Captain Blood's Renedra Tower project (8 July - Finished. Many pics P10.)

[Captain Blood]

Well, it's not that difficult to put together - it's quite difficult to get everything to line up really well though. (I didn't quite manage it).
And because the plastic components are so large (and there's a surprisingly large number of them), the sheer amount of scraping off of mould lines that needs to be done is really quite an onerous (and tedious) job.
A lot of the extra work was my choice though - filling in the lower level arrow slits, adding a front platform, replacing interior floors etc. I'm sure most people wouldn't worry about this, so it wouldn't be extra work.
I do think the end product is pretty nice, and good value overall.
I guess my overall message is that it's a nice kit, but to realise its full potential will take you a fair bit of time and effort - if you're fussy. To do a whole castle would require a greater investment of time and space than I'm currently able or willing to make. But the tower will do me fine 

[Romark]

Love the weathering details you added 

Cheers

Keith

[Gracchus Armisurplus]

Brilliant effort on the painting, any chance of a walk-through of the colours and techniques you used?

[Hammers]

Brilliant effort on the painting, any chance of a walk-through of the colours and techniques you used?

I think that if you go back in the thread you'll find them.

[Hu Rhu]

Absolutely wonderful weathering effects.

[Overlord]

That's brilliant Richard. 

Great painting and weathering makes it look very lifelike.  So much better than the bog-standard grey I suspect most will end up as.  The extra work was definitely worth it.

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Gary and Paul  

Brilliant effort on the painting, any chance of a walk-through of the colours and techniques you used?

Yes, the basic stone colouration is just a mix of caramel yellow-brown and flat earth, with various amounts of white added.
The weathering is mainly various shades of army painter ink washes, heavily watered down.
The rust is Vallejo Bright orange heavily watered down and mixed with a tiny bit of Army Painter soft tone.
The greeny tinge creeping up from the ground and in one or two other places, is just a very watered down wash of a medium yellowy-green mix.

The trick when weathering large areas like this (e.g. the stone floors etc) is to slap on some water, then use the brush carrying the colour to drop the wash onto the wet surface. It will then dissipate and spread more naturally. Once dry - after a couple of minutes - you might have to repeat - several times potentially. But it gives a very subtle result, much better than just applying a wash. It's a form of wet-blending I guess.

Meanwhile, I've built up the underlying ground contours using aereated fwall filler - this is basically just like icing a cake, although the surface doesn't need to be perfect because the final ground surface will be provided by a mix of PVA/sand/grit/paint. Small rocks etc will be added at that point too. I was going to build some big rocks in at this stage, but decided that rather than sitting on a crag (which would have required a much bigger base footprint) I just mount the tower on a nice grassy knoll

The colour is a bit squiffy in these pics. That's what comes of taking pictures in my red room of pain (otherwise known as the dining room )

[Mason]

Winter is coming!
 

[painterman]

Great work Richard - looks suitably 'established' in the groundwork.

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Simon.
Ground texture added.
Next step - the stairs (haha!)

[Sangennaru]

Excellent!! Can't wait to see it flocked!
The only "suspension of disbelief" issue is at the edges of the base: they really break from the rest of the dable, don't they? =(

[Mason]

Lovely, blends in really well.
 

Excellent!! Can't wait to see it flocked!
The only "suspension of disbelief" issue is at the edges of the base: they really break from the rest of the dable, don't they? =(

I think the titivation will deal with that issue, no problem.
 

[Silent Invader]

Lovely, blends in really well.
 

I think the titivation will deal with that issue, no problem.
 

I reckon you're right Paul 

[Hammers]

Lovely. The grate below the door is for some kind of sewage canal?

[Captain Blood]

Lovely. The grate below the door is for some kind of sewage canal?

Yes, it's the run-off for the water and waste from the beneath tower. Well they don't want it inside do they? Seepings from the dungeon perhaps... Or perhaps a small spring wells up under the keep...   

Excellent!! Can't wait to see it flocked!
The only "suspension of disbelief" issue is at the edges of the base: they really break from the rest of the dable, don't they? =(

Yes, but you won't notice that once the whole base is painted and 'greened'