Adventures in Chat GPT - Play Along Toys Arwen and Frodo on Horseback

The figures this Chat were based on is from Play Along Toys Armies of Middle Earth Warriors and Battle beasts series from 2003.

Ed

The prompt was: 'remove base from horse and place horse and riders in a widely spaced forest being pursued by LOTR Dark Riders'

 

New Moonscape Diorama / Display Board - Pt 7 First Coat of Paint

Generally, I use up to five colors when doing scenery. The first few are always shades of the same color starting with the darkest shade first, then dry brushing on the remaining colors in succeedingly lighter tones. The last color is always white applied with a very dry brush (that is to say, nearly all the paint wiped off on a piece of craft paper, paper bag, or newspaper - whatever's available -  before applying the paint. This time however, as I didn't have a full compliment of colors available, I went with what I had: dark gray, medium gray, white.. The dark gray is the cover coat and it took a few passes to get all the little nooks-&-cranny's filled in.

Ed

Adventures in Chat GPT - Toy Biz Electronic Sound & Action Treebeard, the Talking Ent

I posted this Treebeard the Ent figure from Toy Biz way back in December 2011 and am now able to highlight this terrific toy again - but in a different way. The toy is battery operated (enabling the talking) and is 17.25" (43,81cm) H. The legs and arms are articulated and can be moved around and, while it's not made by Play Along Toys, is a great companion piece to their LOTR figures. Back in 2011, the photos were my basic set of orthographic inventory shots, but with the help of a little computer aided wizardry, Treebeard now is in a setting which makes him look at home! 

Ed

The photo I chose to 'plus up'

The prompt used was: place Treebeard the Ent in Fangorn Forest.

New Moonscape Diorama / Display Board - Pt 6 'Plastering'

I've labeled this post 'Plastering' however, that's a bit misleading as I don't use plaster, or Sculptamold, or pre-colored tile grout for my scenery any more. Haven't used that junk in years! I found out the hard way that I was only screwing myself when using those things. Why! Because they dry hard as a rock! If I wanted to make any changes to the scenery, or do something as simple as planting a model tree on a hillside, it took chisels, electric chisel drills, and dynamite to make even the slightest alterations. Now, that's okay if you want scenery that'll be around when the next age of civilization builds a whole new set of pyramids, but for us casual modelers, it's overkill. Years back I started to use this lightweight spackling compound from DAP which comes premixed and hard, but not granite hard. And it solves another problem: the mess that mixing plaster or tile grout creates. Okay, in all fairness, using plaster or tile grout will be a lot cheaper - a whole lot - but if your projects are small then this lightweight spackling compound is just the ticket.

Ed

Before laying down the spackling, I took silicone putty and filled the cracks and voids behind the mountains as well as running a bead at the bottom where the Styrofoam hills met the flat Styrofoam panels.

I covered the hills and the voids that were created when gluing down the chunks of Styrofoam. I also made sure there were some flat inclines that I could pose small lunar vehicle (or people) on. On the flat surface, the spackling was laid down is a sort of fan pattern to make it appear as if the meteor impact which created the impact created the spray pattern.

Adventures in Chat GPT - Hallmark Gandalf the Gray Ornament in Hobbiton

This figure was one of my newer ones and was photographed as recently as 2016. However, poor Gandalf didn't get the photo treatment he deserved, being relegated to a few dry inventory pics. A quick prompt to have him walking in Hobbiton and now he looks super!

Ed