The Dark Altar Printer Friendly Version   By DENNIS_BRYSON - Dec. 31, 1969 Molds Required :- Primary Molds: #51 Dragons Inn. Most of the model. #52 4” Circular Tower. Just the Horns. #70 Fieldstone Wall. Just the little skulls. Custom Molds (not required): Long sloped bricks from Dragons Inn mold (12 in total), to cut down on casting time. Additional Molds (not required but useful): #50 Wizards Tower. Additional 1” x .5” bricks to cut down on casting time. #220 Wooden Plank. Just the chopping block. Measurement: The Dark Altar is 41.5” or 17.5”long x12”wide x12”high, It has a total brick count of Head – 635 Horns – 14 each Hands – 61 each Stairs – 54 Total – 839. Construction: Firstly, I wanted to make a larger more detailed Face-Temple, so I started arranging the sloped bricks to see what kind of shapes I could make. I sort of layed out the basic shape of a hand, this inspired me to draft some plans and after a while I had the skull shape mapped out, except for the horns which where an after though. I started to cast bricks but realised I’d need about 300 Long sloped bricks from the Dragon’s Inn Mold, so I had a custom mold made of them which was 12 long sloped bricks. After I got that custom mold, casting was well under way. I constructed the hands and the base of the altar, working my way up I made the skull in three sections, I always try to avoid sanding so most of this project was kept simple, after I finished the Skull, I mounted the whole lot onto the foam base and shaped the foam with a lighter. I found that the design was lacking on the nose of the skull and it didn’t flow together the way I had hoped and I tried several different combination of bricks till I settled for the sloped blocks on the model now. Still I felt something was missing, it seemed more like a monkey than a skull, so I added the horns, made from the Circular Tower’s 4” and 5” rings I sanded some sloped bricks to fit into the curves and tie them into the skull a little more, I then went about and textured the smooth sides of all the circular bricks and sloped bricks that where not covered by other blocks. Painting: When I started to paint this I wanted it to look dark and sinister, sitting atop a volcanic mountain, so I used mostly blacks and dark greys, for the mountain I undercoated in black, and heavily dry brushed a dark orange, then a lighter coat of black dry brushed on that, and then a lighter coat of dark grey, the effect I think is very volcanic. Other Notes : I sat back and looked at it when I was done and I felt it was still lacking something, I picked up some GW plastic skeletons and made the poles to sit at the edge of the pits in the hands, I then added the banner and chopping block, using the wood plank mold to make the executioners block, the axe was a combination of spear handle and axe head, the head is from the banner bearers pole, the left over Skeletons I painted up and glued into the pit. The small details helped bring the “Dark Altar” to life. DENNIS_BRYSON - Have fun, see cool stuff, get and give ideas about terrain for wargames   12 Ratings     12345      Public Comments Please log in to post a comment    You must be a registered member to post comments. You may sign-in Here.

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