Joe's Stuff

Found this model for free on MakerWorld/the Bambu slicer program and I couldn't resist.

I made my own base for it though as the one it comes with is not the best looking. I did no work on the print itself, just primed it and went straight to painting because sanding this would be a huge pain in the nuts.

A 3d printed model of the dragon Smaug, from The Hobbit movies.

File was purschased on Cults3d, it was ~$12. Great model. This one is printed at 66% scale and is the first model that I painted mostly by airbrush.

He's very hard to take good pictures of so sorry for the bad angles.

Mordor and other Nasty Things

Sauron and the Olog-Hai Troll are free 3d prints that I found and scaled down to match their official models because I only want to give Games Workshop so much of my money.

Tried my alternative colors on some orcs, and painted a pack half red/half yellow. The pictures look awful but in person they are visually distinct on the tabletop. My Easterlings look great though.

The new Shelob kit is very nice, but I'm not really a fan of the diorama base with the rocks, but I leaned into it anyway.

I ended up with 3 Smeagols to paint all at the same time so those are here too.

Hobbits, Dwarves, Istari, and the White Council

Part of my new job treat your self purchases was a bunch of hobbits and Radagast, so now I have all the Wizards (yeah i know there's 5 but the blues dont have models) and the Dol-Gulder crew/White Council. The Eagles were bought used so I had to make my own stands but I'm happy with them.

I wanted to really get my moneys worth out of Radagast so I made the sleigh into a bit of a diorama.

The hobbits were fun to paint because they are one of the few factions in Middle-Earth that have discovered color and I made one of Farmer Maggot's dogs look like my dog.

For the Dwarves, I bought the 3 pack of captains to go with my used half pack of dwarf warriors, and painted them all the same to match. I've decided one of the dwarves is Durin IV so I can use him in a Last Alliance narrative game.

Fangorn and some more Rohan

Normally I avoid making custom bases for my minis, but Treebeard and the Ents are my favorite part of the book (and his feet wouldn't glue flat) so I went for it with this one.

Because I wanted more ents, and don't want to pay several hundred dollars for them, I made some out of clay and found some free ones to 3d print. My sculpting skills aren't the best, but it cost me nothing to make them, and was a kinda enjoyable activity.

I also bought some used, open and not painted, Rohan soldiers, so painted them with yellow gear. Continuing my money saving, I bought that captain pack and decided one was Elfhelm, because $50+ for someone who has like 2 pages of "screentime" is just ridiculous. There are also a trio of royal guards.

Gondor

After fully reading Lord of the Rings for the first time, I impulse bought the Prince Imrahil model and really tested myself on it. I think it's one of the best models I've ever painted so I took some blurry photos of it. I also used the Numenorean soldiers from the Last Alliance pack as Dol Amroth soldiers and painted them in similar colors to Imrahil.

I also am showing Aragorn and his Dunedain because I split the Rangers pack as half Dunedain and half Ithilien Rangers.

Elves of the Second Age and some dudes

I bought some open but never painted Last Alliance elves for a good price, so I painted them up in original color schemes. I'm trying to explore color theory and complementary colors in my model painting, and the elves were a really good faction to test this.

I also bought Cirdan, Erestor, and an old Glorfindel and customized them all. Cirdan got his beard. Glorfindel was turned into Gil-Galad, and Erestor was turned into Glorfindel. Then I saw the new Glorfindel model was in stock and bought it on a bad day as a treat.

I also bought the Elendil and Isildur pack because I have no self control.

A Lord of the Rings, Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game diorama/game board

Going off the dates in my camera roll, this project took a total of about 4 months. There were many periods of inactivity, so I cannot say for certain how many man hours went into it, or how many materials were used (I deliberately did not keep track so I wouldn't know how much money I put into this) It technically isn't complete, the caves and stables are not done, but I've just run out of steam and all the parts left to do aren't very interesting works of art or crafts.

The body of the structure is all 3D printed. Everything was designed very poorly by me in TinkerCAD, which took a lot of time because I don't know how to use a computer (so please don't ask for the stl files because just getting this far was a big enough struggle and there are like 70 different files because I don't know how to do 3D design. Maybe one day I will have enough time to sit down and sort them out🥲 ).

I went with a sort of skeleton of struts and plates and then covered those pieces with either styrene or printed stone work. I found out I could print these pieces face down on the build plate and they would take on the plate texture and look kinda like stone. All the major pieces were joined together using magnets or pin/slot pieces I printed. The support structure is a series of cardboard tubes and wooden posts that have printed caps to provide stability and slots for other wooden pieces to hold the upper parts of the castle. It's not that sturdy, but it's sturdy enough for small plastic models.

The terrain pieces are all XPS foam and plaster rocks on bits of foamboard that are shaped around the walls. The ground panels are foam board covered in a mixture of plaster and modge podge to try and strengthen them. The creek/river/ditch is UV resin. There are also a few fake grass tufts in there to add some green.

Originally, the plan was to create ALL of the castle, including the extensive stables and caves as seen in the Weta diorama, this would require the structure to be placed on the floor, and after setting up the in progress version, my knees decided this was a foolish idea, and I cut the scope of the project back to fit on my 4ft x 6ft table space (and into my storage bins), prioritizing gameplay and ease of accessibility over nerd wish fulfillment. I still have the files for the full stables and throne room, so maybe one day I shall have my complete castle...

This was a long and tiring project, but I consider it one of, if not the best thing I have ever made. I learned a lot of new skills and frequently had to apply myself to some very satisfying problem solving, and really that's what it's all about.

18x24in, oil on canvas

All files were found for free on various sites.

Grail tablet is printed in a smaller scale than actual piece.

Left to Right

18x24in, oil on canvas

3d printed and painted, scaled to fit my face.

Files purchased from NicoPrintedAntiques on Etsy

Custom made canvas at a reduced size of the original.

Oil.

3d printed

Boromir sword purchased from BigFredsCustoms on Etsy.

Faramir sword purchased from Fantasy Blade FR on Cults3d.

Both were modified to fit a steel bar inside them for strength and scaled to match the descriptions of the offical Weta Workshop props.

3d printed and painted.

File purchased from FULV on Cults3d

Oil on canvas, 20x24 inches

1/24 Scale Red 2 X-Wing and A-Wing

3d printed from free files on Thingiverse, assembled, painted, and displayed on bases.

X-Wing is in studio scale that was used for filming.

Bonus pic of all three of my 1/24 Scale Star Wars projects.