Its time for another Super Secret Christmas Present! This time, it's for my sister and it is based on the Princess Bride. She is a huge fan of the book and movie and when I saw a set of custom made miniatures based on the character designs from the film, I knew I had to do something with them.
The models included in the set are of Dread Pirate Roberts (unmasked), Inigo Montoya, Fezzik and Vizzini. For my idea I only needed the Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya miniatures, but I did paint up Fezzik right away too (and kept him for myself).
The plan was to use a legit copy of the novel and then have the diorama coming out of it. I picked up a hardcover copy of the book and took some measurements, but it seemed like it was going to be way too large. So I scrapped using the actual book and picked up a slightly smaller sketchbook instead, it still ended up being fairly big but manageable.
For this piece I decided to make a diorama of Roberts and Inigo dueling at the ruins atop the Cliffs of Insanity. The cliff itself was build on top of the book using foam, foam board and a few techniques pulled from my rock making techniques.
For this piece I decided to make a diorama of Roberts and Inigo dueling at the ruins atop the Cliffs of Insanity. The cliff itself was build on top of the book using foam, foam board and a few techniques pulled from my rock making techniques.
The base was made using poplar planks from Home Depot, which I glued together and then routed the edge and stained. I had originally planned a much more elaborate base, but I reigned myself in due to time and the fact that I always go a little wild on ideas.
As for the miniatures themselves, I needed to convert the Dread Pirate Roberts mini to include his bandanna and mask. But with a little cutting, green stuff and some brushwork I was able to pull it off relatively easily. I also tried very hard to keep Inigo's paint scheme as close to the movie's clothing colors as possible.
Both models were fun to work on, though Inigo's model was kind of a rough casting and it made it hard to get smooth coats down on to. If I had more time, I would have sanded the surfaces a little bit.
Lets take a look.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the piece. Though I only had a week to build the diorama itself, after coming home from vacation earlier in the month. My sister was ecstatic about it when I gave it to her too, which is always a good thing.
I wish I had had more time to work on it and add some extra details to it, but I am pleased with the final product.
Both models were fun to work on, though Inigo's model was kind of a rough casting and it made it hard to get smooth coats down on to. If I had more time, I would have sanded the surfaces a little bit.
Lets take a look.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the piece. Though I only had a week to build the diorama itself, after coming home from vacation earlier in the month. My sister was ecstatic about it when I gave it to her too, which is always a good thing.
I wish I had had more time to work on it and add some extra details to it, but I am pleased with the final product.