Gotta keep building if I intend to have something to show before mid-June, so here goes - the Helm's Deep / Deeping Wall diorama building continues with the completion of the engraving of tiles to the wall tops, and building of the stairs on the back side of the wall. Here's the longer wall section, now with top tiles:



Next, a hair-rising stunt - cutting the blown-up section along block seams:





The top part was cut apart and glued in place only at this stage. The pen and the knife mark roughly the spots where the top part has been cut in three parts. The pic also shows the early steps of building first of the stairs, formed of blocks of 6mm Depron sheet cut to shape.



Now, the Weta Helm's Deep environment shows three sets of stairs behind the Deeping Wall:



However, this screen cap from the Two Towers movie clearly shows a fourth, at the Hornburg end of the wall. This staircase makes sense - if you'd want to quickly retreat to Hornburg via the small door in the side, without this fourth staircase you'd need to run all the way to the Deeping Stream in order to get up to the Deeping Wall.



Thus, I will also do four sets of stairs. In this pic you can see the additional one still as a skeleton, while the first one I built has received a wall part from 3mm Depron. I've yet to emboss the block structure on the side, however. You can also see the blue block of foam heightening the tower to its proper size.



Here's a pic of the third staircase, divided into two parts due to the modular structure of my Helm's Deep terrain.



...and here's the fourth one being built, furthest from Hornburg:



After completing the stairs, I'll finish the crenellation details and start working on the stairs connecting the Wall to Hornburg, as well as on the ground contours around the Wall.

I agree with the fourth staircase, it makes sense of the wall and access to different points.
Fingers crossed for June but whenever this is completed it will be worth the wait.

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I am not sure the detail is not a camera trick. However, I like it and most probably will use it too.
Did you decide for or against the guardroom tower at the far end of the deeping wall?

Looks good!

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Thanks for the comments and reassurance with the additional stairs. In the end I decided not to add a tower at the end of the Wall - just a rock face where the far end of the Deeping Wall is embedded.

In the coming weekend I'll also look at the Deeping Stream details - I tried to order the new Woodland Scenics creek bed mold, but accidentally received the creek bank mold instead. In hindsight, it is probably more appropriate for the section of the stream I'll do first. I have ordered also the creek bed mold; that'll be useful towards the back end of the terrain, where the stream starts from higher ground.

The new molds seem to be a good value. I have not cast enough yet. The riverbed cast are going to be very useful.



I also over looked this new mold



c1231 surface mold. I saw them precast at a local craft store. I ordered the mold a few minutes ago.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

I've done the first casting of the creek bank rocks, but haven't yet tried them on. I have had the c1231 mold for a while, now, and must have used those rocks here and there. I tend to buy all the WS rock molds I can get my hands on. I just ordered the missing creek bed mold, as well as the new shelf rock mold.

I've also continued work on the Deeping Wall. The stairs got their surface layers on (cardboard + 3mm Depron):



After a careful study of reference images, I drew templates for the tiling patterns for each staircase. Note also the wall & stairs connecting the Deeping Wall to Hornburg:



Staircases done:



After engraving the tile details in the connecting wall, I cut out some of the tiles, and reglued them slightly higher or slightly depressed to break up the even surface.



The same thing was done on all surfaces, including stairs, choosing randomly a tile here, a block there...



It was also time to glue the crenellations in place. The larger pieces actually had a small bit in between them - the slots in between the crenellations don't quite reach the top of the wall. I cut a small, triangular angled bit from blue foam to be glued into each slot.



This is the shorter wall section furthest from Hornburg - although this won't be part of the Diorama Challenge section, I decided to finish it anyway at the same time.



The tower had challenging angles in its crenellations - they required some careful cutting with a sharp knife.



The connecting wall also got additional tops from blue foam. This wall is, in fact, divided in two parts, to be eventually glued onto different modules of the Helm's Deep board.



All the parts got cracks done with a sharp knife, and they were also distressed with various tools to create an overall weather-beaten "old rock" look.



Time to glue the connecting wall into the longer section of the Deeping Wall - for this, I assembled the entire Wall onto the different boards and taped the pieces temporarily in place.











There is a half-round trim on the outer edge of the Deeping Wall that still needs to be added, and the connecting wall stairs need the inner wall. Once the connecting wall is securely attached to the Deeping Wall end, I will work on the stairs and the trim to complete the Deeping Wall (in its pre-explosion form). Then, the fun begins as I will turn my eyes on the breach...

Who would have thought a wall needed so much effort and thought....
Brilliant to see this, can't wait for the painting.

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Looking superb! Great work so far.

The details look great!

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Great work Pekka, this is going to be really impressive.

I made the Deeping Wall, several years back, following the guide in Journey Book, which worked well enough, but it isnt a patch on what this is going to be like!

Keep up the good work, and the WIP showcase!

Regards
Scott

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I followed that plan too.No where near as nice as this.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Outstanding work, as always. Excited to see this progress!

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Check out my blog: http://yggdrasilpainting.wix.com/yggdrasilpainting

This looks amazing!!! I can't wait to see it painted and in action.

Impressive... most impressive.

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Amazing, I can't wait to see it finished!

Incredible

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wow this is one epic thread, awesum stuff, great looking terrain
u can be very proud of what u have created
Amon Hen so far is my fav, really liking the eagleseat.

well done and im keeping my eye on this, and best of luck with the further awesumess ur achieving

After reading this post I'm wondering how when I joined TLA I was told my posts were hard to read.And celevue:keep up with the awesumess ur achieving.

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Let's fight in phalanx formation with more swordsmen and archers then pikes!
-Easterlings

Super job, coming on well!

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Thanks for the great comments, folks, much appreciated!

As you might have noted, the new batrep is up - here are a couple of behind the scenes photos... the endless lines of columns of Dwarrowdelf were achieved by taking a photo of terrain set in between two mirrors:



The light of Gandalf's staff is the same model railroad light I've used in the previous scenario.

Here's a shot of the lighting of the tomb itself - a large Maglite torch attached to a camera tripod provided the "shaft of daylight" hitting the tomb block through the eastern wall window.



The work on Helm's Deep has worked slowly, but I should be able to post an update on that, too, in the next few days.