Hey All,
As promised, here is an update on the Chaos Dwarf mining complex. Some of the shots are somewhat of a repeat of other posts in other projects. However, I thought they might be beneficial and appreciated by those who are new to the thread. Here are some shots of work on the main tower, followed by some detail work on the front gate.
A set of wedges cut for corbels in the main tower.
Lined out and segmented to represent the stone blocks.
Modeled to represent a stone face.
Where the second tower wall meets the main tower I cut a recess to receive it. This way any unsightly gaps are avoided and it doesn’t look like a cheap butt joint.
The resulting fit.
The block courses were lined out on the side of the main tower with a pencil. To help insure straight cuts with the v-tool, I score the lines with a hobby knife and a straight edge. This produces a “path of least resistance” for the v-tool to follow when carving out the courses.
Carving with the v-tool.
After all the blocks are laid out and carved in, a bench chisel is used at a very low angle to model the surface. MDF is very much highly compressed layers of paper. By rocking the tool from corner to corner slightly while moving it forward, a random shaving and tearing of these layers produces a very realistic stone effect.
Here the left side of the main tower has been almost completed. The initial modeling of the blocks has been done. The “x” marks you see are areas that are selected for additional modeling. Here individual blocks will be carved deeper at various corners and edges, or completely recessed, and an occasional crack will be carved in. you can also see the recesses that have been carved and numbered for the corbels. Rather than just gluing the corbels onto the face of the tower, by recessing them slightly it takes on the appearance of individual blocks projecting out from the main structure.
The two halves of the complex fit together.
The addition of the corbels.
With the top in place.
The detail work of a project like this is what I enjoy best, so I decided to go ahead and do the front gate. The gate is designed so as to convey the idea of an open mouth. Four sharp teeth at the bottom, and three at the top are represented by iron plates bolted to the timbers of the gate. These seven triangles are cut from sheet styrene.
In what little information I can find about Chaos Dwarves, they worship Hashut, a bull headed god of chaos that requires them to sacrifice victims by lowering them into crucibles of molten iron. I thought It might be an interesting detail to represent this practice by incorporating some skeletal remains into the iron plates on the gate. Here are some bits that I shaved off of some skeletons. The idea is to make them look like they were actually in the molten iron when the plates were cast. (I know that in reality the bones would actually be completely incinerated, but work with me here!)
Here are the iron plates laid out on the piece of balsa that will become the front gate.
Just a closer shot.
The triangle plates looked a little bland to me so I decided to give them serrated edges.
A closer look. Notice that the top center plate had to be split in two where the two halves of the gate come together.
Here the balsa has been scored and modeled a bit to represent some rough timbres.
After laying out the gate it just seemed to have to big void in the center. For some reason arrows are a common motif with Chaos Dwarves. I drew some on the full scale drawing of the main tower front and immediately liked the look, so I decided to cut some out of some more sheet styrene and add them.
All of the iron components of the gate are attached with heavy spikes or bolts. To represent these I cut the ends off of straight pins and press them through the plastic and into the balsa. To accomplish this I use the end of my hobby knife to drill little pilot holes where each pin head will push thru. There are 44 of them in this gate.
The completed gate. Notice that the arrow straps have been modeled with a rough texture. This is primarily to add visual interest and allow for highlights when painting. If you use your imagination it can represent hammered iron. The actual size of the gate is 3 inches wide by 3-3/4 inches high.
Well, after getting that out of my system, I need to return to the main tower and begin contemplating the court yard pavers.
Hope you all enjoy this. More to come.
Marcus
