Madrak Ironhide WIP 1

So here in the first WIP (Work In Progress) post for the Hordebloods army. As it's early on in my process, I didn't get too into the habit of taking pictures, especially as I was playing around with his hair - I really wasn't sure how the hair was going to turn out. It was one of my first time really green stuffing and hadn't fully decided if I was going bald like Trolls, green stuff hair or fake hair.

Anyways, rambling aside, here's the beginning of the Horde!

As I discussed in my guitar strings post, I stretched Madraks arm out. The amulet he's holding ends up disconnected from what's slung over his back in this position, so I used the guitar string to create a small cable.

I also filled in the gap in with some green stuff. There's some rough muscle structure, which I get better at creating as I get working on other ones.

He's also now got a Thrall-worthy haircut.

I just rolled out a snake of green stuff, then twisted it. As I twist it more, it starts looking braided.

This I lay over his head and use some moulding tools to press the "hair" against the top of his head.

To be more than just braids, I push it out down his forehead and against the sides of his head. This makes it look more like hair.

His axe head I chop off just above the lower rim - high enough above his hand that I won't crush the pewter and damage detail I want to keep. After that, I use a file and knife to clean it up.

To create his hammer, I start by creating a box. I use my hands to work out a rectangular-ish shape and follow that up by using hard, smooth, flat surfaces to squish opposing sides at a time and flatten out the box. Another way to have done this would have been make a green stuff blob, then just cut out a box, but this way gives rounded edges.

I follow that up by flattening out two blobs of green stuff, then squish a flat piece of wood on the tops - this gives it a nice textured look on the sides that'll be outward facing. Once it hardens, I trace out a square a little bigger than the hammer head. Finally, I cut each edge to be angled towards the middle.

The final green stuffing part for the hammer was the trim connecting the hammer faces. Again, using two flat surfaces, (glass work board and one of my knife handles) I squish out a thin strip and cut the sides straight. This wraps around the hammer and has the excess cut off.

It's difficult to tell in the picture, but there's also a diamond with a Frostwolf insignia glued on the top facing side.

Using some silver dots I found at a dollar store, I glue them on as if bolt heads or rivets.

And here is where we're at:

As an added touch, I wrap some wire around a toothpick and glue it over his braids.

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Take a look at my Step by Step page for the entire Hordebloods project. Here you will find each model broken down into links showing each step: Concept, Works in Progress, (for both modelling and painting) and Final Shots