Modelling Haldir's Death

This project was done with specific purpose of entering a local painting competition in the dual category. The rules of this painting competition dictates that the dual category will require two figures fighting each other on a 60mm round or 50mm square base. Hence, the base used in this project was a 60mm round base. This is by no means an expert job as this was my first modelling attempt.

Materials

-Haldir Model (from Heroes of Helms Deep or as a single model)
-High-Elf warrior w/ two handed sword (from Warriors of the Last Alliance box set)
-Uruk-Hai engineer (from bomb team)
-Uruk-Hai warrior w/ sword and shield (from plastic box set)
-60mm round base
-Modelling Saw
-Files
-Wire cutters
-Exacto knife
-Modelling tool
-Scissors
-Cup with water
-Piece of paper
-PVA glue (or other generic white craft glue)
-Acrylic paints (too many to list)
-Paint brushes
-Green Stuff
-Super Glue
-Plastic Glue

Step 1 - Making the base

For the base, I wanted to mimic the look of the floor stones on my Helm's Deep castle. To accomplish this, I took a sheet of paper and cut small squares. The exact dimensions of the squares is up to personal taste. Mine are approximately 1 cm square.

With PVA glue, the squares are then glued onto the base. Once the glue has dried, the edges around the base are cut off with an exacto knife to conform to the shape of the base.

For the first paint stage, I painted the entire base with Codex Grey.

This is followed by painting only the stone sections with Fortress Grey.

The base was then finished off by dry-brushing Space Wolves Grey onto the stones.

Before moving on, I will point out one detail. In my case, I have every single paint that Games Workshop has available. This is an expensive undertaking and I anticipate that most people don't do this. I find that most LoTR players have at least Codex Grey and Skull White and/or Bleached Bone. I would suggest that instead of using Codex Grey then Fortress Grey and finally Space Wolves Grey, you could start with Codex Grey and then blend in some Skull White (preferably) or Bleached Bone (if you have no Skull White) for the lighter shades of grey.

Step 2 - Modelling Haldir

Next, I need to model Haldir. This is problematic becase the goal is for the modelled figure to look as close to how Haldir looks in the movie just before he is slashed in the back by an Uruk-Hai. After watching this section of the movie several times, I noted that Haldir is standing after having just been stabbed in the gut. He is holding an elven blade in his right hand and his arms down at his side in a fairly open standing position. Unfortunately, there is no model I found that was well suited for this pose, so I took the following path:

First I began with a High-Elf Warrior from the Warrior of the Last Alliance box set.

Next I cut off his arms with a modelling saw. Be careful to make the cuts as straight as possible.

The arms were then seperated from each other by carefully cutting the sword where it intersects the left hand on either side with wire cutters. Using plastic glue, the small round ball from the end of the sword is glued back onto the butt of the sword sticking out of the right hand. I must apologize for this picture. At the time it was taken, I was still getting used to my new camera and the lens was in the way of the flash. Nonetheless, I still wanted to show you what I had at this stage.

Next, the head was removed from the High-Elf model. This can be done with the modelling saw or with the wire cutters.

Next, I took the Haldir model from a spare Heroes of Helms Deep box set I had.

I then cut off the head very carefully with a modelling saw. This was very difficult for me to do.

Next, the arms were glued back onto the High-Elf Warrior model as close to the desired position as possible.

The head was then put back on with greenstuff. Some time was spent with the green stuff to try and make it look as seemless as possible. Note the straight vertical lines cut into the hair on the back. Not shown in these pictures, I also used a very small line of green stuff to recreate the braid of hair hanging down on Haldir's right side. Also, note that the bottom piece normally used to hold the model into the base has been removed. I would like to recommend not doing this until it's painted. If I had it to do over again, I would have left it on until painted and then cut it off and touched up the paint job at that point. I did this for the Uruk-Hai and it worked very well.

I didn't want to waste the original metal Haldir model, so I simply took the head from the High-Elf warrior and transplanted it onto the Haldir model.

At this point in time I compared the original Haldir model with the "Frankenstein Haldir" model that I had to see what I could do to make them appear as similar as possible. The only modification I saw I could make was to make the bottom "skirt" piece look more like the metallic scale mail. To accomplish this, I took the exacto knife and sliced into the figure to create the scale effect. I would simply place the very tip of the blade where I wanted to make the cut and gently push it into the plastic. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL DOING THIS. I apologize for not taking an in-progress photo of this technique, but you can see the effect of it by comparing the finished project to earlier photos of the high-elf warrior model. I used the Games Workshop paint guide for Haldir when painting the model. Here is the final painted Haldir model:

Step 3 - Modelling the Uruk-Hai

For this stage of the project, I again watched the appropriate part of the movie several times. I noted that the exact location where the blade enters Haldir is not clearly evident. It could be his head, his back or a combination of the two. I decided to not have the sword actually embedded into Haldir as I had originally intended. I then reviewed the Uruk-Hai plastic models and selected the one whose body position was closest to the final product I was looking for. This is the model I selected:

The challenge at this stage with deciding what to do for the left arm. I did not want a model with a shield as the Uruk-Hai in the movie did not have a shield. I also wanted the model to be holding the sword in two hands. I found that one of the Uruk-Hai bomb team engineers was perfect for achieving this goal. I used this figure:

I must apologize for not taking more in-progress pictures. At this stage of the project, I cut the right arm from the Uruk-Hai warrior and the left arm of the Uruk-Hai engineer. I also cut off the stub of plastic where the left arm attaches on the Uruk-Hai warrior. Finally I reattached the arms onto the Uruk-Hai warrior with some green stuff into the desired position.

Finally, the Uruk-Hai was painted. Note that while he is on a model base, he is not glued into the model base. This is important because it makes it easier to remove it to get a clean cut on removing the plastic piece attached to the feet before putting it on the base made in the first part of this project.

Step 4 - The final product

All that's left at this stage is to use superglue to attach the models to the base. Be careful to use as little glue as possible and to place the figures EXACTLY where you want them on first contact to avoid blemishes of glue drying anywhere other than under the feet of the model. I placed my Haldir first and then the Uruk-Hai.

---

Please take a moment to give the author of this article some feedback on their work!

---