I've recently gotten back into the hobby after having to box up most of my collection to make room for all my brothers stuff after his ceiling collapsed and have recently purchased a new camera capable of taking photographs of my work so thought I'd finally start a WIP thread. These pics have been up on TLA for a couple weeks so you may already have seen them there. First up, here are some quick snaps of some of my work to give an idea of my current ability.

First up, one of my Balrogs




Next my Mounted Gandalf the Grey (some work has been done since this picture was taken, images will be up soon)



Finally, to finish off this opening post, a couple pics of my latest projects;

This will be part of a gift to a co-worker who is very into the books and films


and this is one for my collection



He'll probably take me a good few months to complete but I'm hoping to at least get some wip shots of the base up this weekend.

Well, Smaug's base won't be finished this weekend, I've run out of gold paint after one patchy basecoat and the local GW's not open til Tuesday

Here's a couple pics of my based Gandalf the Grey Mounted;

Another quick update, I've managed to put some work in on the base for Smaug;





I've tried to go for a marbley effect on the flooring and have really worked on making sure there are a few different shades of gold in there (and even a little bit of silver) as I really wanted to avoid it just looking like one solid piece of metal. Just got the chests and weaponry etc and a little bit of touching up to finish off now.

Nice Balrog. Smaug's base is coming along nicely, good luck with the rest of the project.

Another small update; I've been hard at work this afternoon and have managed to finish Smaug's base;






One thing I have learnt today, treasure chests are incredibly boring to paint after the fifth or sixth one

Next up is the Bilbo, which I plan to paint alongside the Master Burglar sculpt and/or Smaug's head.

A few WIP pics of my Bilbos from last night;






Just got the blue on the jacket and the belts to do really although I want to have another go at the master burglar's face as I'm not really happy with it yet, hoping to get them finished off this afternoon.

Here are my two Bilbos all but finished (I've noticed a couple areas that need tidying up in the pictures);






I have also made a start on Smaug's head. Here he is after an initial rough basecoat on the red and brownish areas;




I still haven't fully decided on the colour of his lower body, I'm considering an off-white/boney colour and experimenting with a goldish glaze but I'm unsure how this would turn out or even if metallics work well as glazes. Has anyone got any experience of trying something similar?

Here's a few pics of Smaug's head after today's work. This is all but finished now, the camera has revealed a few areas that need some tidying up and I may need to make a few changes once the body's painted to make sure it all goes together smoothly but on the whole I'm quite pleased with it.

That Smaug is going to look great when finished!

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My WIP page: Click Here! -->So It Begins

Current Project: Ringwraiths - Haradrim - Mumakil

I certainly hope so Wah Wing
Having finished the head, I've taken a bit of a mini break from Smaug and put in some work on another project. I work in a school and the teacher whose classroom I work in loves the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and has named the class groups after Bilbo, Gandalf, Dain, Elrond and Thorin. So, rather than the usual bottle of wine or box of chocolates as a Christmas gift, I thought it would be nice to give her a painted model of those characters and have made a start with the Master Burglar sculpt pictured above. Here are my first WIP pics on some of the others;

The group

Gandalf

and Dain



The Dain is the Absolutely Random Dwarf Lord from Unreleased Miniatures and is an absolutely lovely model that I'm really enjoying painting. I have also primed the mounted version this evening to try and get it painted up next week for the challenge this month so expect some pics of that one soon.

Put in some work on Thorin and Gandalf today and am hoping to get them finished tomorrow.

Gandalf;



Thorin;



I hadn't realised until I started painting this Thorin that he's wearing the same armour as Thror in AUJ and the more I paint it the more I'm loving the sculpt.

Put a bit more work in this morning and they're both pretty much finished now.

Gandalf;


Thorin;



Apart from basing, which I'll likely do once I have a few more models ready, I just need to tidy up the gold trim on Thorin's coat. Unfortunately I now have to box everything up again as we have the builders back to do some work in my bedroom so my hobbying time will be slightly restricted for the next few weeks.

So, I've not been able to get much painting in lately as this is where my painting area used to be;



I have, however, been able to put a little work in on my Completely Random Dwarf Lord

It's looking good so far. It might be the lighting, but his skin looks almost too red.

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My WIP page: Click Here! -->So It Begins

Current Project: Ringwraiths - Haradrim - Mumakil

Not something you hear every day
I am experiencing a certain degree of Smaug-envy. The other minis are coming along well. Thanks for sharing!

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Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!

Thanks for the feedback guys. @Wah Wing, the lighting makes it appear a little worse than it is but it definitely is a tad too red. I haven't quite worked up the nerve to go back and redo it yet.

I love the Balrog, hows Smaug coming along?

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Harfoots-The first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.

Smaug is currently on top of my mum's bookcase. I've had to take a break on him as I don't have the work space for such a large model while the builders are working in my room.

You are making a good effort, just never forget some simple things that will aid you everytime: don't underestimate good priming, after shade highlight with base colour first and third always view model from afar for light and shade to check highlights.

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Conversation/Ideas over painting etc, can check here:
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=29455

I've not been able to get much hobbying done lately but I did manage to do some basing last week;

Gandalf:


Dain:


Thorin:


and Bilbo:


I do have some spare time though this week and have a few hobby related gifts so expect to see some Goblin Town progress soon