Jasper's Year of the Giants Diorama WIP

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Covered a significant percentage of the spots of plaster showing on the wall/courtyard.  Hopefully one more pass with a smaller brush will get what is left.

 

And prepped most of the Gnomes I want in the diorama (What?  13 days left.  Tons of time to be adding another half dozed figures...... ).

 

 

There are two more, kids, that I want in there, but I need to find my package of super fine pinning wire (and bit).  Their little legs are thinner than my usual drill bit....

 

Time to get some sleep.  I'm assuming I'll get called between 1:30 and 2 am again tonight. 

[Kharsin]

13 DAYS!!!???! Dang it! I thought this one was due on the 23rd! ROLF! I've been killing myself to finish this and WE HAVE 13 DAYS......  But I digress... I feel bad for your gnomes! I almost feel like I need to send them reinforcements or something. I also feel lazy as I'm only going to have 2 figures in my diorama... well, 3 really, but only 2 main ones, and Kaya's already done. LOL! Yours is looking awesome!

[Jasper_the_2nd]

So today was pretty much a waste.

 

First, there was a production issue over my lunch (and I'm on call this week) so I got maybe 10 minutes of painting time in.

 

 

Then I spent about 2.5 hours trying to epoxy the tail onto Lavarath, but it wouldn't hold for some reason, so all I ended up doing was scuffing up the basecoat on the parts that had it.

Bonesium is so much easier to deal with.

 

I also (hopefully) took care of a lot of the white specks left on the wall and courtyard.  And tried some brunt umber to go on the ground, in case any shows through the other basing materials.  It looks like an ok colour and I'll do the rest only I test out where the bodyguard will stand and make any adjustments to the ground there.

 

I'll tackle the tail again tomorrow.  I also plan to get as much done on other things as I can. (which likely means there will be a major issue at work and I'll get nothing done.....)

[Jasper_the_2nd]

How about a little actual progress.

 

First, I glued the tail on Lavarath with no problem this morning.  Used a trick I first saw watching one of Adam Savage's one day builds on Tested.  Superglue on one side, accelerator on the other, slap them (very quickly) together.  Bam!

Worked like a charm.  As it's a display piece hopefully that will be strong enough.

I'll take a picture of that later, when I "arrange" his tail...

 

Then I test fit the bodyguard on the slope.  He looked good as it was, so I marked his footprints and went on to slather some brown on the ground.

 

 

While that was drying I tackled the Gnome kids.  I'd found my wee little pinning wire and bits last night.

 

 

That's some small bits for my fingers....

 

And finally (so far) I threw some black paint on a few blocks.  My trusty Deltra Cremacoat triad I've always used for doing my bricks are pretty much empty, so I grabbed all the grays I could find at Michael's the other day (does Delta Cremacoat even exist anymore?  No one around here carries it.....) and I'll do up some test blocks and see what I like best.

 

Up next I think I'll finish the King.  His sword needs a little work and I have to do his belt dangly things (of doom).  I need him finished so I can make sure he has room when I do the Milliput on the wall.

 

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Here's a shot of Lavarath with his primered tail.

 

 

Was making sure it fit between the crenelations. 

 

And the King is done!

 

 

 

 

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Productive morning, I think.

 

 

I think the walls look good with those colours.  Darker than my old colour scheme, but I think I went lighter on the drybrush of the mid colour too.  I'm going to do the courtyard with a silimar technique but slightly different greys to begin with, then maybe add some other colours in spots if I have time.

 

And I Milliputted the rest of the "dirt" in.  Once it is dry, all the dirt will get a base coat of colour and then I can start with the actual sand/gravel, etc.

 

 

 

I'm also calling the warrior finished, to go with the King.  Decided to put in the spiked balls, since he knew he was attacking Gnomes...

 

 

 

[Edsterdoom]

This is looking great, how are you adding the infill on the wall, Are you using some form of gravel or grit?

[Jasper_the_2nd]

This is looking great, how are you adding the infill on the wall, Are you using some form of gravel or grit?

 

That's the plan.  Never done it before, so here's hoping it works!

[Edsterdoom]

 

This is looking great, how are you adding the infill on the wall, Are you using some form of gravel or grit?

 

 

That's the plan.  Never done it before, so here's hoping it works!

It should do make sure you use plenty of PVA glue, it may even be worth mixing it as a paste and dabbing it on.

[fanguad]

drybrush_milliput.jpg

 

And I Milliputted the rest of the "dirt" in.  Once it is dry, all the dirt will get a base coat of colour and then I can start with the actual sand/gravel, etc.

It's a Cadbury Cream Castle!

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Some painting from work today.

 

 

The Gnome Warrior, just needs some highlights to finish.  Really like this guy.  His sword appears to be some sort of Gnomish chainsaw sword gizmo.  Wonder if it can take out a fire giant.....

 

 

And I just barely splashed a little paint on the Knight.

 

 

Tonight I've already put  coat of brown on all the "dirt".  As soon as that is dry enough I'll tackle the flag stones.  Then later some sand/rock will hopefully get glued.

And in between more work on Lavarath.

 

So much still to do....

 

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Moving right along this evening.

 

Put down a coat of brown.  It dried over supper.  Also touched up so spots on the flag stones with black where they'd been hit with the wall drybrushing.

 

Then I did the flag stone drybrushing.

 

Then on to the dirt.  That's when I finally remembered to take pictures.

 

 

Here you can see what the flag stones look like after.  And you can also see the layer of glue I put down.

 

So I was looking at what sands and gravels I had when I noticed another bag of stuff.  Corn meal.  I'd used it to make sandy desert on a pyramid I'd done before we moved (which is still in a box unpainted, but anyway.... ) that had been recommended somewhere (I'm thinking the Hirst Arts site).  So I decided to go with that to begin with, since I had lots.

 

 

I'll let that sit for a bit and then dump off the excess and see what it looks like. And I should probably do a search on painting dirt...

 

 

[falstius]

Is that corn meal or semolina? I usually think semolina is the finer stuff but still little balls instead of flour. I use it for keeping pizza from sticking to the peel but now I need to try some as sand.

[Jasper_the_2nd]

Think this stuff is corn meal (according to my wife).  According to my "fine" labeling job it is something called "Ziploc"...

[Jasper_the_2nd]

So here it is with the extra (mostly) shaken off.

 

 

I'm going to let that set overnight.  Going to do a bit of painting on Lavarath before calling it a night.