The Fellowship - 1

These are plastic 25mm miniatures from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line.  They are the Fellowship models from the Mines of Moria boxed set which was released in 2005.

These are pre-owned models that I won on eBay a couple of years ago.  I've stripped them of their previous paint jobs and cleaned off any excess mold lines that were still remaining.  I've also washed them and glued on a base of sand.  The next step will be to spray paint them with an undercoat of black paint.

Warriors of Rohan - 1

It's been over 10 months since I did any work on my miniature wargame hobby.  Back in March 2010 I stripped the paint off 13 Warriors of Rohan I'd won on eBay.  Today was a planned day off work so I bought a new CFL bulb for my desk lamp and started preparing the miniatures for painting.

These are plastic miniatures and are 25mm scale.  After washing them in soapy water and drying them off I pulled out my trusty craft blade and cleaned off any flash I could see.  I then did some minor conversions.  One of the spearmen had a broken spear so I removed the remaining shaft, cut off and repositioned his right arm, inserted an axe I'd made earlier, removed his shield, and in his left hand inserted a metal wire to be used as a banner pole.  The other conversion I did was to remove the plastic arrow from one of the archers and replace it with a thin piece of wire.

After that I dabbled some PVA glue on the surface of the bases and sprinkled some sand/gravel over the top.  I'll leave the miniatures to dry overnight and the next step will be to undercoat them with spray paint.

I find this part of the hobby relaxing and it was all the more enjoyable while listening to the Lord of the Rings movie soundtracks.

Simple Green plastic test results

Last week I placed thirteen plastic Warriors of Rohan from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line of 25mm miniatures into a small glass jar and filled it with just enough Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner so that they were covered. The purpose of this was to see how good the product was at stripping paint from plastic miniatures. Here's a photo of the miniatures prior to getting the Simple Green treatment.


With a little gentle scrubbing from an old toothbrush I would estimate that a good 95% of the paint was removed. Here's a photo of the miniatures after the scrubbing.


One thing I was aware of is that the plastic miniatures are more fragile than their metal counterparts. The LOTR range in particular are modelled quite realistically and this means thinner weapons than normal Games Workshop 'heroic scale' 28mm miniatures. Because of this I tried hard not to be too rough with the toothbrush. Even so, I did manage to break off half of a spear. Ah well, that can be easily repaired.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Simple Green results. It's also safer and nicer smelling than other types of products that can be used to strip paint. I'll definitely be using this product for all future miniature paint-stripping projects.

Simple Green plastic test

I'd already established that Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner worked wonders stripping the paint from metal miniatures. Now it was time to see how it worked on plastic. For this test I chose thirteen Rohan warriors I'd picked up on eBay in a LOTR miniatures lot last year.


These are the only Rohan warriors I own and I'd like to get them painted for some skirmish gaming. It's just that the paint jobs from their previous owner sucks. Into the Simple Green they go!


This photograph reminds me of the Dead Marshes scene from Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.

'Who are they? What are they?' asked Sam shuddering, turning to Frodo, who was now behind him.
'I don't know,' said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. 'But I have seen them too. In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep under the dark water. 'I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them." - The Two Towers 'The Passage of the Marshes' - J.R.R. Tolkien

Simple Green success

Last week I decided to test the merits of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner as a solution to the problem of stripping paint from my miniatures. So I placed a couple of metal Mordor Orc Captains from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line of 25mm miniatures into a small glass jar and filled it with just enough Simple Green so that they were covered.

Well, six days later and I've now taken them out. I was a little disappointed to see that they looked exactly the same as when I'd put them into the liquid. So I grabbed an old toothbrush and one of the miniatures and started scrubbing under some running water. Then I got excited. The paint just sloughed off very easily. Even the paint in the various nooks and crannies of the figure came out without much trouble.

I've used oven-cleaner and brake fluid in the past to strip paint from miniatures with varying degrees of success. What I didn't like about those products was their hazardous nature. Simple Green is non-toxic and biodegradable. It also smells nice and leaves the figures feeling clean. To top it off it didn't affect either the metal or the plastic bases. I'm now hooked!

Check out the results for yourself.



The only reason I had these miniatures soaking for six days was today was the first opportunity to clean them. My next test will be to see if Simple Green is as effective with stripping paint from plastic miniatures as it is with metal. I'll also do some test runs on shorter periods of immersion and report back.

Simple Green test

Just over a week ago I bought some Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner to see if it was suitable as a paint stripper for both plastic and metal miniatures. As the first test subjects I chose a couple of metal Mordor Orc Captains from the Mordor Orc Command set from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line of 25mm miniatures.


I picked up these Orc Captains through some miniature lots I won on eBay last year. Although I only have two, luckily they are different versions of the same style of figure. I'm not happy with the paint jobs from their original owners, however having said that, these two are painted better then the majority of miniatures I purchase on eBay.


I think these guys are painted in acrylic paint, as opposed to enamel paint. I'm not sure what glue was used for the basing material. No matter, into the Simple Green they go!


So this morning I dropped them into a glass jar (an ex-salsa jar...mmm...salsa) with the liquid just covering them. I screwed the lid on so there would be no chance of spillage and placed it into a high, out-of-the-way place so the kids wouldn't find it.

I'll report back shortly on the outcome.

Orcs from Mordor!

This evening I finished my latest painting project of 24 Mordor Orcs from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line of miniatures. These plastic figures are 25mm in scale and were painted with Citadel acrylic paints. All figures were purchased second-hand, mainly from eBay. I stripped all pre-existing paint from these miniatures and started again from scratch. I painted them using a production-line method. Click on the picture for a larger image.


There are eight with a hand weapon and shield, eight with bows and eight with two-handed weapons.

I now have some enemies for my warriors of Minas Tirith to battle. This will give me the opportunity to do solo testing of some miniatures rules such as Lord of the Rings - Strategy Battle Game and Song of Blades and Heroes.

Call forth the Host of Gondor!

Today I finally finished a painting project of 88 Warriors of Minas Tirith from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings line of miniatures. These figures are 25mm in scale and were painted with acrylic Games Workshop paints. All figures were purchased second-hand, mainly from eBay. I stripped all existing paint from these figures and started again from scratch. I painted them using a production-line method.


There are 28 Warriors of Minas Tirith with sword and shield, 28 with spear and shield, and 32 with bow.

To motivate myself while painting I listened to the 13-CD dramatised BBC production of LOTR, as well as the three soundtrack CD's from the recent films, and also at times had the three special extended DVD edition films playing on the computer next to me.

It was a massive undertaking but I am very satisfied with the result. I'll post further photos in the coming days.

Moria Goblins - Part 6

After finishing the sand on top of the bases I then added a combination of flock and static grass with small dabs of PVA (white wood) glue. This glue dries clear so is invisible. After that it was just a matter of giving the base rims a couple of coats of slightly watered down Citadel Bestial Brown paint.

Finally a couple of coats of a matt spray varnish (I use a relatively cheap brand called Cyrstal Kote Matt from a dollar store) and voila! 48 Games Workshop Moria Goblins fully painted!


You can click in the pictures for a larger image.

Moria Goblins - Part 5

The painting of the goblin models was now complete. The next step was to work on the base. To do this I first applied slightly watered down PVA (white wood) glue to the top of a base with an old paintbrush. Don't use one of your good brushes because your brush won't ever be the same afterwards. I use the same brush for this purpose every time I do miniature bases. I then dipped the base into a small plastic tub (in this case an old ice cream container) full of a mixture of fine sand, and some coarser sand and talus I bought from a model railway shop. I then left the models overnight so that the glue would have time to fully dry.

Sand has been glued to the bases

After the glue was dry I then gave the top of the bases a coat of watered down Citadel Scorched Brown paint.

Sand has been painted brown

The final effect for the sand was done with an old brush using the drybrush process to bring out the details with Citadel Bleached Bone paint. Once again, try to use a single brush specifically for drybrushing as it does cause damage to the hairs of the brush over time.

A drybrush really brings out the details

Stripping Goblins

I've only tried to remove paint from miniatures once in the past. That was about seven years ago and it was a bunch of 1/72 HAT plastic Napoleonic miniatures. I used an oven cleaner to spray all over the figures and then left them to sit for a day or two. It worked reasonably well as a paint stripper but I had to be careful with the noxious fumes and also wear protective gloves and eye wear.

I've been reading on the Internet of the merits of brake fluid as a paint stripper that's safe to use with plastics. I decided to try it on a bunch of Moria Goblins I'd picked up really cheaply on eBay. These figures had paint jobs that left a lot to be desired and as I intended to repaint them, the original paintwork needed to be stripped.

87 stripped goblins ready for a spray undercoat

I dumped 87 of the little blighters into a container and covered them with brake fluid. I then left them to soak overnight. 24 hours later I grabbed an old toothbrush and was pleasantly surprised to find the paint just sloughing off. The figures weren't harmed at all and the brake fluid combined with some scrubbing removed probably 95% of the previous paint job.

Some had broken weapons when I got them so they'll be used for conversion purposes.

Moria Goblins - Part 4

The next step in the painting process was to paint all the leather and wood a brown colour. I find that I save time painting a whole lot of miniatures with similar poses. I'm able to get used to where straps, bows, spears etc are on a particular pose so don't waste time having to go back later to paint something I may have missed.

All the brown bits have been painted.

I then highlighted the cloth and skin in lighter tones and gave the miniatures a diluted black wash to bring out the detail.

Highlighted cloth and skin with a black wash

They're almost finished. The only thing left to do is a light grey drybrush of the hair and perhaps highlight some of the leather items. The final bit will probably be another black wash.

Moria Goblins - Part 3

I'd given the cloth a base colour of dark red so the next step was to highlight with a lighter shade. This was done with a fine brush and painted on in detail rather than drybrushed. This gradual blending of colour can really make a model look realistic.

After that I did a similar highlight of the goblin skin of the miniatures. I applied a lighter shade of the greenish grey base colour.

The cloth and skin have been highlighted

The next job was to paint the hair on the heads of 48 Moria Goblins with black paint. The models are now starting to come alive.

Hair painted black

The next part of the project will be to paint the bows, spears and leather parts in brown.

Moria Goblins - Part 2

The next step was to give the armour a wash of dark flesh colour. This seems like an odd thing to do but the effect it achieves is to give the armour a somewhat tarnished or rusty look, just right for the evil Moria Goblins. A brown ink or wash would have a similar effect. After that I highlighted raised bits of the armour with silver.

Flesh wash and silver highlight on the armour. Base colour on the skin.

It was time to start the process of colouring the skin of the miniatures. I started by mixing together khaki and light green to give a dark, brownish green colour. The base coat was applied with a fine brush and the paint was quite watered down to give a smooth finish. If you apply too thick of a coat of paint you risk obscuring some of the fine detail on these miniatures such as facial features.

One trick with painting is to always start off with a darker shade of the final colour and then work it up in stages going a little bit lighter and lighter (leaving behind traces of each preceding colour) until you achieve the final look. This gives a colour gradient and produces a natural effect.

The cloth has been painted a dark red/brown

The cloth was the next job. I wanted a dark base colour of what would eventually be red. For this colour I mixed together red and black and got a dark reddish/brown. The colour was added in a production line effort to the 48 miniatures. To put me in the mood I listened to the soundtracks from the three Lord of the Rings movies.

Next step will be to work on highlighting the cloth and skin.

Moria Goblins - Part 1

I decided to finally paint up some of the Citadel Moria Goblins that had been sitting around for quite some time. I'll be able to use these for skirmish gaming with Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game or Song of Blades and Heroes, as well as use them for the recently released mass battle rules War of the Ring.

Freshly washed Moria Goblins

There are 48 Moria Goblins in this lot. There are 16 with bow, 16 with spear and 16 with sword and shield. That's equivalent to 6 companies in War of the Ring.

The first thing I did was clean off any flash from the miniatures with a craft knife and jeweller's file. I then washed them in warm, soapy water to get rid of any mold release agents and any dirt.

Normally I apply an undercoat of black paint to the miniatures by hand with a brush. This time I decided to spray paint them. I converted an old cardboard box into a spray booth and lined up the miniatures inside. I was careful to take it slow and do short, quick passes of spray paint. I've never spray painted miniatures before and I have to say I was very impressed with how quick and easy it was. I think I'll always spray paint on my undercoats from now on.

Spray painted with a black undercoat

After waiting for the miniatures to dry I then moved them all back inside to my painting table. I mixed up some silver and black paint to give a dark metallic colour. This was drybrushed on to all the miniatures to give a base metallic colour for the armour.

A drybrush of dark metal

The next step will be to highlight, black wash and then re-highlight the armour.