Walls of Troy project

[Matt@ModelEarth]

The Greek sphinx, Trojan stelae and Lion gate are all available now on our shop:

http://modelearth.azurewebsites.net/product-category/minoan/

We have some new small scatter pieces on the work bench at the moment, which should be available in a few weeks.

Matt

[Marine0846]

Some cool stuff.
Love it.

[Mindenbrush]

And here's a picture with them lined up in front of the tower, with the bases added:



These were fun to do, the Beesputty is a much more forgiving material than the 'green stuff' I typically use on miniatures.

I believe I saw these at Historicon last week? Looked really good

[Vongoosewink]

At last, the first walls have been molded!

I knew these parts were going to be very difficult to mold due to their large size and impractical shape, so I took them to Jeff and Ben Rodman at Fortress Figures.  I've known them for many years - in fact, Fortress cast the very first figure I ever sculpted, way back in 1990.  Jeff's mold-making skills are second-to-none, and I knew he could get some good castings of these pieces.  

Check out their website here, they make some great miniatures, and have lots of cool stuff in the works:

http://www.fortressfigures.com/

Here are some pics that they took of the molding process... I'm not a moldmaker, but I'll try to describe each step of the way as best as I can.

First step was to build a frame for the piece, that the silicone rubber will be poured into.  In this case, they uses legos to make the frame (as they make a very solid and largely airtight construction:



Next they poured the silicone rubber in (it starts as a liquid) all around the outer walls.  Once this sets, they poured in a 'plug' into the center section.  This part of the process shows a big mistake I made in the construction, as I glued in wood supports on the interior of the model, and these take up space that will make the model very heavy.  Something to keep in mind for next time!



Next, the original sculpture is carefully removed, and then a hole is cut into the plug to allow the resin to be poured in.  In the second photo, you can see it as the grey stuff in the top right corner.



After the resin sets, the plug is removed, then the finished model.  Jeff cleverly split one corner of the mold so that it could be peeled open, allowing the model to be pulled out without tearing the rubber.  Now we have 1 very heavy casting of the tower!



The process continues with top battlements:



And then the wall section.  Again, I should have made this hollow, if it ever goes into production for sale I'll have to hollow out the original to reduce the weight!



And finally, after a few hours of casting, the finished parts assembled.  The Walls of Troy are starting to take shape!



The final shots show the walls arranged with their distinctive 'vertical offset' every 15-20 feet or so.  Also added the first castings of my Trojan Stelae in front of the tower (now available from Model Earth!)  

A huge thanks to Jeff and Ben for all their help on this so far!  They are also working on some molds for the town buildings, so with a little luck we'll have some of those finished in a few weeks too.

Next up: build a gate and get on with the painting!

[Argonor]

 

[Lost Egg]

Wow! That looks awesome and its not even painted yet.

[Vongoosewink]

After I got the first of the resin casts, I set to work making a gate.  I based this on the photos in the Ospry book, with the gate just to the left of the tower.  Jeff made me a 1/2 cast of one wall section, so I could cut this to fit the doors and blend into the wall.

I mounted the tower parts on a piece of sturdy MDF board, and sanded the edges down so they blend into the table (a little trick I learned from my pal Herb Gundt).  This will allow me to make the otherwise fragile gate section into a single piece, the whole part should be really sturdy when everything is dried and finished.  I'll add some sand, turf, and bits of foliage on this trim and it will blend the structure into the table in a natural manner.

Then I sculpted in some stonework, and added a post-and-lintel style gateway suitable to the bronze age, with a triangular piece above the gate similar to the Lion Gate of Mycenae - though this one with a simple 'sun' engraving.  I thought this appropriate to the Trojans, as their patron god is Apollo, and he was said to have made the walls alongside Poseidon.  So, Apollo put his mark on the gate, and Poseidon added the wave meander pattern on the walls.

The doors are a plastic part from an old castle set.  I added pins on either side so they can be opened and closed.  If the walls ever get to a point where I can make them available for sale, I'll remake the whole gate with a set of doors of my own design, but since I'm in a hurry to finish these in time, the plastic ones will do.

I kept a spot in front of the tower for the stelea, but I did not glue them down at this point (so they'll be easier to paint - they'll be glued down after.)

Last, I cut some shutters out of plasticard and drilled a piece of brass rod onto the window-frame as a stick, to prop them up.  The idea here is that these are defensive, they would stop arrows from being shot into the room, but could be quickly opened to drop rocks and shoot arrows at attackers, then pulled shut again.  In peace-time, they'd stay propped open all the time to let in the breeze, as it gets hot in Anatolia (or so I hear). 

Here are some pics...







A defender's-eye-view of the tower from the wall:


Here's a pic around the back side of the gate:

[DintheDin]

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! 
Keep up the good job!

[LeadAsbestos]

Green with envy right now. Beautiful!

[Elbows]

Extremely well done.  I love trawling some of the forums sections for periods I don't game...because it lets me stumble onto 10+ page threads with brilliant projects I've never seen.  I don't have to put up with the impatience of daily or weekly updates!  Woohoo!

[Askellad]

Congratulations ! So epic ! I smell the death of Patrocle

[swiftnick]

What beautiful walls and the moulding looks crisp

[Dr. Zombie]

Beyond awesome. Please make these available for sale.

[voltan]

excellent work, it's good to see how the moulds are done as well, especially the plug.

[von Lucky]

Highly impressive. The detail is absolutely beautiful.