should pay him (or me) any mind -- you are obviously more talented than either of us (unless Roger is hiding some masterpieces of his own that I don't know about).

GubernatorFan wrote:

How true. If Peter Jackson had stuck closer to the books, think how absolutely BORING those movies would have been. All the coolest action in the films, took place mostly "off-screen" in the books; the Battle of Helms Deep was one chapter and was skimmed over so quickly; it took place over a 45 minute spread in the movie. Tolkien may have been an amazing World Creator, but he was a boring, long-winded writer in dire need of an editor. And what was with all the completely unnecessary songs/poems? Thank God they cut Tom Bombadil and most of the Ent-Moot stuff out of the movies. If it isn't moving the plot forward, remove it. Like Jackson said in his behind-the-scenes dialog, if what happened on screen wasn't helping to get the ring from Point A to Point B, it didn't belong in the movie (Tolkien could have benefited from that same thought process, and that book would have been half the length, and far more entertaining).

Anyway. This Sauron is looking pretty cool. But I want to see this bad-boy in full glory. (And by the way, I never meant for you to change the torso color; I was just pointing out where my own, unimaginative, mind went). It's your figure, my friend. Do what you want with it. I'm sure it'll be amazing.

Anyway. This Sauron is looking pretty cool. But I want to see this bad-boy in full glory. (And by the way, I never meant for you to change the torso color; I was just pointing out where my own, unimaginative, mind went). It's your figure, my friend. Do what you want with it. I'm sure it'll be amazing. wrote:

Thanks Stryker! I agree with you about the books having read them although they were a huge leap story wise from The Hobbit, how Jackson managed to turn that into 3 great films was magic itself! Still could have done with a little less Frodo and Sam time meandering around a mountain though in the LOTR trilogy.
As for the colour change it was well pointed out, like I said in a post above if you hadn't said what you did I might not have noticed how ergonomic an non-Mordorish it looked! As for the flames idea we'll see what happens and if I don't like the results I'll just build him some more angular armour with rune like detailing etc..

Stryker -- you make a good point about the advantages of converting the long-winded books into a "faster"-paced film. But I for one appreciate where Tolkien was coming from -- he was a philologist and in a sense anthropologist, and the fantasy world he created (complete with all sorts of arguably unnecessary detail) is in many ways infinitely superior to the ad hoc mishmash created by Lucas in Star Wars or Martin in Game of Thrones (etc). Even simplified for the films, this comes through. His books do read (partly) as works of anthropology, history, or even medieval literature -- which is actually pretty cool when you think about it, although it does not really help the pace of the narrative adventure for us modern readers. And some of that came through even in the simplified version, as Shovelchip pointed out.

All that said, there are flaws in the basic plot, and I can only refer you to How Lord of the Rings Should Have Ended on youtube.

My God...

I take a weekend off and miss some of the important goodness of this build.

I liked the purple hands and feet, but what the hell do I know.

The armor is looking glorious and I kind of dig the flames, too. Far be it from me to make a suggestion, but if I did, it might be to just tip some of the flames in yellow with a streak of blue at the base of the flames here and there, just for realism. The idea is stellar and is one I probably would not have had. Glad you did.

Really looking forward to the end, now.

dadrab wrote:My God...

I take a weekend off and miss some of the important goodness of this build.

I liked the purple hands and feet, but what the hell do I know.

The armor is looking glorious and I kind of dig the flames, too. Far be it from me to make a suggestion, but if I did, it might be to just tip some of the flames in yellow with a streak of blue at the base of the flames here and there, just for realism. The idea is stellar and is one I probably would not have had. Glad you did.

Really looking forward to the end, now.

Thanks dadrab! I'm in the process of adding red, orange and yellow inks and paints to the flames now, no blue though, I know that's more realistic especially for a clean gas like flame but Hellfire demon flames never have blue in them, I think it's just a colour clash issue plus all the extra variants in tones of blues and purples make it a harder to capture. These will be dirty flames i.e. sooty and impure which is more befitting to a version of the Devil which Sauron basically is in all but name.





























examples of Sauron's fire







I still need to add yellow and remove some red ink from the insides/backs of the flame segments to get a better translucency for illumination which is also bloody hard to show in daylight! Might switch to yellow or white EL Wire  which would mean needing to order it and I'm skint...

You know, provided there's enough opacity for the light to shine through and if you keep the colours matt the flames may work. It's when flames are just done with clear glossy plastic that I object to. Burning flames, although they glow, are matt in appearance. You look to be on top of that now so this should work.

I am a bit direct sometimes, it is a symptom of my Dyspraxia and not always something I'm in control of. It depends on the day and my mood at the time and I do apologise if I caused offense.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:You know, provided there's enough opacity for the light to shine through and if you keep the colours matt the flames may work. It's when flames are just done with clear glossy plastic that I object to. Burning flames, although they glow, are matt in appearance. You look to be on top of that now so this should work.

I am a bit direct sometimes, it is a symptom of my Dyspraxia and not always something I'm in control of. It depends on the day and my mood at the time and I do apologise if I caused offense.

CHEERS!

Thanks Roger! I'll keep at it and hope it works, if not I can just make him some new armour, all part of the building process!
Yeah, I thought your dyspraxia might have had something to do with the bluntness, much like my depression and anxiety had to do with my reaction to it, ah well we're all social rejects and I couldn't care less! (Thanks to meds probably ).

Cleaned off all the red ink from the inside using acetone free nail polish remover and managed to scrape together 1.85gbp for 50cm of 1.3mm yellow super bright posable (keeps its shape) EL Wire with a fitting attached for the power supply; its in the UK so should get it by Saturday hopefully. The red wasn't bright enough, too thick (2.3mm), wrong colour for the best effect and also way too long at 100cm, not posable either, i.e. won't keep a shape.
What I just ordered.

Interesting. Looking forward to seeing how this lights up the flames.

Yeah, interesting stuff. It's a wonder you can't get dead straight stuff for lightsabers.

CHEERS!

They do sell a slightly oversized phosphorescent 6th scale light saber on eBay. Anyway, the wire looks very promising. Red light is harder to see in not-completely-dark environment than white, yellow or especially blue light, so what you've chosen ought to help.

Holy crap, this Sauron build just keeps blowing my mind. I love the red color scheme on the body, and the paintwork is exceptional. But those flames are just taking things to a whole different level. This is going to be completely insane when it's done. Really can't wait.

Stryker2011 wrote:Interesting. Looking forward to seeing how this lights up the flames.

Should be bright considering the red LEDs in his head and 'the eye' aren't that bright on their own out of the body but as you'll see once they're inside the do a great job of lighting him up! Pics were taken in overcast daytime indoors with the curtains open.

Rogerbee wrote:Yeah, interesting stuff. It's a wonder you can't get dead straight stuff for lightsabers.

CHEERS!

Acrylic tubing would solve that.

GubernatorFan wrote:They do sell a slightly oversized phosphorescent 6th scale light saber on eBay. Anyway, the wire looks very promising. Red light is harder to see in not-completely-dark environment than white, yellow or especially blue light, so what you've chosen ought to help.

Yes, should be much brighter than the red.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Holy crap, this Sauron build just keeps blowing my mind.  I love the red color scheme on the body, and the paintwork is exceptional.  But those flames are just taking things to a whole different level.  This is going to be completely insane when it's done.  Really can't wait.

Thanks RS! Well I just hope it all works, should do.

Dremelled out the insides of the bases of the individual flame pieces to insert the EL Wire, still need to tidy them up with a scalpel though to cut away burs and non translucent bits. Done yellow paint on the flames, it's fresh and wet so will dry matte and probably fade a lot, yellow does that, just disappears! . Took some pics of the lights working on the head for the helmet eyes and 'the eye' on top after the paint was applied, doesn't seem to have dulled the light up feature at all!



















Very hard to photograph as it only lights up for a couple of seconds at a time while he talks!

Looks very promising! He talks? Does he say in a ghostly whispery echo "I see you!"?

GubernatorFan wrote:Looks very promising! He talks? Does he say in a ghostly whispery echo "I see you!"?

YUP! And.."You cannot hide", "Build me an army worthy of Mordor!"

You'll have to do a video of that.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:You'll have to do a video of that.

CHEERS!

I'm planing to once he's finished with his throne.

Making a start on the pauldrons and weapons, more useful aluminium tubing from that gas oven someone threw out a couple of years back, always pays to keep your scrap topped up! To be used for his staff.

Oh don't worry about topping up scrap, I intend on adding to yours pretty soon.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Oh don't worry about topping up scrap, I intend on adding to yours pretty soon.

CHEERS!

You keep teasing me with that....

The yellow EL Wire arrived today and is very bright, just what I needed! I've done work on the pauldrons which included grinding down 20 boot tacks so they are slightly less lethal to me than they were, I'll be adding chain over them and some decorative bits to the pauldrons too. Talking of chains, cut the tubing for the staff weapon and added that wicked solid metal mace head to one end and I'll be adding the solid metal axe glaive to the other since Sauron just likes to bludgeon people and was probably never taught how to use a sword properly anyway as he was lowly sorcerer's apprentice (I think) then a prisoner of the Numenoreans and then an advisor to the Numenorean king Ar-Pharazôn. This weapon if I can get it to work, should remind you of something out of the Star Wars film "The Last Jedi" and many Ninja/Kungfu films (did you know Ninjas never existed? At least not the way we imagine them, there's a fascinating story behind that which involves stage hands..). He'll have a war hammer too!

In the words of Johnny Storm, "flame on"! Nice spikes, too!

That damn battle axe will get you coming and going, won't it?

Mighty nice.

GubernatorFan wrote:In the words of Johnny Storm, "flame on"!

I need a good, classic Fantastic Four for the collection.

dadrab wrote:I need a good, classic Fantastic Four for the collection.

Well, there are plenty of Chris Evans heads and a couple Jessica Alba heads. Don't know about the other two, tho.

There's no GP this weekend and my Dad is out, so, it's a prime time to start getting things sorted. I'll PM you when I have.

CHEERS!

Whoah! This is looking very cool. Love the light up flame effects. And those nails in the pauldrons (be careful!). Wicked!

dadrab wrote:That damn battle axe will get you coming and going, won't it?

Mighty nice.

GubernatorFan wrote:In the words of Johnny Storm, "flame on"!

I need a good, classic Fantastic Four for the collection.

Thanks! Well I've got these Jonny Storm figures that are cheap and easy to find in 1/6



Had this one but he got coverted into the light up fire ninja shown on the previous page, also have a big Ben Grimm, had a nicer one too but he got turned into part of my Titanium Man build years ago, always meant to replace that version, there are versions of Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman (Susan Storm?) out there cheap but quite nice for display too.



Got a really nice Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom too with full armour and fabric clothing.

So no one's guessed what I have planed for Sauron's staff weapon yet then? Here's another clue.

A cross between this



This



and this but with the crazy weapon ends as well

All could be lethal in the right/wrong hands!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:All could be lethal in the right/wrong hands!

Sauron being a super-wizard, would he even need weapons... although I guess he had some in the battle where the ring was lost...