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| Celevue's LotR campaign-behind the scenes (13/1/20 Hornburg) http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25227 |
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| Author: | Dead Marsh Spectre [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:12 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
Frighteningly good!!!! Such a talent. A well deserved win. |
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| Author: | valpas [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
Arrggghh! I missed the model show! In my home town! Could have seen that live! Curses! Without having seen the other models, I'm sure the "people's choice" award went to the right address. I have often been stunned by your terrain, but this was another jaw-dropper. What I like most is how the terrain does not "float" on the ground but instead looks like it has been there for hundreds of years while the vegetation has been growing around it. -- Pasi |
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| Author: | Bandobras Took [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 3:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
Stunning! Simply stunning!   You are one extremely talented hobbyist and your terrain pieces never cease to amaze in their scale and accuracy with such amazing attention to detail. After seeing this, I'm actually scared to see what Helm's Deep will be like! A well deserved victory I'm sure. Great work!
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| Author: | Gene Parmesan [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 3:27 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
That is the single greatest gaming board I have ever seen in my life. |
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| Author: | Celevue [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:54 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
Firstly, a massive thank you for the kind comments, folks! Much appreciated! Now then, it’s time to reveal all the secrets behind the completion of our Amon Hen terrain. This is going to be a massive posting, so I’ll divide it into at least three different posts. I left off about a week ago with the little ruin pieces 80% finished, and the larger pieces at the plaster cloth stage. The next stage was to paint the slopes and the summit parts with earth color latex paint, followed by the construction of the fall foliage trees. I used mostly Woodland Scenics large deciduous tree armatures again; although they do not have as many branches as the Heki tree armatures, they are more durable. The Heki ones are nice but one needs to bend them very carefully indeed – I twisted my first ones with equal force I’ve been using with the WS armatures, and ended breaking a couple of Heki trees. You’ve already seen some of the painted tree trunks – I did those at the end of last summer using spray cans. However, I added more as I realized that I’d need close to 50 trees rather than 30 or so that I had patiently awaiting for foliage. These additional armatures I painted with dark grey paint with a brush, and also some with off-white / black to represent birches (seen quite clearly around Amon Hen in the movie).  For foliage, I used a large variety of fall colors available from different manufacturers. These included Woodland Scenics Early fall foliage mix (the bright yellow coupled with light grey tree trunk is how I envision Lothlórien Mallorn trees to look – I will later make plenty more of these), WS light green foliage, Busch yellow brown micro-flock (#7324), Busch orange brown micro-flock (#7325), Busch red brown micro-flock (#7326), Busch may green foliage (#7342), Busch light brown foliage (#7346), Busch 3-color brown foliage (#7347), Heki autumn green foliage (#1680), Heki autumn yellow foliage (#1681), Heki autumn brown foliage (#1682) and Heki autumn red foliage (#1683), as well as the green Heki foliage that came with the tree trunks.  The Busch micro-flock is different from other foliage; it seems like a similar mat, but it easily breaks into stamp-sized clumps. These coupled quite nicely with the Heki tree armatures to create quite distinct-looking brown / green / red trees. These can be seen particularly on the right side of the terrain in this first full assembly test of the entire Amon Hen. I sometimes mixed different color foliage on a single tree, and all through the foliage adding, I collected all the loose scatter, and used it later by sprinkling a bit of additional colors on the trees to break up the monotony. A bit of green on red or yellow foliage, and a bit of yellow & red on green ones made the trees even more realistic.  Once satisfied with the placement of trees, I cut a small opening in the terrain shell and glued the tree bases in with a bit of hot glue, ensuring that the trees stood upright (and they could be popped off from their bases if needed for gaming purposes).  I also painted a few Woodland Scenics broken tree stumps with dark grey, dark brown and light wooden colors to match the Woodland Scenics dead fall (bits of sticks to represent fallen trees / driftwood etc).  The rock faces were painted next; I used two different latex paints toned to the colors of Tol Brandir as seen in the movie. The darker tone with hex code AD958C (“vermilionish gray”, NCS system color NCS-S 3010Y80R) served as the base, followed by a wash with black ink, and a drybrush first with the same base color, then with a lighter shade (F1D9D5, “light scarletish gray”, NCS –S 1010R).  The larger terrain pieces got some Woodland Scenics fine turf next. I covered the area with undiluted white glue, and first sprinkled some WS yellow grass fine turf to the edge areas. This was to better blend the pieces with the predominantly yellow grass 80x90cm tiles used as the bases.  The rest of the area was covered with WS earth blend blended turf. In this photo, the wet glue is still shining through white, but it’ll disappear once dried. If anything shows through the turf covering, it’ll be the earth-colored latex basecoat.  This was also the point at which I glued the structures into the ground. There are quite large gaps around the Parth Galen stairs, which I first stuffed with WS olive green bushes and bits of underbrush (i.e. foam coarser than either variant of WS turf). This was secured in place with scenic glue applied with an eyedropper.  The top of the stairs required a bit of blue foam instead – the gap was nearly two cm there.  When the glue had set, liberal amounts of Woodland Scenics earth blend turf was added on top of the gap-filling bits of coarse foam (making them effectively disappear from sight completely). As a result, the structure now seems to rise from the ground with no seams between the wall and the turf. All kinds of little bits of stones and columns and such, as well as natural rocks (hydrocal casts using WS molds and stained with black ink), WS broken tree stumps and WS dead fall (fallen tree trunks) were glued onto the terrain shell at suitable locations. Earth blend turf was added around these (as well as around the tree bases cut into the terrain) to ensure that, apart from fallen tree trunks, nothing was “floating” (thanks for commenting on that, Valpas!)  
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| Author: | Celevue [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
Incidentally, while we are talking about structures, Oldman Willow has commented on the choice of color… the base color for the ruins and other structures was matched to screenshots of the Argonath statues. I thought that the stones for the structures might have been taken from the same quarries used to make the tops of the Pillars of Argonath, hence the same color. I used a darker base color with hex code B9B4B2 (“vermilionish gray”, NCS S 2502R), followed by a black ink wash. Then a drybrush with the same base color, followed by a lighter grey DFDDC7 (“light goldish grey”, NCS S 1505-G80Y), and a final drybrush of a very light grey matched to be the main color for Minas Tirith (ECEDF2, “light phthalo bluish gray”, NCS S 0907-R70B). Some parts of the ruins were also drybrushed with moss green latex paint, screencap-matched to the bright green moss on the ramparts of Helm’s Deep (86983A, “moderate lime green”, NCS S 3040-G50Y). If you need some other color system codes than NCS, this web site gives suggestions: http://www.perbang.dk/rgb/86983A/ - just feed in the hex code and look for close matches in your favorite commercial color system and have a local hardware store mix you a pint or two for a rather reasonable price. I have four different paints for Minas Tirith, four for Helm’s Deep, two for Isengard, several for different water areas and so on… not quite the range offered by GW, but an impressive array of latex paint pots nevertheless! The structures, statues, bits of ruin and natural stones all received some additional weathering with brown and green powders. I used Faller and Doc O’Brien’s weathering powders (the latter is sold by Micro-Mark).  Here’s the lower slope with trees in place and the ground pretty much ready apart from the dead leaves.  Ditto for the small extension between the bridge and the river, and the upper slope piece.   There are three larger forest pieces with a rather flat ground. If I had had more time I might have made some undulations. I might try that later for Lothlórien / Mirkwood –specific forests. In any case, making these was rather straight-forward. Four mm thick mdf, cut to shape with edges beveled, first got the tree bases glued in place. Once these had dried, a liberal amount of earth color latex was brushed on, followed immediately by a coat of earth blend turf. This saved time and I could skip the gluing stage as the turf attached to the drying paint. Tree stumps and fallen trees, as well as any natural rocks and bits of ruin were glued in once the turf layer was dry. More earth blend turf was added around tree bases and other bits, again to make them “sink” in the ground. Isopropyl alcohol was eyedropped in to wet the area with extra turf, and scenic cement secured the turf in place.  What many of you have already asked, this is how the dead leaves scatter was done. I combined about an equal amount of DecorPlus Leaf Litter from Antenociti’s Workshop, Heki light brown scatter material (#3303), and ground up dried leaves from a potted fern we had a year or so ago. It was a really messy plant, dropping plenty of leaves daily. Luckily, I realized even then that they would be just about the right color for Amon Hen, and saved a large amount. Unfortunately I cannot find the Antenociti’s Leaf Litter any more on their website (DecorPlus is Antenociti’s own brand), but I’ve asked whether that product has been discontinued or whether it is just temporarily out. I’ll let you know when I get an answer.  I had two bags of Heki scatter, two tubs of Leaf Litter, and about an equal amount of ground up fern – it was barely enough for the Amon Hen terrain. The upper slope was done last, and it got a rather scarce covering, I’m afraid. For the first bits done, I sprinkled in the dead leaves mix. As the screen shots reveal, in many places in the movie there is some moss on top of the even layer of dead leaves. To represent this, I sprinkled some Woodland Scenics burnt grass –colored coarse turf after the dead leaves. I then used isopropyl alcohol as the wetting agent, followed by scenic glue to secure the dead leaves mix in place. I quickly ran out of alcohol, however (and, honestly, time, too) – so the final pieces had the dead leaves mix + coarse turf wetted with “wet water” (water + a drop or two of dish washer) by spraying it in very carefully so as not to blow the leaves away. Incidentally, I very nearly ran out of scenic glue as well, leaving just a few drops after finalizing the bases for the Uruks on the night before the show…    The dried creek bed (or that’s what I assume it is) under the bridge got a couple of natural stones, and some additional bits of WS earth fine turf, soil fine turf, olive green underbrush, and burnt grass coarse turf.  In the following day after the glue had dried, any loose dead leaves were chased with a bottle of hairspray. Not the best method – it would have been better to reapply isopropyl alcohol and scenic glue with an eyedropper, but unfortunately hairspray was all I had time for. |
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| Author: | Celevue [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:58 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
The summit was a bit different beast than any other individual piece at Amon Hen, as the lower part of the summit hill will also be used at the Pelennor Fields. Hence, it needed a predominantly yellow grass covering to blend it in with the yellow grass plain terrain tiles, and zero dead leaves. The yellow turf was glued on after the earth-colored latex basecoat had dried (and the rock faces were done, too). I sprinkled in a full covering with fine yellow turf, followed with a salt-and-pepper mix of a bit of burnt grass and green blend fine turfs. In order to make the grass look longer, a liberal amount of coarse yellow turf was added on top. Everything was sprayed with wet water, followed with lots of scenic glue. For the top part with the Seeing Seat, I first cut a handful of thin wedge-shaped slices of blue foam and glued them in as stone steps leading up to the Seeing Seat. Once the glue was dried, I embossed seams, and added some cracks with a knife. The stepping stones were painted to match the Seeing Seat. A more liberal amount of yellow turf around the steps made them nearly disappear into vegetation.  The fit between the ground and the Seeing Seat structures was tighter than with the Parth Galen stairs, so coarse yellow turf was all that was needed to close the gap. Some underbrush and greener coarse turf was glued here and there, and I also added some fir trees around the summit area. The smaller saplings here and in the lower parts of Amon Hen (e.g. near the “hobbit hidey-hole”) are bits of Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage.  While the glue was still dry on the fine and coarse turf, I added some Noch golden yellow static field grass near the Seeing Seat to make it look even more like the area did in the movie. The static grass was applied with Noch Gras-master tool. I also glued in a few Army Painter grass tufts for variety.  A final detail was to add tangible moss on top of natural stones, fallen trees, statues and bits of ruin, as well as in the lower parts of stairs and on the bridge. This was done by mixing scenic glue and Scenic Express moss green turf into a “moss paste” (it’s definitely Scenic Express turf, even though I’ve put it into a WS canister shaker). A small spatula was used to apply this paste around the model as appropriate. A spur-of-the-moment addition: the “horn of Gondor”, i.e. Apple iPod Shuffle and Fuj:tech Soundball speaker inserted into the crypt. I quickly fashioned a door from 3mm Depron painted to match the wall color blocked the view into the structure, keeping the speaker well hidden during the entire model show. I blatantly took the mp3 file from here: https://soundcloud.com/raul-rodrigues/the-horn-of-gondor and edited it a bit. I extended it to five blows rather than three, and had a short fade-out during the fifth. Not trusting my skills in getting the iPod to play on repeat, I actually made a sound file nearly five hours long, with the five blows sounding out every five minutes (with silence in between). It was fun looking at the surprised eyes of the passers-by as, all of a sudden, the sound of a Gondorian war horn pierced the air in the vicinity of the model.  The assembly test shot earlier had stacks of books to raise the two plain terrain tiles higher than the shore level, but that wouldn’t do in the show. I fashioned a support structure from 1x2 inch lumber in the classic L-girder style familiar from model railroad construction:  The L-girder gets its name from two longitudinal pieces of 1x2” lumber attached together to form a structure (or “girder”) with L-shaped cross-section. Two of these are joined by perpendicular “joists”, to which “risers” are attached. The plain terrain tiles then sit atop these risers at a suitable height so that the lower and upper slope pieces connect them as appropriate.  For transport, I detached one of the L-girders. The joists are only attached with one screw to either girder, so removing four screws & one girder left the remainder of the structure fold neatly into a long (but rather weird-looking) piece of woodwork. I also fashioned side panels from 3mm mdf, painted with dark brown to match the edges of the terrain tiles and slopes. I printed out some screen shots from the movie, as well as a title plaque (“Amon Hen” + Lord of the Rings logo). These were first glued onto 3mm foamboard cut to suitable size; the foamboard-backed images were then glued onto the mdf panels. The panels were secured in place by screwing them into the support structure joists.  Here’s the entire load of stuff to be transported – all the terrain pieces (river shore, three plain flat tiles, lower slope with stairs, small extension hill, upper slope, summit hill in three parts, three forests, six separate ruins or large statues, separate fir trees, support structure, side panels, and about 40 figures in a case. Two trips with my Chrysler PT Cruiser…  The rest, as they say, is history. But I also want to share some goodies I found at the model show – firstly, a brilliant guide book, “Realistic Wood Effects” by AK Interactive (http://www.ak-interactive.com/ecomm/?acc=Catalog&sacc=view&IDCat=574&idp=9519&idc=3) as well as the associated paints and washes to achieve the incredible wood effects. I also got a set of paints for “humidity and wet effects” with two very nice-looking moss green colors by MIG (http://www.migjimenez.com/en/weathering-sets/209-humidity-and-wet-effects.html ) - if I had had the latter prior the show, I would have used it for moss effects. But I will definitely utilize both the wood and the moss effects with Helm’s Deep.  I also got a couple of ready-made trees that I’ve been waiting for from a local dealer: Faller sessile oak and a willow tree. I’ve been trying to find ready-made holly trees (to no avail); I think the sessile oaks could be a good substitute. I’ve also hunted for a good-looking H0-scale willow tree which I could use as the Old Man Willow in my model railway – this Faller one is definitely going to be it.  Phew, that was a long post indeed – hope it answers all your questions about how the Amon Hen board was made. Thanks for reading! |
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| Author: | Rognarr [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:01 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
I am in awe again and again, whenever you post updates of your progress on this whole project. It's insanely awesome and the execution of your project is simply perfect! |
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| Author: | Gandlaf the Grey [ Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (1/3 AmHen d |
The scale as ever is impressive beyond belief but for me it is the amount of kit you have, my jealousy is immense for all these goodies you play with A couple of questions I've been meaning to ask, The wet water, what is the benefit of using this ? What affect does it achieve You have also used Isopropyl Alcohol ? The same again, what benefit of using this and what affect does it give ? |
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| Author: | Erunion [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:29 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this board! Even without seeing the other entries, I can see that you truly deserved the best in show award for the effort and attention to detail alone. Amazing! |
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| Author: | Delirivm [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:35 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
I'm impressed, I'm at loss for words. The only downside is that I'm not able to behold this in real life. This thread (and others) has inspired my friends and me to make a gaming board ourselves. We may not be experienced but you've got to start somewhere. I can now only dream of achieving your level of terrain making but there's nothing with dreaming right  Really, amazing work, and I'm glad you got recognition in real life as well as online. |
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| Author: | Celevue [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 2:12 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Thanks again, folks! @Gandlaf, the wet water and isopropyl alcohol (a.k.a. rubbing alcohol) have the exact same purpose - they break the surface tension when the turf is soaked with scenic cement (or any other diluted white glue). Sometimes one ends up with a rather thick layer of fine powder-like turf. Adding just droplets of scenic cement on top of that causes the cement to "ball up", i.e. it forms balls of glue on top of the powdered turf without soaking the turf properly, evenly and throughout. By wetting the turf first with low-surface-tension liquid such as rubbing alcohol or water with a drop of dishwasher helps the glue soak in and fasten the turf throughout once the glue has dried. Both work well with the alcohol having a slight edge, but then of course, compared to tap water & drop of soap, it is expensive... and at least Model Railroader magazine says you shouldn't use the battery-operated static grass applicators with flammable alcohol. Don't know how big a risk there is, but better be safe than sorry! @Delirivm, we are happy to provide inspiration! Build and experiment, and delve into model railroading lore by e.g. looking at the great Woodland Scenics videos - you'll be sure to succeed! And hey, travelling is easy and our planet is not that big - anyone coming over to Finland is welcome to visit! |
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| Author: | Oldman Willow [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
I want to add that wet water is useful in casting as well. I wet the molds with it when I cast. Quote: Model Railroader magazine says you shouldn't use the battery-operated static grass applicators with flammable alcohol. Don't know how big a risk there is, but better be safe than sorry! The static electricity might explode atomized alcohol. Much like using a normal fan in a airbrush booth. The sparks from the motor turn the flammable vapor into a jet of flame. AKA "Big Bada Boom" Scenic Express recommends school glue with static grass applicators. I have never used alcohol. I also want to say how much I enjoyed looking over the WIP photos. Very well done. 
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| Author: | Celevue [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Thanks, OMW! I also use wet water when casting rocks with WS rock molds. I got a reply from Antenociti's Workshop that, for some reason, the DecorPlus leaf litter was disabled on the site, but is now back up at http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/decorplus-leaf-litter.html. However, be advised that I was also told that they have troubles sourcing the material, and when the existing stock is gone, the product might not return. So if you need some, grab some now. |
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| Author: | Oldman Willow [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 3:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Good/bad news about the leaves. I will get some while I can. |
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| Author: | Zirak-Zigil [ Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Amazing stuff Celevue!! Really looking forward to the campaign pics on that terrain!! I always wanted to build a completed Amon Hen board like that but you've dampened my ambition because its impossible to improve on perfection!! Seriously though you've really inspired me to improve my own scenery! Keep it up. Can't wait for your Helms Deep! |
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| Author: | Sticky Fingersss [ Tue Mar 04, 2014 8:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Stunning... just stunning. I cannot wait to see the battle report |
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| Author: | Harfoot [ Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:39 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
the " Noch Gras-master tool" appears to be hard to find in the UK, ebay has one located in Germany for £105 Can you recommend a supplier? |
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| Author: | mertaal [ Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Excellent work. Once again, you outdo yourself. |
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| Author: | Celevue [ Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:39 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Celevue's LotR campaign - behind the scenes (2/3 AmHen d |
Thanks for the comments, people! @Harfoot, I bought mine from Modellbahnshop-Lippe, http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com/produkt/NOCH/27-7-0-188565-010001-0-0-0-0-0-0-grp-de-h-0/ein_produkt.html (I have the original one, not version 2.0 - the price appears to be the same, though). A slightly cheaper alternative is GrassTech II tool which you can get from Antenociti: http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/grasstech-ii-flock-applicator.html Haven't used one, so couldn't say how it works, but quite likely just as well as the Noch tool. Model Railroader magazine (MRVideo+ section) had a video about laying static grass, where they preferred GrassTech's smaller applicator (mainly due to its compact size compared to the Noch tool). It's quite inexpensive at the GrassTech website http://grasstechusa.com/products/grasstech/index.html Hope this helps! |
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