Miniatures

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:56 am

Ive deiced to work with a bunch of minitures for sets for my current movie( Did you know lotr helms deep and a lot of those places were done with them? ) and was wondering if you guys had any tips pointers anything really! I was watching a video about some stuff in lotr and how they did their minitures apprently they filmied it in layers with a camera dolly moving over and over with different layers such as smoke, lighting, fire ect. and i figured out a way i could do this, as long as i can build the models! Any comments would be appreciated

BrownCowStudios · Post by **BrownCowStudios** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 1:03 am

I'm not sure how big you're making these models, but you may want to check out http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/ for some ideas or plans.

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 1:09 am

Try some model railroad suppliers, that way you can ensure all the models are to scale by using the same track guage (N - HO - S - O -.027) You'll just have to 'age' the structure some to eliminate the shine from the plastic...

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 2:29 am

Pretty big! I did a lot of modeling when i used to play a game called warhammer, so im kind of used to it but i dont really remember ( havnt done it in a while!) im going to a railroad supply store tommrow like rapotor said, its more of a hobbie story has modeling, remote control cars ect.

BrownCowStudios · Post by **BrownCowStudios** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 4:09 am

Yeah, the link I gave you is for the creation of gaming terrain for such games as Warhammer 40k. But it seems like you'll be set with the railroad supplier. Good luck!

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 2:16 pm

Thanks! im also going to try the castle idea from that site you gave me, im planning on have a canyonn and then a castle in between them. Im gonna have armies just come from all three sides ! inside the canynon and on the two sides of it! Im going to also try and get a miniture of a city which ill probably use that site you gave me again

BrownCowStudios · Post by **BrownCowStudios** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 3:11 pm

Cool! Glad to be of assistance! Can't wait to see the results!

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 6:12 pm

Yeah i went to the railraod store bought some stuff for mountians thanks!

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 7:19 pm

sounds cool, post some pictures when your done.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 8:30 pm

I sure will! I also found out lotr had a lot of blue background near their minuture of lotr, and painted in a lot of the rock

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 7:43 pm

Going to the store tommorw to pick up more stuff, im planning on have two cliffs with a castle fortress inbettween or something of the like

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 2:50 am

I had built a pretty large miniature city with a railroad system going all around it many years ago. It was pretty good. I had a mountain, lake, tons of housing, people, crossings, a church, cars, everything to telephone wires... months of work. I probably could have used it for filming too. But a couple years back, my grandparents decided they wanted it gone (as it took up an entire room) so it no longer exists. Although I have everything from it in a fairly large box in my room. Maybe one day it shall be recreated!

BrownCowStudios · Post by **BrownCowStudios** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 4:42 am

Wow, sounds quite extensive to say the least. I'm sure you've got an old photo of the set up laying around, don't you? I'd like to see this creation (if at all possible).

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 5:04 am

No I don't!!! But I wish I had taken one. I built it before I had even heard of a digital camera. It never really occured to me that I would have to remove it eventually. It was a christmas present that took fly over a couple year span. It is all O scale, so modeling wasn't that expensive. I do have some old diagrams that I drew up for construction around, but they would be too hard to scan.

A couple times, my grandparents cat would get into the room and spend a night chewing its way around. By morning, I would have a huricane disaster scene. Houses everywhere, and scenery replaced! But never any real damage. I decided to keep all the distorted telephone poles as they looked cool.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 3:10 pm

Cool! I used to have the same thing .. only warhammer so all the stuff I have is futeristic

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 3:17 pm

1 way to age the model is to spray (from a distance) matt-black spray paint over it. You get a very fine layer building up over everything, takes that sheen Raptor was talking about away, and tends to collect in corners like dirt would. Don't use much, just a few passes over the set, and it'll achieve the effect.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 3:27 pm

Well for my cliffs I can just get weeds and grass outside or the fishtank plants and place it around on them for that realistic look

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 5:03 am

The biggest problem I ran into was that I couldn't use arosols because it was inside the house! And it wasn't like I could just take it outside either.

The problem with real plants, is that is has to look to scale. You can buy kits for constructing model trees. Those work great and are relatively cheap.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 5:26 am

True, it does have to be to scale. The fake trees I wasn't sure if they looked good enough, was thinking since I had all kinds of sticks and plants and stuff I could use them.. wasn't sure, i could find a lot to scale, eg use a stick for a close up as a tree , then again it would have to be one thick stick!

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 6:47 am

I like the model trees and brush. They look real to me. You can even buy miniature fruits to put on the trees!

padawanNick · Post by **padawanNick** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 12:59 pm

Instead of arosols you could get a mini aircompressor and an airbrush.
Then you can custom mix your Testors paint colors and spray as you like without propellents.
Much greater control.

I have a list of about a half-dozen web links realed to miniature work on the this page.
The Starship Modeller one is pretty good for picking up techniques and they have a good forum too.

I used a lot of airbrushing and drybrushing on this model Millenium Falcon w/interior.
Not really detailed enough for movie work, but I was pretty happy with the results.

Have fun.

BTW: The extended versions of the LOTR DVD sets have loads of information about the miniatures they built. (Though I'd hardly call them mini. Most were 6-24 feet high or more!)
Also, most of the buildings seen close-up in Star Wars EPI & EPII (and many of the "sets") were miniatures.

I3lade203 · Post by **I3lade203** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 2:26 pm

Pretty cool, althoguth most of them are star wars. Yeah I saw some of the miniture videos from LOTR, and for Minas Tirith(Gondor) they had two models one in big scale for close ups, but only parts of the city were in this big scale, and one in small scale which is what they used when you saw the shot of the city from a distance

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 4:51 pm

Yeah, the air-brishing idea is good, I used to use one quite a lot before I started doing everything on computers. I wonder if I still have mine? You really only need to apply a very fine dark dust, you don't want to completely spray everything.

I use aerosols indoors - Open the windows for an hour while you're doing it!

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Tue Feb 03, 2004 8:57 am

Oh, I do all that outside! It'll destroy your furnishings!

I used airbrushing too, got a nice little package of equipment. Make sure you clean it out real good when you're finished! Also don't connect it up to a large household air compressor, use a portable one, or the cans of compressed air. Otherwise you can blow up the hose!

Famous · Post by **Famous** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:24 am

Yes I made a forest minature and put water in the background and placed the camara at an angle that it looked like it was raining but actually the model was crystal dry.