My dragon project

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Andrew_uk
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My dragon project

#1 Post by Andrew_uk »

I have decided to start a new thread for this instead of it being just a section within my painting log since it is such a big project and is pushing my expertise to it's limits. I decided to try it knowing it was faaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr beyond anything I had ever even attempted before mainly because I believe the only way to discover your limits is to test them and the only way to expand the limits of your skill set is to exceed them...

I dislike the common dragon coming off the top of the rock mainly because it is common. My idea was to have the dragon perched leaning against the rock and fighting around it, though I'm still using the plastic set as the basis for this dragon. I then found this guy had had a similar idea (http://www.coolminiornot.com/209495) however I wanted mine to be far more of an action scene, I stole a couple of his ideas which he had left as 'what he wish he'd done' and I added them to my own.

So I now have the whole dragon built including three dead dark elves, or at least I nearly do. The body of the dragon is built, the diorama base is built, everything else is pinned so now comes the true test greenstuffing it to turn it into a complete model. This is more than just gap filling for most of this. For me green stuff work can only be classed as 'gap filling' when you are filling gaps which are around 1-2mm thick or less, these gaps are in places up to around 10mm thick and there are areas which require some serious sculpting. The list of things that still need doing is:

Greenstuff the head - this head has been massively modified the top jaw is a head I found on ebay no idea of the original model, the bottom jaw was originally the top jaw of the HE dragon except I chopped it open and flipped it over, his eyes were then covered over but this needs cleaning up. There is also a dark elf inside the mouth and lastly the join between the head halves needs work.

Neck - To make the head seem natural (in fact to fit it at all) I had to extend the neck by around 8-10 mm, I pinned the neck to both the top and bottom jaw so it is very secure however this now also needs extensive work to bridge that gap.

Both wings - I used Imriks wings which don't fit perfectly into the slots for the plastic dragon, but then I didn't think they would. I made a bad attempt over christmas to greenstuff it without pinning but I just found my long lost drill so hence the sudden surge in activity.

Saddle - This needs to be resculpted about 8-10 mm further forward and 5 mm higher to accomadate for the riders fitting around the new wings, I've tried them in this position with blue tack and it fits perfectly, I'm going to cover over the old saddle a little and give them cloaks to cover it up as much as possible. I may even sculpt a small back to the saddle though nothing near the GW one which comes with it.

The tail - I had to cut this in two reposition it, by the time I had it in two pieces I thought I may as well use the tail which had come with the head I bought on ebay. Again this is pinned securely but there is a large gap.

Both back feet - Not entirely sure how best to model these in terms of whether I should cut the rock out of them and start from scratch or whether I should run with whats already there and build a rock around it. I know it's more effort but I'm currently leaning towards cutting and rebuilding, we'll see.

The rock - Needs greenstuff still to finish off the hole in the rock where the dragons foot would be, I haven't touched this still as I'm tempted to just use that bit of the rock off his foot but again we'll see, it's one of the smaller aspects. Other than this the base is finished.

Both riders are finished though unpainted, I didn't want to make a start with them in case they needed minor alterations to fit the dragon build.

So That's the work required... I will post up to date WIP pics as and when though the first of these will have to be monday, for older pics feel free to check my painting log, both the prince and dragonmage are shown in there along with a rough mock up of the diorama using blue tack
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Calaedor
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Re: My dragon project

#2 Post by Calaedor »

Dude, reeeeeeaaaallllyyy want to see this aye. Was about to buy another dragon model, but I might put it off just to see what you can do first, perhaps get some inspiration!

Really though, can’t wait. good luck!
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Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#3 Post by Andrew_uk »

Thanks, yeh if I get a second dragon I will probably either do it in mid air using a flying stand/ other clear plastic tubing... think I saw someone else do this and it looked awesome but I have no idea where I saw it other than it was probably on here some time

Theres always asterions dragon? Though that's incredibly hard... I just dislike the simple way how ALL high elf dragons are flying off the same identical rock
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#4 Post by Andrew_uk »

lol 2 hours work and I've just made yet more work for myself lol

I've decided to keep the rock attached to his rear feet, he needs it to have both feet at the correct height so thats now got a pin connecting to the base though this isn't glued yet I want that to be the last thing I do. Can't see it being possible to do it post painting though due to all the greenstuff work going on.

I've re cut the tail and shortened it by 3 spikes (the one I had was very long anyway and this allowed it to curve in a nicer way), however it now also means that the tail needs greenstuff in 2 places!

The new saddle I have put down an innitial layer of greenstuff so that I know what height the riders seat needs to be at but it's gonna take more work to make it look like a saddle, the previous saddle should be easy to pile up with greenstuff and model a back to the new one.

Also I've bit the bullet with the mage and drilled into his orb on the end of his staff as you can see here
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I put in a long pin and attached the other end to a dark elf head, then I'm using asterions method of how to make flames to cover over the whole of the drawing pin and hopefully by tonight voila Rule of burning head has been cast curtosy of the decapitated dark elf. I wanted the scene to make sense regardless of which rider was on board. The prince is merely happy with having decapitated him!

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Other than that my brother gave me an IoB set today for my birthday so in between dragon building I was making the griffon up... I've chopped off his lance (the top bit of that will make an excellent dragon prince banner to add a bit of variety) and I've replaced it with an axed out of the white lions box set. But I've had no end of problems with this axe!

Firstly I cut off the guys left arm above the hand, then pinned the bottom bit back on, pinned it to the rider and the axe snapped in the middle of the shaft... I tried but it was too thin to pin so I went for the duplicate of that axe and when I had it on the model same problem! I've reglued it but it's looking a bit messy and gonna be difficult to tidy now it's on :x

I'm not overly mad about it as I doubt I'll play the griffon much anyway, I'm contemplating building a charce themed army when I have this finished but I dunno everything I have at the moment will take me around 6 years to paint anyway and by then I'll probably want a new project away from high elves... maybe Orcs/Gobblins or Warriors of Chaos? Still I have two chracian princes to paint up now even if it's for display only.
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Calaedor
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Re: My dragon project

#5 Post by Calaedor »

as soon as you get those pictures of the dragon, i’d be eager to see. Riders are looking cool at the moment, I like all the fire on the mage =)
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Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#6 Post by Andrew_uk »

Forgive me, the gf came over last night as a surprise and I didn't get time for photos... however I went rather trigger happy today. I hope there isn't an upload limit which I don't yet know about as I have rather a lot of pictures to share [-o< Now as you can see the model still needs his neck doing, his wing joints need finishing off, his saddle is now at the right height and shape but it needs smoothing over and also needs a design cut into it (I tried cutting a design into it while it was still semi soft but it just ended up deforming it so I decided to let it set then put a thin layer over the top and do it with that), the tail as you can see needs gap filling in 2 places, both feet need doing, and the rock needs a little greenstuff where his foot would have been but otherwise I am very happy with the base! Both Dark Elves will have shields eventually, the guy on the rock will have dropped his to the position I placed it in the photo though I haven't glued it yet...

The saddle Worked really nicely in it's new position, there had been problems where it was before regarding the dragonmages arms which came out of the mage boxset but moving it forward sorted out the problems with his arms as well as sorting problems with both riders legs. Getting the riders on and off is a little tricky but I've put a pin in place so that they will stay in the saddle when they are there, there is a corresponding hole driller right up their behinds (I had to be very careful with this so that they both drilled at the same angle, the dragonmage took 2 attempts but they both sit perfectly now).

Also I tried following Asterions guide to greenstuffing fire, lol he's dead right; to start with it seems easy, then you turn the model around apply the same technique there and turn the model around again to see the side you did to begin with is now extremely messy... I've got one side of the DMs flaming staff looking half decent but I may well take enough greenstuff off that I can start again as I am something of a perfectionist #-o

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I have other non dragon-related items which I can now upload onto my main painting log too, nothing too fancy just a completed terradon (eagle), a prince on griffon (half painted) which will probably be for display only as I have no intention of playing him and I have completely assembled both units of 28 spears including a unit filler… but I would like this thread to stay for the dragon only, so that can wait until later this week. Comments, Critique and advice would all be welcomed!
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Brian Mage
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Re: My dragon project

#7 Post by Brian Mage »

this looks like it's going to be epic!
(love the burning head too!!!)
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Mireadur
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Re: My dragon project

#8 Post by Mireadur »

Definitely it is going to be epic! but before you can regret it you should change the spearmen legs inside dragons mouth for something better modelled like corsair legs!. The idea is super nice, but the DE warrior legs looked from below... [-X
Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#9 Post by Andrew_uk »

Mireadur wrote:Definitely it is going to be epic! but before you can regret it you should change the spearmen legs inside dragons mouth for something better modelled like corsair legs!. The idea is super nice, but the DE warrior legs looked from below... [-X
With hindsight you are absolutely right! However he is glued in place and pinned, both jaws are pinned together as well as both being pinned to the neck, undoing all that would b impossible and undoing that much plastic glue would most likely ruin alot of stuff
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#10 Post by Andrew_uk »

maybe I could still drill out the gap beneath his legs? I do this little trick with my spearmen hands where I drill out about 1mm above and below the fist so that it actually makes defined fingers... never hollowed out anything the size of a dark elfs skirt though... I have spare models I could try it on first so I will let you know, but that will have to wait either way
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Mireadur
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Re: My dragon project

#11 Post by Mireadur »

LEts see how it turns out =). Its a pity because the idea is great.

Also, a small requesting asking for something bigger... the size of the pics :mrgreen:
Aethyr
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Re: My dragon project

#12 Post by Aethyr »

Looking great, one thing I might suggest is for the elf being eaten, his feel look really static. If you were to them on an angle you could reposition them like they're pointing down(or up since he's upside down).
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tinman
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Re: My dragon project

#13 Post by tinman »

WOW. That's just awesome!! =D> =D>
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tinman
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Re: My dragon project

#14 Post by tinman »

I had to come back and check this out again. That flaming head idea is frik'n great. I'm sorry but, I am going to have to steal that idea. In my play group there is one DE player. Would love to rub a little of that in his face :shock:
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Mireadur
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Re: My dragon project

#15 Post by Mireadur »

The feet of the DE under the dragons paw could use some work too now that i look (very closely since size of pics is tiny! :mrgreen: )
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tinman
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Re: My dragon project

#16 Post by tinman »

What? There are legs under a paw/claw? I can't even see that, the pics are so small :P
How much wood can a woodchuck chuck??..
Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#17 Post by Andrew_uk »

This is in need of an update, I've worked on the head, saddle and tail, I still need to sculpt on the armour running down his back so it goes as far as the head and I need to sort out his scales before I'm truly happy with the head bit... gonna do the wings and rock tomorrow morning too and then I will repost pictures

*Edit* I did all this this morning, sculpted on some armour around his head and I've now filled the gaps around his wings... pics are in order! but my girlfriend came over as a surprise for me this afternoon so pics probs won't be happening until monday evening
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Brian Mage
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Re: My dragon project

#18 Post by Brian Mage »

How is the greenstuffing coming along andrew?
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Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#19 Post by Andrew_uk »

The Base/rock/dead dark elves ect is finished. The scales need the scales tidying up in one or two areas

Pictures of the base would have gone up but I got a bit distracted while moving home from uni ect, And since being home I've got a bit over excited about my 12 silver helms which I now have all the bits for (thanks to Brian Mage himself amongst others) I now have them like 90% assembled; just need to base them and then spray the lot and get a test model done - I'm really happy with the modelling/themeing on this unit so can't wait to get truly stuck into them
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
MaxieTPB
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Re: My dragon project

#20 Post by MaxieTPB »

Awesome work so far, I can't wait to see the next round of pictures. :)
commander
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Re: My dragon project

#21 Post by commander »

Im eager to see the next round of pictures!
Come on! =P~
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Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#22 Post by Andrew_uk »

yeh very sorry about not updating - the dragon/riders still need doing but the base is basically done... I've moved on to do some silver helms and BSB since and they're nearly all complete

I got a bit over excited when the last few bits arrived for the silver helms so I dropped everything to get them done. So long as by the end of this year I have a finished group of Silver helms, a Finished dragon, BSB on foot and have finished the Secret santa present I will be happy

Thats a lot though considering the speed with which I paint and the Silver helms and secret santa item will both be TOP priority
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
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Lagast
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Re: My dragon project

#23 Post by Lagast »

Any news on this dragon yet? :)
Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#24 Post by Andrew_uk »

No, lol sorry, I did say I'm slow... however I have done a fair bit this year (for me at any rate)... I've got 30 archers half done, 12 silver helm horses done, 6 silver helm riders nearly finished and 6 silver helm riders half done, a BSB on foot (who I've been meaning to load photos up of and a terradon (eagle), oh yeah and I've finished the base for the dragon (though I'm not 100% happy with it)

I'll finish this dragon, the archers and my massive number of dragon princes in the new year. I have 19 Dragon princes to paint I believe and want to do my mounted BSB at the same time so the dragon armour comes out exactly the same.

I'm pleased about the secret santa though, it's renewed a lot of my interest and motivation for painting! Woohoo!
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Dragonlord Hailthir
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Re: My dragon project

#25 Post by Dragonlord Hailthir »

19 dragon princes?!! Someone after my own heart! I presently have 25 in the works with an ultimate goal of about 40 spread over three princedoms of Caledor. I'd really like to see what you paint scheme is like as well as your completed dragon.

Best of painting to you,
Hailthir
Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#26 Post by Andrew_uk »

Yeh it's always nice to get more DPs and when I was seeing the old OOP ones going on ebay for like £12 quid a time for 5 of them it was hard to resist... The old dragon princes are much nicer in my opinion. Though I do prefer plastic to metal usually.
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
Dragonlord Hailthir
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Re: My dragon project

#27 Post by Dragonlord Hailthir »

I have only 5 of the OOP dragon Princes, which I'm painting up as royal guard dragon princes assigned to the protection of the prince. I love the new plastic dragon princes and simply can't get enough of them. So far I'm planning on doing three units in different colors (blue armour/red cloth, red armour/blue cloth, and yellow armor/red or green cloth).
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John Rainbow
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Re: My dragon project

#28 Post by John Rainbow »

Not sure if this is just happening for me but some of the pics at the end are so large that they don't really load or come through very well.
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Re: My dragon project

#29 Post by Duranthalis »

John Rainbow wrote:Not sure if this is just happening for me but some of the pics at the end are so large that they don't really load or come through very well.
Not just you. Some of the pictures are so large and/or blurry I can only see a blur of grey plastic.
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Andrew_uk
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Re: My dragon project

#30 Post by Andrew_uk »

Sorry guys - I kinda half abandoned my high elf army when I just became sick and tired of painting all the RnF in NMM (which was my original aim)

So I went and did my Chaos army for 2 years and then came back to the High Elves with regular metals over this summer I've now got 2 units of 28 Spearmen completed, 1 unit of 12 Silver Helms 90% finished, 1 unit of 24 Phoenix Guard (and a mage) are past half way and going at a really fast painting speed as they are my current project - If I hit my targets and get them all finished before the 2nd Jan then I promise to restart my whole blog

Next up will be the 60 odd Archers and there's enough of them to last me a bare minimum of 3 months, after that maybe some Eagles/Dragon Princes/RBT/Reavers

I have 2 dragons to paint both on Diaramas like this one but I kinda fancy getting a solid army built first. Either way I have more than enough on the go to last me well into the next 2 years, what with the speed I paint :D
Bring me my bow of burning gold, bring me my arrows of desire, bring me my spear O' Clouds unfold, bring me my chariot of FIRE!

Check out my rather slow caledor themed painting log and my dragon project... also my faster moving nurgle themed Warriors of Chaos themed painting log
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