Statue Garden

In this post, I use some spare parts and pieces from the Sigmarite Mausoleum to build a little statue garden:

 

Before I get into this scenery project, I want to share a link to the interview I did with Anthony on his AoS Coach Youtube channel. We talk about blogging in general, how and why I began my blog, and how you can start a blog of your own and share what you do with the wargaming community. If you're a fan of Age of Sigmar, you owe it to yourself to follow Anthony's channel– He's got tons of content about gaming, deep dives into the different armies' backgrounds and strategies. Check it out!

 

The Statue Garden

This is a project that I've been considering for a few years. I converted Reikenor the Grimhailer's model into a mounted version of Korak the Grim, and that left me with the statue and base, which I intended to use as a statue in some graveyard scenery. I've also got the battle standard from the old Empire General, the statue and sections of wall from the Sigmarite Mausoleum kit. My plan was to build a little courtyard for the three statues, with a low fence in front of them.

 

 

The first thing I needed to do was clean up the statue's wing where I cut off Reikenor's horse. I carved the rough spot as flat as I could, and used modeling putty to sculpt the feather texture.

 

I'm not entirely happy with the results, but if it doesn't look good with some paint on it, I can just cover it up with ivy or moss.

 

 

For the Empire banner, I used one of the tombstones from the Spirit Host kit as its base. I trimmed off the skull to create a flat spot where I could mount the "tail" of the statue, and bulked it up with modeling putty.

 

The statue from the mausoleum kit was nearly good to go as-is, but I replaced its shield icon with an old skeleton icon. I did the same for the banner statue, and traded its hammer for a Hexwraith scythe. I also made it look more like stone by cutting cracks into it and trimming away the ties that were holding it together. (I think that, as a banner, it's supposed to be an actual skeleton wearing a robe, with the wings and items tied into its hands.)

 

The three statues will stand with Morr, the god of death in the center, flanked by his two "angels of death."

 

This is where the project really clicked and everything came together– I wasn't sure how I would arrange the walls, or how wide and deep the base would need to be. I discovered that if the long and short walls were overlapped, it created a central alcove with the curved tops on either end, and that it was the same length as a whole fence. The depth of the garden only needed to be as wide as a single fence section. Perfect! With the layout solved, it was time to get cutting.

 

The first thing I needed to do was get rid of the circles made by the ejector pins when the plastic was molded. The easiest way to do this is to use a curved X-Aco blade to scrape the surface smooth.

 

Next, I cut away the tall post. (I separated the spike at the top to replace the one on the lower post, which I had removed for a previous project. I guess this is a case of robbing Peter to pay... Peter... with Peter's own spike...?)

 

I trimmed the surfaces and base of the two wall sections to get them to fit snugly, and then I used some styrene card to build up the little shelf under the row of skulls, and filled the gaps with Aves Apoxie Sculpt.

 

The spikes on the small wall section didn't match the rest, so I replaced them with spare spikes that I've been collecting.

 

The raised mausoleum on Reikenor's base would form the plinth for the statue of Morr, so I filled in the missing portion with Aves, and carved it to look like the stone had broken away.

 

I cut away the base rim so I could use the flagstones as the start of the courtyard paving.

 

For the base, I used a sheet of styrene plastic, and scured the surface with coarse sandpaper.

 

I glued down the rear wall and one of the sides. The small shields on the fence posts were carefully sliced away and moved to the side facing the front.

 

For the front railing, I cut the fence in half. The top portion will be used for the statue garden, and the bottom will be saved so I can use it as a low railing somewhere else.

 

I built the bottom strip out of thick styrene, and replaced a few of the rungs with thin rod because they had gotten damaged when cutting.

 

Once I had the low railing built, I glued on the other side, and trimmed the base.

 

For the courtyard, I used leftover scraps of styrene to make the flagstones, and added sand and gravel to fill the gaps and cover the base of the walls.

 

Here's the whole thing, assembled. The lower fence on the front doesn't restrict the view of the statues, and the little gate in the back would allow the groundskeeper access to tidy up fallen leaves and such. I kept the statues and front fence separate for painting. As of writing this, I've already primed them, and will probably get to it next week.

 

 

'Til next time!