Seige At Helms Deep
Diorama
-- Rutta 0208
Paints Used:
Regal Blue
Dark Angels Green
Codex Grey
Fortress Grey
Chaos Black
Scorched Brown
Materials used:
Flat stones
Hirst Arts "Ruined Tower" mould
Plaster of Paris
PVA glue
Household glue
Superglue
Sand
Crushed shells
Natural grasses
Natural foliage
Green flock
Static grass
Uruk-Hai Siege Troops boxed set
Plastic Uruk-Hai with sword and shield
Aragorn at Helm's Deep
Warriors of Rohan
Haldir's Elves
Tools Used:
Craft knife
Modelling Knife
Introduction
A couple of people requested that I put an article together on how I put my "Siege At Helm's Deep" diorama together....so here goes!
Step 1
The first thing to do was to choose a base for the diorama. I have quite a few flat rocks collected from trips to the beach and I chose one that was medium in size as I didn't want it too be to big or too small.
I coated the rock base with PVA glue and sprinkled "fine" sand over the entire base. This was not the actual "texture" I wanted, however I had decided I was going to include the "Drain" in the Helm's Deep wall section and needed a different texture for where the water would be running!
Step 2
I marked out where I wanted the water to be running, and covered the rest of the base with a 2nd coating of PVA glue, but his time I used crushed shells, again obtained from the beach, to create a different texture.
Step 3
A lot of thought went into how I wanted the wall section to look. Initially I was going to go with a standard "straight" wall to stay with the theme of the film, however as this was going to be a "display" piece, I decided that a "curved" wall would be more pleasing to the eye when looking straight at the finished diorama.
Using a mould of the "Ruined Tower" available from www.hirstarts.com and Plaster of Paris, I cast the mould approximately 16 times to get the required amount of "bricks" for the wall section.
The completed Ruined Tower includes "arches" (see Jim Jackson's "Attack at Wethertop Diorama" for an example). This gave me the idea of including the "Drain" section of the wall.
Step 4
After sorting out all of the "Moulded" bricks, I glued them together with Bostik household glue.
Step 5
The mould did not have appropriate bricks for the topmost part of the wall, therefore these needed to be carved from "semi-dry" bricks using a "Craft knife" and a "Modelling Tool" to engrave the pattern of the wall.
The wall section was then checked to see how it would fit onto the base!
Step 6
I knew I was going to be making a water section, but I had never attempted this before and really had no idea what it would turn out like.
I have said this again and again, but I don"t believe in spending a fortune on materials and always look for cheap alternatives and therefore decided on paint and glue for the water section.
The "groove" in the base was first painted with Regal Blue in the centre to represent the deepest part and then was blended with Dark Angels Green around the edges to represent "shallow" areas.
Step 7
While this was drying, I set about painting the wall section. This was given a coat of Codex Grey and once dry, it was dry-brushed with Fortress Grey. Once this layer had dried the wall was finished by adding a wash of watered down Chaos Black.
For the "water" effect, I filled the entire groove with Bostik household glue. While it was still wet, I added some natural grasses to the water section to represent reeds.
The textured base was then given a coated of Scorched Brown wash and whilst drying I had a trip to GW to pick up the "Uruk-Hai Siege Troops" boxed set.
Dabs of PVA were used at random around the base and Static Grass was added to this.
Also, a layer of PVA was used along the base where the wall joined it and this was sprinkled with green flock. Whilst this was wet, foliage was added.
Whilst all this was drying, I painted the ladders from the "Uruk-Hai Siege Troops" box set and then attached the wall section permanently to the base with household glue and attached the two ladders.
All that remained now was to get all the miniatures painted and attached.
Step 8
I had a few Uruk-Hai already painted and used these in the scene, but I also wanted to re-enact the "bomb" scene.
The "Uruk-Hai Siege Troops" box set comes with two bombs and engineers. I arranged these to be carrying one of the bombs and placed the other bomb below the arch.
The two Uruk-Hai Beserkers were then painted and attached once dry. I thought I would have to convert these, as I wanted them climbing the ladders, but no conversion was required in the end.
After all the "Evil" side had been completed, I looked around for what spare Miniatures I had lying around and found an Aragorn from an issue of BGIME and some Warriors of Rohan.
I felt this wasn't enough and decided on another trip to GW to pick up some of Haldir's Elves.
Once I had these all painted, they were attached to the scene using standard Superglue.
Some "touching up" here and there and the scene was completed.
Conclusion
Just to finish off, here are some "close-ups" of the diorama!
Lastly, how the whole thing looks!
Have a go and I look forward to seeing your creations in your Galleries!
Rutta 0208
