I had been thinking about representing this scene for along time and have finally managed to put the whole thing together.

May I first apologise for some of the photo quality, but for some reason this one proved quite difficult to shoot! Also, I kept forgetting to take photo’s along the way, so I also apologise for this.

Special thanks go to Quendi for donating to of his Hobbits from his ‘Treebeard Box Set’ and ‘Yith’ for the idea of using ‘spices’ for ground cover!

But most of all, a Very Special thankyou go’s to Ebob for the following reason!

The key to the entire diorama was having the right Dark Rider for the scene. After much deliberation, I took the entire diorama to Games Workshop to see if they could suggest an appropriate ‘Horse’ that could be used....what a mistake that turned out to be.... as soon as it was taken out of the bag, the entire shop came to a complete standstill and the only person who was’nt standing around the diorama was me!

Disheartened, I left the shop empty handed, as the guys at GW could not come up with the goods. I decided the only thing I could do was to try my hand at sculpting the entire model, and who better to get advice from, but the Master himself!

I contacted Ebob and he immediately offered the Dark Rider to me for free! He stated that it would an honour to have one of his sculpts on one of my diorama’s, however I believe it is actually the other way round. I was in total shock, to find out this was actually Ebob’s first ever sculpture!

Therefore, I would like to present to you a Diorama entitled ‘Get Off The Road’, which is a combined effort by Rutta0208 & Ebob.

Step 1

Finding an old conifer stump from the garden, I proceeded to remove the roots from the stump. Once this had been done, the top half of the stump was sawn off at the required height. After a little thought, I decided where I was going to cut the bottom part in such a way as to leave the natural shape of the stump that leads into the roots and again, using a Tennon Saw, this was cut flat.

Step 2

A large stone was selected and the next step was to attach the Tree Stump to the Large Flat Rock. Using Bostik Contact Glue, both surfaces were coated, left for 5 minutes and then attached to one another.

Step 3

The next step was to achieve a platform for the Dark Rider to be positioned. To do this, a Small Flat Rock was selected and balanced on 2 old BGIME Paint Pots.

Once I was happy with the position, these were also attached using Bostik Contact Glue.

Step 4

The Next step was to create the root system of the tree. Reviewing the DVD footage, I set about preparing some Milliput Modelling Clay. Rolling the Milliput in my hands, I created a series of ‘Vine Like’ pieces and placed them in such a way, as to create a small cave beneath the Small Flat Rock (please note form the picture below that the twigs attached to the tree stump were removed from the finish article)

using a Modelling Tool, the Milliput was modelled into the shape of tree roots. This was created by starting ‘thick’ near the tree stump, then gradually becoming thinner near the end. Using the modelling tool, grooves were then sculpted into the roots, from one end to the other. Small balls of Millput were placed at random places on the roots and shaped into ‘Knots’. Once enough roots had been place on the scene, more Milliput was used and rolled between the hands to make long thin vines! These were then draped over the root system.

Step 5

The next part was to take care of the gap beneath the Small Flat Rock at the left hand side. Small stones were selected and set in place with PVA glue. The small stones made a wall that bridged half of the gap. The remainder of the gap was covered with Milliput and given a texture by gentle pressing the Modelling tool into the surface. The remainder of the Milliput was used for ground cover, giving it the same texture as above.

Step 6

The entire scene was then sprayed with Chaos Black. Once this had dried, the small flat stone was then coated in PVA glue and crushed shell was scattered over it. Once this had dried, it was given a wash with watered down Scorched Brown Paint and later dry-brushed with Bleached Bone.

Step 7

The tree stump and roots were dry-brushed with Scorched Brown, then Beastial Brown and finally with a very light coating of Bleached Bone. The ground cover wash dry-brushed with Dark Angels Green and then with Graveyard Earth.

Step 8

The next part was to create some fallen leaf ground cover. After a conversation with Yith, I raided the Wifes ‘Spice Rack’ and chose some ‘Mixed Herbs’. PVA glue was applied to the ground areas and the mixed herbs were scattered over it.

Step 9

PVA glue was used randomly and Green flock sprinkled onto it, as well as Static Grass in other areas. Different shades of Lichen was selected and these were attached also with PVA.

Step 10

Using a ‘Woodland Scenics Tree Kit’, 3 large pieces were selected and attached to the back of the diorama to represent trees. Smaller bits were selected and placed randomly to represent bushes and small saplings. This left the diorama ready for the miniatures.

Step 11

2 sets of Merry & Pippin miniatures from the ‘Treebeard Box Set’ were used to represent the 4 Hobbits. The arms and legs were bent on one set to change the pose of the characters. A small piece of Milliput was prepared and the 4 Hobbits were pushed into it. After spraying the miniatures with Chaos Black, they were then painted to represent Frodo, Sam, Pippin & Merry!

Step 12

After contacting Ebob regarding ‘The Dark Rider’ it amazingly arrived after one day. The sculpture had some slight damage, i.e. the end of the scabbard had broken off and whilst trying to remove it from its base, I accidently broke off one of the horses legs (Yikes!). Repairs were made using Super Glue and Green Stuff and the entire miniature was repainted!

And that’s about it !

Hope you enjoyed the article.

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