Building and painting large models...

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 5:21 pm

Hey all, I must confess this is a rather embarrassing question to ask. I've been collecting and painting for about 10 years, but I've never done anything larger than a Cave Troll...

One of the first things I got was the "Bridge of Khazad-dum" boxed set for Christmas the year Fellowship came out. While the Gandalf has been painted and repainted 2 or 3 times over the last decade, the Balrog has sat there. When I got it I was in my mid-teens and I was worried about messing up such a large and potentially impressive model. Now that I think my painting skills are up to snuff, the assembly still daunts me.

Any advice for assembling and painting the Fellowship metal Balrog as well as Gulavhar, Terror of Arnor would be greatly appreciated.

Fishlegs · **Posted:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 6:48 pm

My advice is always pin everything on a big model and fill any gaps with green stuff.
The key difference when painting is that it will be heavy so support your arms or rest it on the table. If you are a fast painter or use lots of dry brushing then paint it as a whole, otherwise might be worth breaking the painting into chunks.

Additionally be thinking about storage and transport as there is no point spending hours on a great paint job and then it getting damaged.

Good luck!

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:38 am

Thanks. How thick should the pins be/ what should I use? I have both regular and liquid greenstuff, so gaps shouldn't be an issue.

Jobu · **Posted:** Fri Aug 10, 2012 3:08 pm

Lord Hurin wrote:

Thanks. How thick should the pins be/ what should I use? I have both regular and liquid greenstuff, so gaps shouldn't be an issue.

This depends on whether it is plastic/resin or metal. For heavy metal pieces I try to use pins the size of paper clips, for small ones I use stuff the size of pins.
Plastic is almost entirely pin sized for me, but on occasion there may be a larger one.

Liquid green stuff is good for very small holes/gaps, but can not be made to blend like regular green stuff, i.e. you can not sculpt into it.

theOneRider · **Posted:** Thu Aug 16, 2012 5:18 am

I've got the same metal Bridge kit, & when I get around to my balrog, I'm going to pin (paperclip) & use JBWeld. For example.
The stuff even removes the problems of gaping, though you may need to clean up the edge once it cures. The only catch is that it takes a lot longer to cure than superglue, and patience is a hard virtue to cultivate :no:

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Building and painting large models...

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