Walls of Troy project

[Alxbates]

Well, this is all fantastic!

I have a set of Trojan walls from a historical company (Aintsy, maybe?  I forget...), but these are WAY better!

Can't wait to see how they look when they're finished!

-Alex

[Vongoosewink]

Well, this is all fantastic!

I have a set of Trojan walls from a historical company (Aintsy, maybe?  I forget...), but these are WAY better!

Can't wait to see how they look when they're finished!

-Alex

Thanks Alex!  And to everyone else too for your encouraging comments!

Alex, yes I looked all over for something that I could just buy, but nothing was anywhere near what I had in mind.  It is ok though, I like scenery projects and have not done one in a long while.

Now that the tower is close to being done, the wall section is up next.

The historical site at Troy has a very distinct feature to the walls - every 15 or 20 feet there is a slight change in the arrangements of the stones, almost like a step if it was viewed from the side.  The Osprey book calls this a 'vertical offset'.  Basically, instead of curving, the wall sharply juts out about 6-7" or so and then continues on in the direction of the wall.  It is a little hard to describe, but it is clearly visible in these photos below (especially the bottom 2).  It is an interesting feature, and unique to the ruin at Troy - specifically Troy VI.  Since Troy VII is generally thought to be Homer's Troy, the vertical offsets would still be there, so obviously I have to incorporate them into my walls!

My plan is to make a single wall section that is about 15-20 feet long (four inches or so), and incorporates this vertical offset into the stone (so that one side is slightly wider than the opposite.)  Also, my wall section will have a very slight angle at one edge, so that when multiples are cast and then placed side by side, it will have a gentle curve over the course of the wall's length, but only bending where each wall section meets (at the vertical offset).  If it all goes to plan, the stonework should look very close to the way the actual ruin at Troy looks.

Here's nice color picture I found online, with lots of good photos of the Troy stonework.

[manic _miner]

 That is great work so far Chris.It will look amazing once completed and on the tabletop with the Wargods of Olympus Trojans manning the walls.

 Great to see the new sculpts shown on the Croc forum too.Getting closer to the end now .

[smirnoff]

This looks excellent...looking forward to seeing the rest

[Richard in Sachsen]

This is really a super scratch-project  , I too am looking forward to seeing the progress and completion.

[powerfrog99]

Great to hear from you Chris, especially with such a lovely project :-)

I am working for some time now on a big kind of Trojan temple, but progress has been a bit slack in the last months. However seeing this might give the push needed ;-)

cheers Thomas

P.S. I am in for a few casts of these whenever there will be a chance to get them ;-)

[Vongoosewink]

Great to hear from you Chris, especially with such a lovely project :-)

I am working for some time now on a big kind of Trojan temple, but progress has been a bit slack in the last months. However seeing this might give the push needed ;-)

cheers Thomas

P.S. I am in for a few casts of these whenever there will be a chance to get them ;-)

Hi Thomas, thanks very much, I'm glad to hear you like the walls so far.  If everything comes together to my satisfaction, I'd like to hand this over to a company to produce.  It is not something that I would sell myself (Crocodile Games doesn't do large resin), but it may be possible to partner with a quality scenics manufacturer to get them made.  We'll see... the first thing is to get the model built!

By the way Thomas, I've really enjoyed all the painted Olympus armies in your gallery, and would love to see your temple!

Back to the workbench...

I stayed up late last night working on this, and now the upper section and battlements of the tower are basically done.

I'm pretty happy with the finished texture on the upper section - the green putty is supposed to represent mud-brick, it looks a little funny in green but once it is cast and painted, it should look more natural.  However, it did look a bit plain to me, so I think it needs a decorative motif at the top.  Looking on the 'Black Ships Before Troy' book with the lovely illustrations by Alan Lee, his version has some nice elements, with a nice carved wave meander pattern near the top.   In the mythology, the walls of Troy were supposedly built by Poseidon, so a wave pattern would be ideal!  

Here's an image from the Alan Lee book:



So I sculpted one of these patterns as a test, here are some pictures:

Close up of the meander pattern, with a couple painted Trojans manning the parapets for scale.


Wider shot, you can see the completed door in this picture, and the wood base for the wall section in the background:


What do you guys think of the pattern?  It was a bit fussy to sculpt, but after a couple inches I got the hang of it and it went pretty quickly.  I'll have to do the border on the other 3 sides and the tower section will be done.

[Erik]

It looks very convincing and absolutely amazing. Keep it up! I am following this with great interest.

[Captain Blood]

Really beautifully done.

[gamer Mac]

How are you doing the swirly pattern?
I like the texture of the other green stuff as well
Great stuff

[Vongoosewink]

How are you doing the swirly pattern?
I like the texture of the other green stuff as well
Great stuff

Thanks guys!

The wave pattern is sculpted freehand with sculpting tools - there is no real trick to it, just working the putty around until you get it right.  I made the straight border along the top first, to keep the wave sizing consistent, then let that dry.  Then I rolled a little string of putty between, smashed it flat, and then just worked it into the loops, adding a little texture with a toothbrush.  Beesputty would probably have been easier to work with on this section, but I was concerned it would have trouble sticking and come off after I had finished it, so I just used green.

[Captain yapudo]

GREAT JOB....

[painterman]

Very impressive modelmaking - would be great if these were commercially available to buy.

[WuZhuiQiu]

Looking on the 'Black Ships Before Troy' book with the lovely illustrations by Alan Lee, his version has some nice elements, with a nice carved wave meander pattern near the top.   In the mythology, the walls of Troy were supposedly built by Poseidon, so a wave pattern would be ideal!  

Here's an image from the Alan Lee book:

Hi, which edition of the book is it?

Amazing work, by the way!

[Axebreaker]

Impressive! I'd say your right on track!

Christopher