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Gandalf the Grey vs. Balrog of Morgoth (Lord of the Rings)


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Hello folks,

sometimes it´s time to try something new. I always liked figures and I liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy...so why not try to join them?

The manufacturer "Games Workshop" produces a Lord of the Rings series with some very nice figures. Actually these figures are designed for the table top game, the level of detail is so good, they are inviting to build little dioramas with them.

For my first attempt I decided for the epic battle good against evil, Gandalf against the mean Balrog, at the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm.

The figures are 28 mm scale, that´s about 1/64th scale, as you can see, they are quite small.

The figure of Gandalf the Grey is made from white metal. The cast and level of detail is very good.

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The figure of the Balrog is made from plastic, with very nice details, but the fit is partially almost as horrible as the Balrog himself, so a lot of dissolved putty is needed during assembly.

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After a basecoat of white, I painted the entire miniature with a shiny yellow. Ok, it looks like an outstanding ugly canary bird at this time, but this is a good starting position for the further painting.

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To get the look of fire and glow, I decided to work with Red Ink, Yellow Ink and both mixed to Orange Ink. I applied the acrylic inks wet in wet and started to "blot" with different brushes and pieces of a kitchen paper towel.

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For the flaming mane I painted the base colors with acrylic paints (glossy red, yellow and white) and then applied the acrylic inks wet in wet.

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Edited by Stormbird262
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Time to have a look, what´s going on with Gandalf. Painting the faces of figures is quite challenging for me, especially when they are as small as the Gandalf miniature. I painted the base colors with acrylics, light and shadow were added with artist´s oil colors.

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For comparison, Mr. Costner is a 54 mm miniature (about 1/32th scale, perhaps quite taller).

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For the base I wanted a rock face, I decided to build the entire base scratch. I used "Modur", a kind of hard foam. I cut out the structure with different carving tools and knives.

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To give the ground more structure, I apllied a mixture of "Chinchilla Sand" (which is a very fine sand, I think it is much better for small scales as bird sand) and diluted wood glue.

I also added some small details (some skulls, a dwarf´s shield and a small heap of stones) and placed some pieces of rock in different sizes, which the Balrog broke out of the opening. I cut them out from "Modur" hard foam.

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Time for base coating. I also added the two miniatures temporarily, to see how it looks already.

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Then I started the further painting of the base (black base coat, different shades of grey with acrylics and artist´s oil paints) and painted light and shadow on Gandalf´s cape and some details of the miniature.

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I painted further shades of grey on the base and finally, I finished the inner areas of the Balrog´s wings. Painting all the small "lava slits", it can drive you nuts! But when it´s finished, it looks quite impressing.

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The head was painted with artist´s oil paints (shades of grey) and acrylic paints (shiny yellow, clear red for mouth, tongue and nostrils).

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I painted on the Gandalf miniature further details as the sword or the bar, so it will be finished soon.

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There´s still some work to be done, but the goal is near...stay tuned!

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Not familiar with the whole Trilogy thing,but if a fire effect was the desired results,I'd say you hit a homerun!!!! Looks awesome!!!!!

Sean, you should really pick up the set of DVDs and watch these movies, they are really fantastic ...

Walmart has all three pretty cheap now, like $7.00 each ... Very family friendly ... There are some intense scenes but nothing that will be nightmare inducing for 9+ year olds ...

Gregg

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