Helms Deep- The deeping wall

As per usual, i haven't been regularly blogging like i said i would..
and for that i apologize.

However, that doesn't mean i haven't been busy!
In fact, my last few weeks have been a hive of hobbying madness- including Empire, Daemons, and numerous other ventures. But this post is just to try and get up to date with the big-ass helms deep project :D

I had intended to do smaller, regular updates detailing exactly what i was doing that day/week and how i made each individual section of the fortress.. so that if there were anyone else, like me, undertaking such a task they would practically have a step by step guide that they could follow, rather spending hours trying to decide how it is best done- like i did. 

That being said...

It turns out, I'M WAAYYY TOO LAZY!

So again, sorry guys.. looks like you'll have to figure it out on your own! (but i'll try to post a shed load of work in progress photos with captions to help)

 So, after casting up loads of blocks I started assembling the wall. I used the wall builder mold (obviously) to make the process alot quicker!!

I found that on the bigger pieces a hot glue gun works better than pva, although it means you have to work quickly.

I used random blocks of polystyrene to add some rigidity to the wall sections.

  
 





In total there are three sections.. the end two are three wall builder panels long, and the removable middle section is two panels long.











                                                                                                                     

I started gluing the hirst arts Octagonal tower blocks together.

I added a cardboard cut out to act as a base for the polyfila floor and added the top decoration...

 as well as the small tiles (i think originally intended for the towers archway windows) to fill the gap between the tower and wall section.

One wall section nearly complete.. although not actually glued together.

 

Now for the Battlements...

I experimented with two different ways to make the battlements for the tower.

First i tried sanding down the angled blocks to create a sloping top.

Then i tried using the small blocks with sloped tops and sanded them to fit together at angles.

Basically two different ways to achieve the same result, but i preferred the second approach. All that is required is a little polyfilla to fill the gaps.

Next i made the 'destroyed end'.

I used polystyrene offcuts to fill out the ends (this required alot of pva).

Which i then cut into shape with the hot wire cutter.

 



Then i smothered it in polyfila.

Its all coming together.

The battlements for the straight wall sections were made using the sloping blocks from the octagonal tower mold. This was actually harder than i expected as they had to be sanded together to make the flat.. which took several failed attempts (in the picture above you can visibly see one which failed- and was later thrown away). 

NEXT ONTO THE PAINTING!!!

I used wall paint from homebase, as i was crazy cheap and available in large quantities.. the only problem is its very thick so need watering down a little and i'm unsure how durable the paint job will be.. although i would have expected it to be fine.. its used in houses after-all.

Slate grey was used for the base coat and Dove grey for the heavy dry brush over the top. No undercoat was used as my spray primers would have melted the polystyrene inside.

First i painted in between the gaps.

And then the entire wall.

Next a heavy dry brush 

The Culvert, ready to be blown apart.

The removable section was made using basic blocks and the archway blocks (i forget which mold they were from). The battlements were glued together using plenty of PVA.

Woodland scenic's liquid earth pigments were used to weather the walls and to darken the gaps between the brickwork.

The Finished wall- minus the unpainted tower.

And that's the project up to date!!

There is still alot more to do but i am beginning to get an idea of how it'll look once complete.

I'm taking a short break from the building but will at some point start work on the outer keep walls and the tower of the Hornburg!! (which is probably going to be huge!).

Let me know what you think!! 

   Until next time :)