Lifting up the keep:
The keep is situated on a rocky plateau. For this elevation I used large pieces of Styrofoam. These pieces are 2” thick so by stacking 2 of these pieces
I get an elevation of 4”. The elevation is divided in 2 equal parts that connect underneath the gate. I did this so this part will also be easy to move
around.
The 4” elevation is divided in to roughly 4 steps. First I cut out the exact form of the wall out of the Styrofoam parts that are on top. It now looks
like if the wall extends downwards and that is exactly what I want. The parts that came off while cutting this exact form are very important still since
I use them to make an irregular pattern that has to get back on to this future rocky form.
The pictures explain much better how this process works. The 4 different elevated areas are cut with a foam cutter like ribbons. Since they are all cut
out of the same piece, they fit perfectly so when they are all shaped the way I like they can be glued on again using wood glue and needles.
Once the foam is glued back on, there are still vertical pieces visual that looks like if the wall extends further down. These pieces will be filled with
wall texture. While cutting out the exact form I did this in a way that the foam is about 1/5th of an inch more inward so the wall above is sticking out a
bit. Once I glue the wall texture on the foam I have a perfect fit with the wall above.
Upon the Styrofoam I first glue some cardboard using wood glue. I did this since the glue I use for gluing the resin is aggressive to Styrofoam and eats
it away. Upon this cardboard I glued the wall texture.
The Styrofoam has a pattern of its own that I do not like when it comes to making rocks. There are several ways to get rid of the Styrofoam texture and
for this project I used a new technique that turned out very well if I may say so.
The special filling stuff that I used for filling gaps and cracks within the resin structure also works well on Styrofoam. In the next series of pictures
you can see how I apply this stuff on to the Styrofoam. I simply use a knife to model the stuff on. After that I tap with a stiff brush upon the stuff
until I like the texture. At steeper parts I push/carve horizontal lines in this stuff and use the brush whenever I feel like it. Let it dry over night
and the texture is ready for painting.
The Ramp:
While I was in Berlin visiting Axels I started working on the ramp. Again I used the technique of building a foam board and card board form that I
textured with resin pieces. The length of the ramp is 19” which is rather long but now I can easily put miniatures on there without falling over.
I used mostly existing custom mold parts and did not have to alter that much to get this ramp done. The most difficult was the arched piece at the end.
The stones that make the arch are from the custom arch I made for the main gate. I simply cut them all up and altered them a bit until they fitted this
arch.
To go on with this rocky theme I modelled some rocks to the side of this ramp as well.
Painting the rocks:
Painting rocks is hard. I guess it is a mater of taste. For me it is important to avoid that the keep and the rock look exactly the same. One can imagine
that the keep is build out of the same type of stone as where it stands on but besides that I can also imagine that the rocks them selves have more plant
live and are muddier than the structures of the keep.
After some testing I came to this rather large painting scheme.
The basic layer is black brushed dark grey and after that light grey. First some raw umber for a muddy look followed by a dark green and a khaki colour
after that a light green colour on the more horizontal parts. Now I apply some dark and light grey again but mainly on the more vertical parts. To finish
this session I apply some raw umber again but not to much.
The Keep now stands on his rock. Although the stone structure itself still has to be painted to look more weathered, it is now time to move to the great
mountain first.
The great mountain:
I took a break of about a week after I finished the keep on its rock. I simply had to think things over concerning this next stage, the large mountain
behind the keep. I want to make this large piece of rock in a way that it is more then just a large rock. I actually want to use the mountain in game
play as well. By making some caverns inside and the large hall in the centre I think this mountain will become much more then just a mountain.
Although I am about to start on this large mountain behind the keep, I first planned a possible layout of the deeping wall and the mountain that will get
attached to it. Since I did not had the drive to start working at the large mountain I focussed on this other small mountain that will come at the end of
the deeping wall. I see this as a test to see how a possible rock would look like building it up out of layers of foam.
Now this rock got his shape I started working on the big mountain.
I cut out the base layere and draw the possible shapes of things to come on it like trying to determine where the grand façade should be and the great
tower.
Having this layout setup I can now start to build up the mountain layer for layer.
The first 2 sheets of foam are relatively easy. I cut out the desired form and that is it.
The sides of the mountain are roughly cut with the foam cutter in order to get a steep irregular form in which I can model all these caves.
From the third sheet on I start making caves. So I must think on how to make them sheet after sheet working from bottom to top. To get the next layer
connect well I draw the outside lines of the foam layer I just finished on to the next sheet of foam. After that I glue the sheet I just finished using
wood glue.
Starting with whole layers at the bottom part of the mountain, the layers higher in the mountain become in several parts depending on the forms that
I have to cut out. It is tempting to make more and/or larger openings in the mountain but I have to be careful not to make this large piece too fragile.
So I choose to maintain thick layers between upper and lower openings and keep my distance from the edge of the mountain when making caverns.
There are 2 sort of openings in this mountain, natural and unnatural openings. The great hall is a large rectangular opening that is cut out by men.
(or dwarf) The same goes for the spiral stairs and the gallery high above the great hall. I made all these spaces using sharp lines and edges.
As for the gallery above the great hall I made an irregular foam ribbon that sticks out a bit above the floor In this way I visualize the actual
hallway space where this small elevated ribbon is marking where the solid rock is. In this way the gallery is easy accessible.
The mountain is build up out of sheets of foam of 2” thick. I end up building the rock out of 14 sheets being 28" high. I have 3 different entrances that
go from the keep in to the mountain. First of all the great hall that is situated on layer 6,7 an 8. Then there is the cave in which the women and
children flee (see movie TTT) starting at layer 9 and 10 and going back down up to layer 3. If you have seen the movie then you know about these two
openings but there is another one! Ok you might not have seen it but I did! (at least in my imagination)
At the end of the ramp between the outer and inner wall, where the gate is that leads to the inner court yard, there is an opening that leads to a
fairly flat cave that circles round the great helms Deep tower and has an opening not far behind it. From there it is a long fall down to the bottom
of the gorge. This cave starts at level 5 and 6.
Another fun thing is the circular stairway that was carved out in the rock. If you picture the grand façade that is cut out in the rock, you notice the
little windows all the way up. Up there is a large hallway. To get there you can climb the circular stairway that goes up to this hallway starting from
the great hall below. Half way this stairway there is this little cave more to the left of this stairway. Just a cave the builders hit upon while cutting
out this stairway out of the solid rock.
And this is what this hobby is all about! You let you imagination go wild and then you make it!
The great hall:
The floor in the great hall is made using resin casts from the gothic floor tile mold. You might think I adjusted lots of stones at the edges but I did
not adjust that much.
Another fun thing working with foam is that you simply cut some foam away so you can fit a tile or stone right in.
Although I want the hall look relatively sober I added a few candles against the wall.
I might add some more stuff later but if so this will be in a much later phase.
For the round opening I simply used a round form and a marker, draw the circle on the foam and cut it out with my foam cutter. By stacking the sheets of
foam this half round open column or shaft will exist. I cut out a few circle wall parts to seal of this shaft from the great hall. On the floor level of
the great hall I cut out a half doorway shape.
To actually make this shaft look like an circled stairway I cut out some stair elements out of foam. The three stairway parts are made in a way that you
can place a miniature on them so this part could also be used for gaming.
Stalagmites and stalactites:
With my foam cutter I simply tried making cone shaped forms of different sizes. At random I pinned them on the ceiling and floor, gluing them with wood
glue. I choose to locate them a bit more to the rear of the cavities so they will not break that quick while playing in these areas.
The grand façade:
The grand façade is made out of a thick piece of foam board. First I cut out the shape I wanted and next I cut out the arches and windows.
The same thing I did with the wall of the great hall. This wall is situated a bit behind the large façade behind the 5 arches. I imagine this façade is
entirely cut out of this mountain by hand. Although the movie version shows a fairly smooth surface I liked the look of a more irregular texture better.
(Hurrah for the free mind) To get this more irregular texture I experimented on the following:
I took the wall of the great hall and cut the glossy cardboard layer from the foam board, using a sharp knife. Now the fine structured foam is visible
and since this foam has a very high density I do not have to do anything else rather then paint it.
After gluing the wall of the hall I worked on the grand façade.
After the outline of the façade cut out, I cut out the arches and windows. The façade has some relief on it in the form of vertical beams and some
horizontal beams. I drew these areas on to the foam board, cut an incision in these lines and started to cut away the top glossy layer around these
future relief beams.
After removing this glossy layer I used some foam strips of which I removed again one glossy top layer and glue them on the façade.
Now this piece is ready and can be glued on to the mountain.
Make the mountain fit:
Slowly the foam mountain is getting more one with the keep in front of it. I started to extend all wall and floor segments. Extending these stone
textured parts instantly binds this mountain to the keep in front of it.
As for the large stairs and the wall in front of the façade I simply made the form out of foam board and then covered these parts with resin pieces.
Some tips:
What works really well is the fact that you work wall and floor segments into the foam structure. For instance a wall piece that runs into an irregular
rock face can be placed fairly easy. You cut out a slice out of the foam so you can push a resin wall piece in. The same goes for floor tiles that end
against a wall. If these tiles do not fit because of the limited space, just cut out a slice of foam so you can shove the tile underneath it.
I wanted to glue a wall piece against the foam rock. It did not fit since the space was a bit to small for this block. I used some Pattex glue that
reacts aggressively towards foam so it started to eat the foam away slowly. Using this glue helped me to get enough room to place the block without
cutting up foam.
So using glue on foam means that you want to use wood glue.
Texturing the mountain:
When I finished the stalagmites I started texturing the entire inside starting with the great hall working towards the circle stair way up to the upper
gallery. First I used a knife to throw this white paste upon the foam walls but I soon I discovered that working with fingers speed up the process immense.
Within one afternoon the entire inside and backside was textured. The straight rear still looked like sheets of foam that I did not like. So I textured
them as well. Using my fingers, I made this brush stroke like pattern. It looks a lot better now.
The statues:
Outside the great hall on top of the stairs there are these 2 statues. I know that one is broken in the movie but I decided not to do so. (yet)
You might recognize these from the LOTR games box and they are. I cut them from their base and drilled a hole in the bottom. I did also drill a
hole in the wall and with a wooden pin I can stick them in. I did this because I can imagine that they could be an obstacle in the heat of miniature
war gaming.
The back door:
Well this is absolutely fun.
I made this extra lower cave that you can enter from the ramp in between the outer and inner wall. This cave leads to an exit on the side of the mountain.
This exit is exactly behind the large star formed tower so when I started to make the rough form I got this idea of cutting out this little extra walkway
on the outside of the mountain leading to the tower. All I have to do is to place a door there and it looks like a logical route towards this tower.
This was not planned but just evolved during the building stage. (and that is fun)
The star shaped tower:
I actually was aiming to make only a base and make the rest of the tower modular. But it turned out to be different. This means that I can not start
spray painting this part before I finish this piece of the tower as well. Actually it turned out to be ¾ of the tower as you see in the next picture.
The piece that will come on top of this part will be removable since this will stick out above the top of the mountain which is not good by transporting
means.
At first I used a wider card board roll and I discovered that this had to be a slimmer one. I filled up the hole in the mountain again so this new
slimmer card board roll would fit in nicely. I then cut up 5 strips of foam that I tried to lock into the mountain by cutting away pieces of foam at
the base. When the pieces where glued tight at the card board roll I cut the 5 foam strips in a V shape. I draw a red middle line to help me get this
shape done.
Next was the casting of some resin pieces for the stone texture. I manage to cast very slim pieces that are easy to cut with scissors. After texturing
the whole tower I used the white paste to hide some gaps and irregularities.
Now this stage is done I can start painting the entire part.
This first series is an impression of the caves with only a base coat and 2 layers of grey brusched on. Far from finished!
The next series is an impression of the front of the structure. The mountain has got all its colours although within these pictures it
does not show that well. I am aware of all the work that still has to be done like the wood work and make it look more weathered.
All in good time.
Until next update
Helms Deep the first page:
Helms Deep the third page:
Back to the Buildings page
Back to SHIFTINGLANDS
Back to the top
