4 Little Hobbitses

Let's Dive Right In!

So, I got these models last week from an eBay auction, and as I was waiting for the first Journeybook, I went ahead and got to painting. Here's what I got in the auctions, for just above $10 (it was a steal).

1 Mounted Ringwraith (unpainted)
3 Painted (poorly) Ringwraiths on foot, includes the Witch King (Weathertop edition)
4 Hobbits (primed): Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo.

Here's some pics (minus the mounted Wraith):

As you can see I had to label the hobbits as its hard to tell them apart before they're painted. Once my paintschemes started to come together, and I stared at their tiny faces for long enough, you can really appreciate the detail the sculptors used, as the models really do look a lot like the actors who portrayed them in the films.

Planning:

As I couldn't really decide how to paint the hobbits, and I don't have every paint made by GW, I had to be picky when deciding how to paint the hobbits without making them all look alike. So I did this:

There, that was easy! And with this figured out I launched into painting the four smallest biggest hero's Middle-earth has ever seen. Here's the little fellows with their base clothes painted:

Now for the paint scheme I used for the clothes, I'll use the format of base/shade/highlight to keep it simple (MM is "model master" acryl, made by testors):

Green clothes: MM Acryl Dark Green, Thraka Green wash, MM Acryl Interior Green highlights

Brown Clothes: Scorched Brown base, Bestial Brown highlights (no shade here)

Now that I had the basic clothes down I moved on to the next largest surface, the cloaks. In my haste to get started I forgot that the hobbits weren't gifted their Elven cloaks until they reach Lothlorien, well into their journey with the Fellowship, but I plan on having another set of models to represent the hobbits, pre-Fellowship (as long as I win this damn auction!!) So I dove in and painted the cloaks, and they rock. Cloaks are one of my favorite things to paint as its not hard to get a really nice looking one with a little work. In hindsight I feel like they should be a little darker, or muddier I suppose, maybe with a little green in there somewhere, but I like how they turned out. Here they are:

Here's the scheme:

Elven Cloaks: Codex Grey base, Fortress Grey highlight #1, Astronomicon Grey highlight #2, Skull White highlight #3.

So now the major surfaces were covered. That was the easy part, the details are always the hardest and most time consuming part of any painting project. Anyone can drybrush or highlight a large surface, but detail work is pain(t)staking (I couldn't resist), requires a steady hand, and can be un-fun sometimes. However the rewards are always worth it.

And here's this picture, right after I put Flesh Wash on their skin. This was only taken because they look like oompa loompas. Which is funny because their tiny.

So after much work (really only a few hours) I managed to finish these guys. I had some trouble with the hair as I'm color blind (SURPRISE!) and my pallet of browns is limited. But I had my wife help me by looking at pictures of the actors (in costume) and telling me what color their hair was, because to me if its not red, blond, or black, its just "brown". Anywho, here's two pictures of the finished products with different lighting. I'll post schemes following the pics:

Ok, so here are the schemes for everything but the cloaks, pants and jackets.


Swords: Boltgun Metal base, Leviathan Purple wash, Chainmail highlight, Mithril Silver highlight

Sword hilts, buttons, buckles: Shining Gold base, Burnished Gold highlight

Meriadoc's Vest: Mechrite Red base, Blood Red highlight

Skin: Tanned Flesh base, Flesh Wash wash, Dwarf flesh highlight, Elf Flesh highlight (basically how I do skin for all fair skinned races. Note the feet, the furry hobbit foot-hair is sculpted on, so i just didn't highlight those parts after the wash, I think it worked well to make them stand out without being too pervasive.

Pippin and Sam's scarves: Regal Blue base, Mordian Blue highlight

Frodo's hair: Chaos Black, painted in a thin layer, the white basecoat showed through meaning I didn't really need to highlight xD

Merry and Sam's hair: Bestial Brown base, Bestial Brown/Reaper Ivory mix highlight, Reaper Ivory final highlight.

Pippin's Hair: Vermin Brown base, Vermin Brown/Reaper Ivory mix highlight.

Bases: MM Acryl Dark Green edging, Elmers and flock on top!


Conclusion


At this point I feel pretty good about this project. These are the first models I've painted in about 8 months or so, and I think they came out pretty good. My next post will probably deal with stripping and repainting the Ring Wraiths. Also I got the Fellowship Journeybook today:

The first mission requires 9 Dunedain, The Witch King, and 2 Ringwraiths, so I did well in my auction! Now I just need to track down some Dunedain, or just use the plastic rangers. What do you readers think?