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Questions & Answers
"The battle for Helm's Deep is over.
The building of Middle-earth is about to begin…" How can one make scenery like that portrayed in the pictures? How easy is it to construct such a Chamber of Mazarbul or a Barad-dûr?
A: Building scenery like this requires some skills which do not exceed the ability of an average hobbyist. You must be able to handle a fret-saw, a piece of sand paper and a file. Also, it becomes handy if one knows the basics about gluing things together. As for the materials, you can gather these from a dustbin or buy them at the shop around the corner. The real problem is making the designs. With these and a constructing manual at hand, it becomes just a matter of cutting, sawing, filing, sweating and dust-eating. We're sorry to say you won't find the designs on this website. But by studying the pictures carefully, you can probably figure out some things yourself.
Q: But what about Helm's Deep?
A: The complexity of every model is just a matter of quantity: our version of Helm's Deep consists of lots of separate elements, some big, some small, all carefully sawn, filed and polished into shape. Most of these elements are no more than plain wooden slabs, albeit with a little bit of decoration. It's the composition of all these bits together which causes one wondering about the whole.
Q: Is there some new devilry coming up?
A: As you have probably guessed, our heart lies with the Mines of Moria. Designing a complete range of Moria-scenery for either the TMG or SBG miniatures, that's what we love to do. However, other scenery, like Weathertop, Osgiliath or Cirith Ungol might be projects for the future. Not the Mines, but the whole of Middle-earth is the limit! We have no doubt about our capability to build even the complete city of Minas-Tirith at Combat Hex scale. The only question is: will it fit in any bedroom?
Q: The pictures of the Black Gate and the Barad-dûr betray some minor differences between these scenery and the buildings in the LOTR-movies.
A: The Dark Tower was our first try ever and we must admit we didn't bother ourselves too much about the details at that time. But believe us: an eventually next version of either the Barad-dûr or the Black Gate comes with much more turrets, windows, steps, spikes and fiery eyes! The same goes for the tower of Orthanc.
Q: You certainly need to take a year's leave to build all these pieces?
A: Not nearly. If you're willing to spend the evenings and a Saturday or two, building a fully furnished Chamber of Mazarbul might take you three or four weeks. Durin's Causeway however can be completed in just one week, while the Black Gate will cost you only four or five days. On the other hand, it took us five whole weeks to design and build Helm's Deep, and forty-eight hours to complete the scenery (with black sprayed papers and all) and shoot the stills. The Deeping Wall was blown to pieces in just milliseconds.
Q: The greenery doesn't look very impressive.
A: No root and twig for us. We're builders! Rock and stone!
Q: Is it all worth the trouble, spending hours & hours on building when one can spend a good time fighting heroic battles on a simple table cloth?
A: That depends on where you want to be, as you lead your painstakingly painted Fellowship or your laborious collected army of Uruk-hai through a quest. As for us, we prefer to do battle in Middle-earth itself!
"Where now the horse and the rider?
Where is the horn that was blowing?"
Safely stored away in a box, probably…?
What a pity! In Middle-earth, that's where they deserve to be!
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