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Thread: Project: Mithril

  1. #1
    One Eye, Sixteen Cores. Kayin's Avatar
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    Default Project: Mithril

    In the days following the War of the Ring, as the Fellowship rested in Gondor, word traveled fast to all the peoples of Middle-Earth. In Lothlorién, Galadriel commissioned a memorial of the journey of Frodo the Nine-Fingered and Samwise Gamgee to Orodruin, the Cracks of Doom and the destruction of the One Ring. She commissioned her most cunning of artisans to design something fitting of the ones who had saved all of Middle-Earth. To them she gave much of the store of wealth of the Elves, to make a gift to the kindreds of Middle-Earth to endure throughout the centuries. Many and varied were her gifts, but among the most precious was mithril...

    As in the days of Vingilot, Eärendil's ship that bore he and the Silmaril into the West and was set forever as a star shining to light a way in darkness, they chose of the finest woods. In the last of the war, battle raged ever closer to Lorién, and mallorn trees had fallen. Of this, the artisans selected those that bore a peculiar figuring, noting the last touches of darkness in the light, hard wood. Fitting then that these trees that were felled by darkness would live on in a tribute to the power of hope.







    The wood for the side panels has already been pieced together from strips of spalted ash, glued and planed to approximately a half-inch thickness. Even so, each side weighs over 7 pounds, but there is cutting and profiling to be done yet.

    I have the case skeleton assembled from 1x12 white pine, but it's with a more experienced woodworker, having a bow taken out of one of the boards (my apartment is apparently incredibly damp, and it's pretty detrimental to wood) and some router work done. I have more to see, but right now, my help says it's not quite time to work...


  2. #2
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril

    Basically an update of post one, some project sketches, though they are kinda obscured-don't wanna give away everything...





    I actually have this ready to put in some of the componentry, but as I said, it's with a friend getting patched up. He'll be taking the panels after they're cut for router work as well, so this is a project of patience...

    No, I will not tell anyone what goes in the Leonidas.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril

    "The artisans remembered the gift of Arwen to her beloved Aragorn-the White Standard of Gondor, a banner wrought of all the skill she had, to celebrate the return of the True King to Middle-Earth. They then took the mallorn, and engraved it with the standard, for the Third Age had ended, and the Fourth Age was the Age of Men."

    And, my help looks kind of bored. He wants to chase the Dremel, but my wife wants to sleep.



    And the real work, which took hours, even though I've been an artist all my life...





    It's just pencil now, but I'm gonna carve it into the wood in bas-relief and then silver/gold leaf it. I haven't decided if I will give it the ithilden treatment yet... But, that's many hours of Dremel ahead of me. For now, I need to wake my wife with loud power tools.

    For the record, this is the picture you're trying to see...


  4. #4
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril













    Two and a half hours. Next move is old-style silver leaf, with sizing and everything...

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril

    I've got at least 20 more updates to this, but my connection is acting horribly and my IMG tags seem to be messed up, so I'm gonna grab a Dew and see what's going on.

    This is more than a year and a half long-so bear with me...

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril

    No lore update, just some finished side and preview of things to come...









    And this is what I've gotten from a miniature wargamer friend of mine...



    I'll save you Mr. Frodo!!!



    Server for backing this up so I can redo in 64-bit and RAID 5...



    And I can't make this up, this is one of the molds I have for the next phase...

    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




  7. #7
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril

    Old Frame:



    New Frame:













    And for size comparison...



    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




  8. #8
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril









    Note, I cast my own raw material, machine it myself using a Dremel Drill press station I made into a manual mill and a corded drill with no torque adjustments.
    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




  9. #9
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril





    This is the moment you've all been waiting for, the Leonidas!!! Be forewarned, it is NOT finished, at any rate. More work is required. At this point, however, it's enough to give you an idea...









    And the power button, in mockup...

    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




  10. #10
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    Default Re: Project: Mithril

    In Ages past, the mightiest of all men lived, one Turin Turambar, son of Hurin. Many mighty deeds were ascribed to him, but ciefest was the slaying of Glaurung, both a great feat and a great evil, for in slaying Glaurung, he learned the truth of the identity of his bride Niniel, and all found their doom there by the falls. Glaurung, slain by Gurthang, which Turin turned on himself after learning that Niniel was his sister Nienor and was carrying his child. Nienor leapt to her death into the Brithiach, and no man marked where her body came to rest.

    With that to set the tone, the latest WIP-The Death of Glaurung...





    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




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