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Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 3:35 pm
by Duranis
Brief update with a crappy phone photo and I need some opinions.

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The gold bits at the top have a raised marking on them.

I'm not sure if I should leave them gold (and just highlight them some more). Paint them purple (my armies main colour)
Paint them red (to tie in with the red that will be on the cauldron).

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 9:08 pm
by Assani
Looks really cool!! Great work. P

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 3:15 pm
by Duranis
Thanks :)

I have kind of stalled on this for the moment as I can not decide what color to pain the cauldron. I was originally going to paint it a bronze color but then I dont know what color to do the other bits as I was going to use gold and silver but dont know how that would work with a bronze colour.

Looking at it there are 4 parts to pick colours for:
1) The stone platform. Should I do the same as the rock around it or a different color (maybe marble).
2) The engraved rings around the base and top. Thinking gold or silver but depends on what the rest if painted like.
3) The "bits" on the side. Again i was thinking gold or silver. Pick the one that I didn't use for the rings.
4) the smooth part of the stand and the bowl. I was originally thinking of doing this bronze but I don't have bronze paint to hand and I'm not sure that would work with gold and silver "bits" on it. Maybe do the whole lot bronze and just have the rings in silver?

Also did think about painting the bowl in a black marble effect with gold trimmings.

Any ideas?

Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:22 pm
by Saori_nightstar
I really love how this has progressed! looks amazing...im working on my Cauldron conversion, well just a base for it really, but no where near as gd as this!!! :) love the lights idea!

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 8:48 am
by Duranis
Another small update. Have started work on painting the cauldron bit, metal sections still need a lot of work though. The stone pedestal section has come out a bit to flat and shiny so might go back to that later and see if I can do something with it. its not quite so bad in real life as it is on the photos. Next time I use airdry clay I will make sure to add more texture to it before painting.

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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:10 pm
by Assani
Sweet!!!

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:42 pm
by Lord_azoth
really nice, love the runes

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:48 pm
by Tzelok
That LED idea is great! Looks amazing if you play in a low light environment (ie: garage). Thanks for the inspiration!

As for my opinion on the gold banner tops, I think either highlight with mithril mixed with gold then extreme edge mithril highlight or paint them purple to match the rest.

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 8:38 am
by Duranis
Thanks. If I could go back and do it again I would find a better way to cut the runes in the side of the plastic bowl. I tried a couple of different ways and in the end used a pin heated on the stove to melt through it. This was the quickest way I found but it has left a particularly good edge in it (even after spending ages trying to clean it up. I also tried using a knife but cutting into a curved surface on such a small scale was pretty difficult (which is why some bits where green stuffed over as the knife cut through too far).

The LED effect does look pretty good but there was a lot of room for improvement and I have some good ideas for a terrain piece in the future.

I have done a little bit more work on it last night. Mainly just a bit of detailing and finishing off the metal on the cauldron, also started painting the blood but that isn't in the photos.

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Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2011 2:22 pm
by Assani
As mentioned before... Sweet!!! ;)

Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:15 pm
by Saori_nightstar
LOVE IT!

Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 8:34 pm
by With hatred ...
I'm watching this thread in fascination. Brilliant progress throughout. Thanks for sharing and providing inspiration.

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:55 am
by Duranis
Thanks a lot for the kind comments. I'm about 95% finished on this now, I painted up the blood in the cauldron and all the is left is to:
Get some gloss varnish for the blood.
Paint and attached all the detail bits.
Add a few more highlights to the silver and gold metal parts.
Maybe try and blend the slight gap between the base and the bottom of the cauldron section a bit more.

Few new photos. Think the blood helps take away the "big chunk of grey" look from the piece. Might add another layer or two of highlights to the blood but didn't want to overdo it and make it too light.

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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:09 am
by Dark Alliance
Mate you've done a good job with that but one small suggestion if I may. The grass effects are too bright imo. Too green, you need to desaturate them a little, either by a very light drybrush in say a brown or maybe a mix of dark grey/black, or with Vallejo pigments. That way they will look more like they have grown out of the ground, rather than like that have been stuck there.

Does that make sense?

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:23 am
by Duranis
Thank you, I think you are completely right. I have a pretty limited choice of basing materials and the ones I used where the darkest bits I had to hand. Its not quite as stark a contrast in real life as it is on the photos but I agree that they are a little too bright. I just wasn't sure what to do about it.

Your idea of giving them a light drybrushing should work perfectly though.

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 11:46 am
by Dark Alliance
You could also try using a watered down wash, maybe Devlan Mud.

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:07 pm
by Assani
Again, sweet:)

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:47 pm
by Thetosh
So awesome, I love it.
Roughly how much, materials wise, did it cost to make?

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 2:29 pm
by Duranis
@Dark Alliance - Yeah a watered down wash might work perfectly. I will have a play around with it first to see what looks best.

@thetosh - Umm not sure but probably not much. Bits I have used are roughly.
Half a packet of airdry clay (cost about £3 a packet).
Small bit of 5mm foam core board (tons left cost about £1 per board).
Banner tops from cold one knights.
Small amount of green stuff to make hooks, skulls, ribbons and a few other detail bits.
Paints - already had. Also used acrylic paint for first layers of colour 9mixed white and black) but not sure I would do this again as GW washes cut right through it.
Basing bits (kitty litter, sand, static grass, floral moss).
Couple of sticks of hot glue.
PVA glue
Super glue
LEDS, wire, solder, etc (bits pulled out of a Halloween decoration mostly and rewired, cost £1)
Misc household bits and bobs (cocktail sticks, tin foil, etc).

Assuming you have paints and standard hobby bits the only real thing you need to buy is the airdry clay and maybe some greenstuff for making detailed bits. All the rest of the bits could be reclaimed junk (such as DVD/CD covers for frame) or stuff you just find. Apart from a couple of clayshapers I picked up really cheaply all my sculpting tools and hand made and cost nothing.

I would guess, not including the banner top bits, that it cost less than £5-6 in materials to make but a lot of people will already have most of what they need sitting around already.

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:35 am
by Dark Alliance
Remember with washes to water them down and do it with several coats until you get the effect you are looking for.

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:57 am
by Duranis
There haven't been any updates for a little while as I was away working for a bit.

I have pretty much finished the Cauldron now. Still a few minor touch ups (highlights on metal and a couple of bits) but 99% finished. I will get some proper photos of it once I get some time but the ones below should be good enough for now :) I added some of the detailing bits. I ended up leaving off the chains and flesh hooks I had spent ages making because it all just looked a bit too much. These will be used later on though in another project.

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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:02 pm
by With hatred ...
The cauldron looks absolutely beautiful, very well done.
What figures are you going to use with it?

Also how is the hydra coming along?

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:14 pm
by Duranis
Thanks.

Im not sure on what figures to use yet. There have been a couple of reaper figures that I have look at but not decided yet. Open to any good suggestions :)

Haven't done anything more on the hydra yet but that is my next project :) have a good idea for it and just hoping I can pull it off.

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:17 pm
by Assani
It's awesome, great work!

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:43 am
by Duranis
Not much of an update. I have been working on the hydra on and off over the last few weeks, but only in short bursts as I have not had much time.

My original plan was to have it blue with light/ice blue stripes but with the shape of the body I just don't think it will work too well now. So I'm kind of making it up as I go along. I still want it to be a light blue colour and I'm considering working in another colour to contrast with the blue in a spot pattern or just on the heads (maybe a blended yellow).

All I have really done so far on the painting side is the base coat, shading and then the basecoat colour again to tidy up.

I have also managed to snap the tail and one of the heads of during painting which really annoyed me as I spent ages sticking it together and filling the gaps. I really hate metal models!

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I'm not sure about the colour on the necks and belly, the idea was to work this up to a light skin colour but I'm not sure its going to look good (have only done base coat, shade and first stage of highlights on this part so far). I will know better once I work up the highlights on the main body but I might change this to a light blue or blue/grey colour instead.

I'm also not sure what to do about the join between the "skin" and the "scales". I tried blending the skin into the skins and then the other way around but neither looked particularly great. I might just black line the edges to define them better.