Advancing Uruk Hai
This was my 2nd attempt of putting together an ‘Uruk-Hai’ scenario. The first never looked right,
no matter what I did, so it was subsequently ‘dismantled’ and I started from scratch! The first thing was to get the right ‘base’, so a trip down to the beach was made. I tend to ‘scour’
the beach looking for ‘worn’ rocks and stones. The weight has to be taken into the consideration, as the
last thing you want is a ‘Diorama’ weighing ½ a ton! Once I had the right ‘rock’, it was given a coat of ‘PVA’ glue and ‘sprinkled’ with ‘Broken Shell’ (again
from the beach). Sand (Course or Fine) is great for bases, but after picking up a handful of broken shell from the beach one
day, I found that it was ideal for 2 reasons. PVA was ‘dabbed’ on in places and ‘Green Flock’ was used to create a look of ‘Moss’ growing on the trunk.
To finish the base off, dabs of PVA were added randomly and ‘Static Grass’ applied. Time to add the ‘Miniatures’! When doing the ‘preliminary’ placements, I was really unhappy with some of the ‘postures’ of the ‘Pike men’.
The ‘pikes’ were going in every direction and I decided I would rather have them sticking ‘straight’ up! With 3 of the miniatures, this was easily resolved, as their natural stance was ‘leaning forward’ and all
that was required was to place a small ‘stone’ beneath the left foot of each model. However, 2 of them required
‘conversions’. The left arms holding the pike were removed from both models and ‘right’ hand was cut off and glued back into place.
I wanted to create a ‘pose’ with the ‘pikes’ resting on the ground. A little ‘cutting’ and ‘snipping’ of the arm was
required and then this was re-attached using ‘Green Stuff’ to rebuild the arm. After positioning all the figures onto the base, using ‘Natural Grasses’ (again, from the beach), foliage
was added to the base at random. At this point, the Diorama was ‘actually’ completed, however a couple of days
later, I noticed a post by ’Osbad’ that had a link to a German site which had ‘banners’ you could print and use
for your miniatures. I came up with the idea of placing a stationary banner in the background. I made 2 banners in total,
the first being a ‘direct’ print out of the banners from the site and made from ‘paper’. After completing the first banner, my eyes were starting to hurt, so I reached for my glasses, but as I was
cleaning them I noticed my ‘cleaning cloth’ was ‘black’ and looked kind of ‘frayed’ around the edges!...Hmmm! I then set about re-doing the banner using ‘cloth’ instead of ‘paper’. Using ‘Wonder-Web’ (the stuff you put under the hem of your trousers to repair it), I folder the cloth in
two and placed the wonder web so it left a gap at the top for the ‘poles’ to be pushed through.
I then cut the 2 strips and frayed the edges, then folded each one in half and ‘snipped’ some holes in each.
Using ‘Skull White’ & ‘Blood Red’, I then painted the 2 'symbols on to each banner.
Using 5 ‘cocktail sticks’, I gave them all a wash with ‘Scorched Brown’ and cut off one end of each stick and ‘frayed’ the edges.
They were then ‘Super Glued’ together. Once they had dried, ‘brown thread’ was used to cover the super glued joints. Lastly, I attached the banner to the back of the base to complete the scene!
Dioramas
-- Rutta 0208
1.When you give it a ‘Coloured Wash’ you get a better effect than using sand, as the crevices are much deeper.
2.Because the shell stands ‘up’ more than when using sand, you get a better effect when ‘highlighting’.
After applying the ‘wash’ & ‘highlights’, I selected a piece of ‘Driftwood’ and attached it to the base.
When setting up the scenario and positions for the miniatures, I tend to use
‘Blu-Tak’ to place the miniatures into the position I want, ‘before’ placing them on to the base ‘Permanently’.
If a lot of figures are going to be used, I draw a small ‘map’ of the base and as I remove each figure from the base,
I move it to the correct position on the map....this way, I know where everything is supposed to go!
rutta0208@btinternet.com
