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At the end of last week I managed to make a tiny start on the top section of the tower so I thought I would stick with that and see how much more I could get done.

The top piece comprises essentially of a circular room and the turret.  As with the rest of the model it is highly detailed both inside and out.  Unpainted but assembled the three main parts look like this.

I started on the inner piece last week and managed to get both the inside and outside of it finished this week.  As you can see from the two photos below there is a lot of detail, particularly on the windows.  The leaded framework on the windows simply took an age to paint on the five windows inside and out and then there was the door to do and the walls as well.  It was painted mainly using acrylics and oil washed for the walls.  The windows were painted in the same way as referenced in part 1 last week.

In situ this piece looks like this.  A lot of work for a piece that as you can see will be pretty concealed.  That said I will probably not glue the turret in place.  It fits perfectly and doesn’t need any filler of any sort and by leaving it that way it will be possible to then look inside.  It will also make transportation easier as well.

I decided my next step would be to start on the turret.  So far I have managed to get some paint on the inside.  The thing with this model is it is huge and it takes a fair bit of time to paint each piece.  I should also mention I am a brush guy.  An airbrush would have speeded the process up but I don’t own one and for now at least have no plans to buy and use one.  

That’s as much as I got done this week.  The aim for the next one is to get the turret finished and then make a start on the lower piece.  If I manage to get that done I might assemble the tower and get a rough idea of exactly where I am at that point.

As impressive as this tower is I am hoping the base work when I get to it will be the making of this diorama along with the couple of figures I have planned.  Before I get started on them though there is a great deal more to do on the tower.

TIM

This week sees the start of a whole new diorama.  Where I will be going after this one is something I need to give a lot of consideration to.  I love doing dioramas but space really is an issue now so I need to get my head around the problem in the weeks ahead.  A return to much smaller models will probably be the solution but will they warrant a Monday Dio-Bolical post?  Maybe, maybe not.  My blog needs a review so perhaps this will be something I need to consider changing at some point in the future.  In any event there is no rush for a good few weeks yet.  Anyway I digress, back to the Wizard’s Tower.

For those of you who did not catch the very first Dio-Bolical Monday post back on the 23rd November 2019 this is the Table Top World model I’ve just started on.

This is a big tower and will stand at over two feet tall once I get the base work done further down the line.  The kit itself compromises of about 30 pieces, 6 large bits and several little bits which make up the roped hand rail going up the steps.  Essentially when assembled the tower has three very specific parts – a base, a middle section and a top piece.

The good news is I have a clear idea of how I want this diorama to end up looking, the bad news is I still have to decide how best to approach doing the base work.  With so much painting to be done on the tower there is plenty of time to work things out though.  It is with this in mind that I decided I would begin by starting to paint the base and middle section.  However, the first hing I had to do was prime everything!  As is my way this was done using matt white enamel diluted with white spirit and brushed on.  Yes, yes I know a spray primer would have been quicker but it’s not my way and I besides I didn’t have any, added to which I was to impatient to wait for a delayed lockdown delivery to arrive.  Put simply I just wanted to get started now. 

Once everything was primed and left to dry I began to paint the base and middle section.  I needed to work on both these pieces at roughly the same time to ensure I got the colour matching across them both, particularly where they join. 

The image I am looking for is a dark one.  I want the tower to look imposing and dramatic, not something which looks like it featured in a Disney animation.  This determined my base colour of a dark grey.  Given the size of this beast using Vallejo bottled paints was never going to happen.  From the moment the model arrived and was unpacked I knew this was going to be a job for oils.  The level of detail on the kit, along with all its nooks and crannies, meant I needed paint that could really flow into these areas and oils diluted with white spirit has always worked for me.  Having adopted the same approach on the Table Top World cottage in my Fools Gold diorama I was confident this would work out OK. 

After priming and laying down the base colour it was all about different shades of grey, a little brown, some white and a fair bit of dry brushing.  All of which got me to this point.  The image below shows the base section brick work well on the way.

Now strictly speaking there are three parts to the middle section.  The main two can be clearly seen in the first of the images below.  The third if you scroll up to the black and white picture above shows that at the end of the elevated walkway there is a second but much smaller little round roof turret.  Unfortunately the one of the four resin wooden struts which supports the roof was broken when the kit arrived.  In fairness it could have been fixed very easily but after a great deal of inner debate where I lost an argument with myself I decided I preferred the look of the tower without out it.  A bit of a gamble but by carefully removing the three remaining struts I can always add it back later if I decide to change my mind.

You will also notice from the images below that the middle section also has two doors, an upper and a lower one, and windows.  The windows were painted the same way I painted the windows on the cottage in Fools Gold – Part 4 using yellow with a wash applied over them.  This idea came from a YouTube video presented by “Real Terrian Hobbies and Goobertown Hobbies” the link to which can be found back in my Fools Gold post.  In due course I will use their render technique between the bricks again too.  I’ve managed to make a start on the wood and both the doors are more or less finished as well.

The last two pictures show the middle section mounted on the base.  It hasn’t been glued yet and most likely wont be because if I decide I like the end result enough and think it is good enough for a show it will be easier to transport.  The fit as you can see is perfect too.

That’s it for this week.  A lot of work for one week, well for me at least but thoroughly enjoyed it.  I can’t promise to make that much progress every week.  That’s the thing with dioramas they don’t just happen over night and at some point I know I will end up going backwards rather than forwards.  Nevertheless a new journey has begun.

Now I need to think where I go from here.  I’ll probably continue with the top piece as I have already made a very small start on that as you can just see in one of the images above..  The brick work needs more attention too as well as weathering.

TIM

This week was mainly about getting the figure painted before making some very small and final additions (such as a few twigs and a skull) before taking photos of the finished diorama.  I do find it very satisfying that you can take a few bits of old crap and turn them into something else entirely.  I must give another shout out to Table Top World, the cottage truly is a stunning kit and I can’t wait to get started now on the Wizard Tower.

The central character to this diorama is a Reaper Chronoscope figure which goes by the name of Crazy Pete.  It’s a figure I have had an eye on for a while but hadn’t decided exactly what to do with him.  Then as things do an idea started to form and then as they say the rest is history.

Holding a nugget and doing a jig gave rise to the title of the diorama.  Did Pete discover pure gold or fools gold?  Did he die a wealthy man in luxury or is he buried up in them there hills a broken sole?  Well I will leave that for you to decide.  Meanwhile images of the completed diorama, taken mostly outside for some natural light, appear below.

Thank you for your perseverance I hope you have enjoyed following the build.

Next week I will get started on the Wizard Tower.

TIM

This week I fixed the cabin in place and set about getting the groundwork done around it and the tree.

That was followed once it was dry by getting the groundwork painted and making sure it blended  in with what I had done already.

A few more plants and leaves were added for colour and visual effect.  The pumpkin on the bench outside the cottage dictated autumn and so I went with leaves on the ground rather than just a few on my deadish looking tree.  I also started to paint the edge of the base to tidy things up a bit.

The final touch for this week was adding a barrel, some rubble and planks.  Some more rubble needs to be painted and I have a couple of boxes to add on as well as a steers skull but these will be finishing touches for next week.

All being well I will get the figure painted up for next week and that will complete the diorama.

TIM

This week work began on the stream.

I have done water effects before several times but have always used products from Woodland Scenics.  This time I decided to try something different.  Thinking ahead to when I do the Wizard’s Tower I know the Woodland Scenics materials won’t work for what I am thinking of doing so after scrolling through YouTube I settled on using the materials demonstrated by Luke at Geek Gaming.

For this diorama I kept things simple.  I didn’t want a dramatic look so to some extent the effect is a little lost.  The important thing is the material works and I can tell already that this will be the stuff I use on the Wizard’s Tower base.  The white you see in the image below is Woodland Scenics water effects added on top to add a few ripples and to see if the products could be combined and work.  They do.

Once the water effects dried it was time for a little white dry brush to bring out the ripples.  Once that was done I painted up the logs and fixed them in position.  Later they would get a dry brush too.

Time now to think ground work and tree.  It always amazes me how much difference even a small amount of grass and a shrubs make.  Introducing some Green to all the shades of brown works nicely for me.

The wire aperture for the tree was put in place and bedded into some Milliput and then left to harden.

Next step was to get the wire aperture covered in a PVA and filler mix.  This was then left to dry before painting.  Oils were used for painting the tree and further dry brushing will be applied in due course.  I’m not looking to add more in the way of branches to the tree.  A dead-ish looking appearance is what I am after and besides I want it to complement the mine and the cabin and not dominate the scene.

That’s it for this week.  Too much else going on right now but for the next post I hope to have the Cabin in situ, ground work and debris added and some miscellaneous bits and bobs such as barrels, planks, boxes and rubble added.

TIM