After more than 8 years, I finally got motivated to finish The Mouth of Sauron on his mount, and while I was at it, I properly finished off the foot version as well. Finding the mounted model in a figure case was what got this show back on the road. (The same one I found The Tainted in, actually).
Despite a very similar dress sense, The Mouth of Sauron is not a Nazgûl, but a Black Númenórean. In the film his mount is depicted with rusty, aged barding – though decent shots of him or his mount are few and far between. I used a couple of different Vallejo Model Washes, which I haven’t done a lot with, with paint mixed in as well as some stippling to try and get the right kind of rusty effect, followed by a re-highlight of the metal edges. The final outcome isn’t perfect, but I feel like it’s still come up pretty well.
As a Black Númenórean, The Mouth of Sauron was the design cue that GW used to create their Black Númenórean Warriors, and by extension, their Castellans of Dol Guldur. The rusty effect of his armour isn’t quite the same as the brassy look that I gave those troops, but it’s a slight bridge in that direction. I might have done the same with his armour, but keeping it close to the film-canon was more important in this case.
He’s not much use in the Fellowship of the Ring Scenario Project that I started on a couple of months ago, but he’ll certainly have a place when I eventually get to Return of the King.
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
They’re very cool mate. The headdress colours look great. Do you know why they decided to make LOTR 28mm true scale instead of Hero scale. It annoyed me when I first bought some LOTR plastics on eBay a couple of years ago.
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I remember that the main rumour was that it was mandated by the licence holder (New Line Cinema) because they didn’t want people to be able to use Warhammer models in place of LotR ones to play the game. Knowing GW, it could well be that decision on their side as well, but they’ve never mixed any of the LotR stuff with the Warhammer (WHFB or 40k) in the same photographs – even the scenery!
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Ohh I see. Bloody corporate monkeys
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Yeap, the way of the world! Though by the later figures, especially the post-RotK range there was very little difference anymore.
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Whew, 8 years! I can understand how that can happen though. What matters is most, is that you now have one super sweet looking mini. That rust effect turned out really nice. Is that the Vallejo Mecha Weathering Wash? You had mentioned that in the past, and I gave it a go. Will probably be by submission for August. Though, mine turned out nowhere near as good.
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It’s not actually especially unusual for my collection. The most unusual part of it is that I featured the WIP on the blog before not finishing it (though there are a few others in that situation!)
It’s the Vallejo Model Wash. It was Mark that started talking about their Mecha products, which I’d not heard of at the time (still don’t have any of them!)
My Technical models are really low-end stuff, but the point is that it’s me playing with “new” stuff and stuff I’m not that familiar or comfortable with.
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That’s what I’m shooting for in August too. Partly just due to time lately.
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I’ve got a few more impressive things on the go as well that would count, but no idea if I’ll have time to complete them. I’ve been kinda tied up with clearing the decks of more neglected models in my last few sessions.
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Cool, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you find the time!
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I’ve got a bit of stuff done so far this weekend, though not much on the models in question… in some ways life would be much easier if I worked on single models more rather than small units, but then if you went back trying to match the others after doing them individually, that wouldn’t work at all…
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Congrats on the stuff done part. I’ve got a lot of ideas, but getting them actualized is the trouble. 😉
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Just sit down in the lotus position, pinch your fingers together, close your eyes… and visualise!
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If you wanna go and transformatize, you gotta open your mind and visualize! Painting minis ain’t no joke, chase Azazel you get smoke! And that’s the end, my friend! Saving your ears, because IRO drank all the beers. I’m out!
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Ok, I won’t quit my day job 😉
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8 years… don’t despair. It took me 30 to finish my version! You have done a great job. As a side note – the horse “pose” is almost identical to that of my 1985 Citadel mount (yours has flesh over the bones) despite different companies producing the two.
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It’s entirely possible that both were sculpted by the Perrys. This one is Citadel as well, though as part of the New Line LotR licence…
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Looking good. It’s hard to make much stand out with such a limited palette (and it’s basically the same one for every evil overlord. A couple of them know about red, but that’s pretty much it. Get some colour sense, guys!), but you’ve done a good job of it here. Going with the metal on the barding (front and back) and helmet makes for a nice triangle that draws focus toward the face.
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Yeah, especially hard with figures based on filmic characters that have a very limited palette. Comic or animated ones often have a lot more use of colour. I did sneak some subtle red in, on the repeated vertical eye pattern on the caparison under his legs/feet.
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That’s a sweet looking model. I missed out the new gw Lotr range (I remember the original) as it was during a hobby hiatus. I’m starting to feel quite glad about that (in one way) as I think I might of ended up slightly out of pocket!
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It’s one of their better ranges over the years, and one of their better games as well. Keep an eye out for the Pelennor Field boxed set in a few weeks if you’re interested in dipping your toe in. 😉
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An awesome model and superb paint job- always loved the Mouth, he’s so disturbing
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Yeah, they did a great job with that character, especially with the enlarged mouth and the focus on it in that scene due to the obscured eyes.
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It is really unsettling, brilliant character. Does that scene always make your teeth seem to itch? 😂
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Time for a good old brush!
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Cracking job mate, and one of the more disturbing (and therefore better) characters from the films – can you do the voice?!?
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I can do his voice from Mad Max alright. 😉
Gotta love some Bruce Spence.
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Hell yeah 🙂
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Impressive, as always! That rusty look is really good!
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Thanks mate – it looked like crap at one stage and I was more than a little worried about how it’d turn out!
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Nice work, it’s a great model too!
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Cheers Dave – that it is!
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Really well done. I think the figures have the right dark character. I was not familiar with the range but aesthetically I like the true 28mm scale. That’s probably because I started on old Ral Partha, Grenadier, and Minifig stuff which was never hero scale back then. We used to look at it as soldiers would, ie if the weapon the model wielded was too big to pick up it lost some effect. I now see the works with GW stuff that is hero scale that you and IRO among many others do, and you do really do some creative modeling. So I do respect and enjoy seeing that, but this scale is really cool for me!
As for the Vallejo Mecha Colors, I have been buying some for my stretch projects, especially rust along with pigments and other stuff. Amazingly, the Vallejo website has nothing at all about the range. I will say, that they work well for airbrush or brush. Nicely thinned, and easy to use.
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