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| Building Edoras Pt 3 - The Gatehouse |
| How to build the distinctive gatehouse of Edoras |
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| Paints Used
Chaos Black
Codex Grey
Fortress Grey
Brown Ink
Black Ink
Skull White
Bubonic Brown
Bleached Bone |
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Stripwood (bass wood or scale lumber) is available from good hobby shops (in particular, model railway specialists) and comes in a variety of sizes. The sizes listed above are sold as HO 12” x 6”, HO 6” x 4”, HO 8” x 8”.
The article concludes the series on building the Gatehouse of Edoras and describes the methods I used to construct the central tower and gate. Parts 1 and 2 describe building the palisade walls and the two watch towers.
A template is provided at the end of the article that gives the dimensions of all the various parts that go to make up the gatehouse. When building this model, use the template as a guide only. I have tried to design it as accurately as possible, but there will probably be times when a bit of trimming and pruning will be necessary to make things fit better!
| Step 1 - The Four Horsemen |
The four corner pillars were cut from 5mm balsa. I cut a piece of plasticard to the right shape and used that as a template for cutting the balsa. This ensures all four pieces are the same size and shape.
Use a very sharp knife to carefully cut the balsa, especially around the horse heads. Once the pillars have been cut out, stain them with a watery thin wash of Black Ink.
Trim the inside rear edge of the pillars at 45 degrees as a recess to hold the gate posts (see the plan and the picture below for details).
Cut the gate posts from 2mm x 2mm stripwood, stain them, and glue them into position on all four pillars.
The base of the gatehouse is made from 1mm card cut to size and covered with 1mm thick strips of balsa. Stain the balsa with watery thin Black Ink before gluing down. Cover the top and the bottom with the balsa, since both sides will be visible on your model. Make sure that the balsa timbers run in the same direction on the top and the bottom!
Cut lengths of 2mm x 2mm stripwood to make a frame around the underside of the floor and also some cross braces. Glue into position.
Cut 12mm lengths of 3mm bbq skewers, stain then with watery thin Black and Brown ink wash (3:1 mix) and glue together in a line as shown in the template. Glue the skewers onto the frame on the underside of the floor.
Cut four 5mm wide strips of 1mm balsa to go over the fronts of the skewers. Thin wash of black ink, then glue into place.
| Step 3 - The Wooden Crenellations |
Note that crenellations on the front and back of the tower are different to ones on the two sides. The template shows the layout for each of these.
Stain the 1.75mm x 1.25mm stripwood with very thin black ink. Lay some double-sided sticking tape on the template and cut the stripwood to the correct length. Glue on the cross braces top and bottom and leave the glue to set. Carefully lift the assembly off the page and repeat the process for the remaining panels.
Cut barbecue skewers to the correct length for the door posts and roof supports. I cut a recess into the skewers to allow the cross braces to sit flush. This stops the skewers from protruding too much.
Glue the assembled crenellations onto the floor. Fit pieces of 3.5mm stripwood across the top of the front and rear barbecue skewers to act as a support for the roof. They must be long enough to rest on the horse-head pillars.
| Step 4 - Joining the Pillars and the Floor |
This step requires something to rest the floor assembly on while the glue dries. I used stacks of cardboard, books, anything to get the required height.
Glue the horse-head pillars into place on the floor assembly. Do them two at a time and ensure that they are perfectly vertical. The floor should rest on the tops of the gateposts, and the roof support should rest nicely on the shelves at the rear of each horse head.
Cut the four angle braces using the pattern provided in the template and fix onto the front and rear of the gatehouse. Make sure there is enough clearance for the gates to swing open.
Cut the roof panels as one piece from 1mm card. It is a good idea to cut the roof shape out from a printed copy of the template, then glue it on to the card as a guide. Once the panels are cut out, carefully carve a V-shaped groove along the ridge and hip lines to allow you to bend the card without tearing it. Fold the roof panels to the required shape and glue cartridge paper over the joins and folds to strengthen them.
I originally cut the tiles by hand and then vowed to never do that again! I bought a pair of pinking shears for this job instead. Cut down one side of 8mm strips of thin card or cartridge paper with the pinking shears, and then trim off about 1mm from the zig-zag pattern. Easy.
Glue this onto the roof panels, starting from the bottom and working up. Try and get the middles of the tiles on one row to match up with ends of each tile on the previous row... If that makes sense... Just look at the picture!
Once all the tiles are in place, cut some rectangles of cartridge paper about 4mm wide x 8mm long. These are then laid over the ridge and hips of the roof as capping tiles. Crease the rectangle lengthways, and lay them one at a time (starting from the bottom of the roof) overlapping them as you go.
Paint the tiles with a 50:50 mix of Chaos Black and Codex Grey. Then pick out individual tiles at random with Codex Grey. Give an overall wash with Black Ink, and then drybrush with Fortress Grey. A light wash of very thin Brown Ink near the bottom edges will give a nice weathered look.
Paint the underside with the 50:50 Black/Grey mix, or (if you wish) clad the cardboard with balsa strips - too much? Sorry, I get carried away sometimes!
The ornamental thingy on the top can be cut from thin plasticard sheet, and painted with Bleached Bone. Cut two slots in the ridge of the roof and glue the plasticard into place using superglue.
Don’t glue the roof on, so that it can be removed during play to enable you to reposition models within the tower.
After some thought I made the gates open inwards, yet in the movie they swing outwards. Its your choice, really, but they look better opening inwards (in my opinion).
Make the gates from stained 3.5mm x 1.75mm as per the plans in the template. Add the cross braces and let the assembly dry.
The hinges I used were very simple and easy to make, but there are probably a dozen other (and better) ways to do this.
Take a length of 1mm brass rod and make a right angle bend about 2mm from the end. Now cut it off the rod about 3mm above the bend, so that you have a short L-shaped piece. Make four of these in total.
Drill two holes 2mm deep (roughly) using the 1mm drill bit into the outside edges of each gate. Superglue the L-shaped pieces into each hole making sure the 2mm length hangs down vertically. Also make sure there is a little gap between the brass and the wood of the gate.
Cut four 3mm lengths of brass tube. These will hold the L-shapes and act as a simple hinge.
Carve recesses into the gateposts to hold the brass tube sections. Check the position of the L-shape against the gate post to ensure that the gate will hang without being too high or too low. Carve enough room above the top of the tube to make it easy to slide the L-piece into place. Super glue the brass tube sections into place.
Once the glue has dried completely, slide the L-pieces into the brass tubes, and test the gate to see how well it swings.
| Step 7 - The Carved Horse Heads |
Cut the horse heads from 5mm balsa. I marked out the carved scrollwork with a pencil first and then picked at/carved it with a very sharp Xacto knife – the model still looks great without the carving, so if you don’t feel up to it, then don’t bother.
Glue them onto the front of the gatehouse allowing some clearance for the gates.
| Step 8 - Finishing Touches |
The spikes along the front of the tower can be made from any offcuts of timber. Just cut them about 6mm long and sharpen them with an Xacto knife.
Drybrush the raised edges of the timber with Bleached Bone and Fortress Grey.
| Step 9 - Assembling the Parts |
The ladders are designed to enable models to be held in position as they climb. The difficulty is cutting notches into each side that are exactly the same.
Position the two towers (you made them in part 2 remember) next to the central gatehouse and measure the length required for the two ladders. Cut the two ladder sides about 5mm longer than needed and glue them together, making sure you use only a little bit of glue on that extra 5mm length. Cut the notches into both of the sides at the same time, and then cut the two sides to the correct length. They come apart nicely and both sides match!
Done!
Rear view showing the position of the access ladders and towers.
Nazgul-eye view showing relative positions of the various parts.
Ride now! Ride now! Ride to Gondor!
The central gatehouse of Edoras (as shown in this article) was probably unique within Rohan, but the architectural style was incorporated into other structures that could be found all across the Riddermark. Watch towers were common along the borders of the Westfold, and the warning beacons of the White Mountains often had a tower nearby as a look-out post.
The template below contains a number of variations that can be built using this basic design.
| Gate Template available for download here (115K) |
See Also
Building Edoras Pt 1 - The Palisade
Building Edoras Pt 2 - The Towers |
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