Amon Sul was the first large build we did for a customer, which wasn't a part of the normal line we carried in the shop.
As Every big Lord of the Rings fans know, Amon Sul plays a big part in the story, and an even bigger scene in the first film, so it was an exciting build.
The customer was based in France and it was actually for a gift, and they knew nothing about Lord of the Rings, so most of the design ideas and decisions were left to us, which in some ways was great but also a big responsibility.
The main structure of the piece and the large surrounding walls were carved from 1 inch blue foam. Firstly we cut out the centre circle and added in each layer of steps sculpted from 4mm foam board, we cut notches and chunks out of some of the steps and left gaps to give the look of age which comes through at the end of the build. we then cut the archways that tower over the centre of the piece, and cut them into the steps before drawing in the bricks with a pencil and then sculpting tools adding ages and damage as we went. after ensure they all fit, we snapped two of them and glued them laying down to show battle damage.
The next step was to add in some pillars, ( which weren't technically the same as the film) but they fitted the style nicely and added a spooky feel to the piece. We made these using blue foam and some great MDF pillar templates from a website called Shifting Lands (check the out they are amazing) after this we were able to add a platform across the pillars for playability.
I added a second layer of blue foam under the first to give the whole piece more height and began to blend them together adding rock shapes into the foam to give it the feel of being on a tall cliffside. I also used more foam board to carve steps up to the watch tower and to help blend the heights more between the blue foam which I will later cover with a thin layer of sculpted mould to also create small rocks and slopes down the cliffside.
(excuse the beer in the back ground it was a long day).
As you can see the structure of the piece is now starting to take real shape, with the broken archways and additional broken pillars glued nicely in place to also give some stonework to hide behind again for playability.
At this stage I mounted the whole piece onto a piece of 6mm MDF which I cut to size and blended in using more foam board as done before.
The next step was to texture the whole piece using a combination of small stones and sand mixed with grit to blend it all together.
At this point I decided to add some steps running up to one of the broken archways to add more play ability and height variation on the is side of the piece.
The whole piece is them covered in burnt umber and PVA mix for the earth and grass areas and back and PVA mix for the stone work. (it looks a bit of a mess at this point but it will start to come to life over the next two steps.)
The stone is then given an over coat of mid grey, still letting some of the black stow through in the darker areas. this really shows up the grit and texture on the ground which will be highlighted even more later.
The stone work is now dry brushed with a very light grey and then a gentle dry brush with an ivory to take down the coldness of the grey in places.
the brown areas are then covered in a slightly watered down PVA and a dark green flock is put down as a base then a light green in places with a blend mix all over to blend the colours together.
I then added a light green flock over some of the stone work to look like moss growing, to help age the piece.
Very fine slate chippings are then added into the corners of the stone work where stones and grit would naturally gather over time, still ensuring that these place still allow miniature to stand up during gameplay.
At this point I decided that I wanted there to be a vine covered in leaves growing across between the two broken archways. (as better seen in the photo below ) so using some fine sculpting wire I covered in liquid glue I covered in a dark course flock, then a lighter flock to give shading. and pushed each end of the wire into the archway a glued into position to be safe. to finish the vines off I glued more of the two coloured flock down the side of the archway brickwork to look like the vine had grown up over many years of neglect.
At this point it could have been called done, but after showing the finished piece to the team we decided that we needed to add some further weathering to the stone work in places, and also dead leaves that had blown into the watchtower over the years and finally some small grass tuffs, that have grown out of the gaps in the stone work ( which you can appreciate in the photo above.)
And then it was finally finished, I hope you enjoy the finished photos below.
Some nice actions shots with the Elves defending it from the invading Acolytes, which shows the scale of the piece.
A nice shot showing the scale of the platform and the finished vines growing across above the piece.
I hope you like the step by step process we took during the building of Amon Sul, being a big Tolkien fan it was a pleasure to build and the perfect opportunity for us to put some build techniques into play for the piece.
if you want to see more of these or want to know anymore details of how we built it please reach out through the info section on the homepage.
Also if you want us to design or even recreate any terrain, from Lord of the Ring or any other source material, no matter how big or small please reach out.
Thanks again
Simon