Does anyone know of figure kits that depict characters or monsters from the LOTR trilogy? I’ve never seriously built figures before (other than my brave little 1/48 pilots and 1/35 tank commanders!) but would be interested in making a LOTR diorama if the right figures existed… Has anyone done this yet?
Star Toys marketed some 1:6 scale vinyl kits: Frodo, Gandalf, Saruman, Morria-Orc and Uruk-Hai. Great-looking pieces but most aren’t very dynamic. I think all are fairly common in online auctions and don’t sell for a ton.
The sculpts originate from N+T Productions in the U.K., which still sells resin versions of these kits plus Legolas. Check them out at this address: http://www.nt-productions.com/lotr.htm
Probably wouldn’t work for a dio but I thought they were worth mentioning.
If you want smaller scale for larger dioramas, try the Lord of the Rings figures from Games-Workshop. They carry the full line of characters, monsters, orcs, Gondor, Uruk-Hai, you name it. If it’s in the film, they have a miniature of it, including the Balrog. Should have absolutely no troubles making a good dio with this range to choose from.
Check out http://us.games-workshop.com/games/lotr/sbg/catalog/cat_intro.htm for their full line.
demono69
Great, thanks for the tips.
the games workshop series is just what you want for doing lotr dios. tons of orcs demosns and good guys.
I am not sure what scale you are looking for but in the magazine put out by Andrea Minitures, there is a couple of figures out there of Saramon (sorry for the spelling errors) and one of Legolis, the elf archer. Andrea also makes Legolis also. I am not sure of the scales. When I get a chance I will dig up an old copy (old meaning last year since they are only in year two of print). Andrea’s Legolis is 54mm I believe.
go check this stie out:
- look at the LOTR offerings.
They aren’t models though- they’re collectibles. Pretty amazing. I was hoping someone would offer up models of these characters (like Horizon, or a garage shop) myself. So far, little luck.
Instead I ordered the Nazgul KIng and Fell Creature…an awesome looking piece of work.
cheers
check out NT models, they have some great LOTR figures in the larger scale.
http://www.nt-productions.com/kits.htm
Excellent. I’ll give them a try.
That Balrog statue is amazing! I want one in a bad way.
I’m hoping to see a scale version of Barad-dur, Isengard or even The Black Gate. I know these are longshots, but I can still dream. [:D]
Check out the LOTR wargaming stuff, they have sets like your talking about. Ive seen them , and theyre really quite nice. http://us.games-workshop.com/storefront/store.US
Games Workshops makes good stuff
I strongly reccomend GW miniatures. I am a wargamer and I have foudn out that GW miniatures are highly detailed, and using them for dioramas would be good for they are not too expensive. If you are looking to build a dio of large combat scenes, I reccomend buying larger boxed sets.
They were limited edition, and sold out very quickly. Extremely hard to get.
I ordered one, and unbeknownst to me my wife ordered me one as a birthday gift. So I had two! I sold the second one on eBay for a thousand dollars. They are going for TWO thousand dollars on eBay now – I should have waited!
The Morgul Lord on Fell Beast looks like it is going in the same direction – sold out quickly, already on sale for inflated prices on eBay. Example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2215798524&category=29799
What’s even wackier about this is that the guy doesn’t even have the piece yet. He just has one on order, and people are already willing to pay $500 for one!
BTW, the models are beautifully sculpted, but the paint job is only a decent factory pre-paint. Not bad, but not great either. I also have the Watcher in the Water, and the Morgul Lord is on the way, and ordered the Ugluk model too (I’m a fan of the Dark Side). I’m tempted to repaint them, but I think that would ruin their collector value, and the paint job is basically ok.
Someone asked about the fortresses – they did do Orthanc (the tower at Isengard, Saruman’s fortress). It sold out. I missed it. [:(] Oh well, can’t have everything – nowhere to put it!
On the GW stuff, keep in mind that they are wargaming miniatures, and are not designed for dioramas per se. They are sculpted by the Perry Brothers, who do great models for wargamers. They are not technically display models though.
Here’s what I mean. Wargame models are meant to be seen across a table and identified. But since they are rather small, they have to have exaggerated features. The Perrys (and other guys who sculpt for GW and Foundry) do a great job at it, but the models are, in the end, a little on the cartoony side for guys who are looking just for display pieces. They look a bit too much like toys.
Don’t take this the wrong way. You may love them, and the LotR models are certainly much less cartoonish than the normal GW models, called Warhammer and Warhammer 40k, which are often entertaining but quite absurd caricatures of real creatures. I’d just suggest taking a long look before buying them for display.
They had a buy limit of three…I rodered one, and was going to order a second…if the prices go up like that, selling the second one would have paid for a whole bunch of new “toys”…
I liked the Balrog piece as well…I saw one on Ebay for $1000 about 2 weeks ago. You’re lucky to have gotten the one you did. [:D]
I’m going to keep watching their site to see what else they’re going to release.
cheers,
Sam
Yup Sam, those buy limits seem easy to get around though. You buy three, the wife buys three, the next-door neighbor buys three – so you have plenty to sell on eBay, and you deny them to the fans who want to buy them, which just boosts the price. It reminds me of ticket scalping.
But what am I talking about – I got two of the frikking Balrogs! Sauron was surely smiling on me, as I turned the whole thing into a profitable enterprise. (I didn’t set out to do that, though.)
The Balrog is intensely cool, but you know I actually like the looks of the Witch King on the winged creature better, though it’s smaller. Sadly, the wife did not order one for me as well. [:p]
Games workshop does great figures. alittle on the expensive side for some figures like the heros but they are verygood models.