From Barks: On the geology of Orodruin in two models (40 points)

Orodruin (Mt Doom, colloq.) is an isolated volcanic hotspot in the Gorgoroth basin. It is an active volcano, and would been built up rapidly by basic lava, scoria, and ash (Sarjeant, 1996). While Reynolds (1974) and Sarjeant (1996) argue that the orogeny of the Mordor Volcanics was through plate tectonics and continental drift, Ingles & Orthia (2016) propose that Mordor is the result of a collapsed supervolcano.

After Reynolds (1974)

References

Ingles C, Orthia LA. 2016. A new synthesis on the geology of Middle-earth: Genesis, orogeny and tectonics. Prepared for Journal of Hobbitlore. 

<http://sandpaw.weblogs.anu.edu.au/files/2016/06/Ingles-Orthia-2016-Middle-earth-geology.pdf>

Reynolds RC. 1974. The geomorphology of Middle-Earth. The Swansea Geographer 11: 67-71.

Sarjeant WAS. 1996. The geology of Middle-earth. Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature. 21(2): Article 50.

 <https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol21/iss2/50>

I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-Galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shaft of his father's sword, and took it for his own.

JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

I made part of Orodruin to accompany my earlier vignette of Isildur & Elendil. Being fiendishly clever, I used magnets. I made a diorama on a large oval Renedra base with some GF9 resin rocks, which I highly recommend as cheap, effective and durable. When I was happy with the appearance, I glued it in place and built up more groundwork with bark, plaster, and grit. I sealed it all with PVA. I made a sabot for Sauron on my 3D printer and worked that in. I took the opportunity to improve his basing as well. I painted the groundwork in a mix of black lightened with cream, then added some splashes of raw and burnt umber to add some colour variation to the ash wastes. Finally, I hid a flower behind the rocks, because, even in the darkest moments, hope blooms. Overall, I am really pleased with how this came out. I like the colours and how the big rock balances the Dark Lord aesthetically. Straight to the display cabinet!

Early planning

Magnetic Númenóreans (not part of this submission)

Groundwork before painting

Painted, with hidden flower

Utterly coincidentally, last weekend I got in a game of War of the Ring- there will be a game report on my blog this week. WotR is an excellent epic boardgame that I would love to play more often. I had a look on Thingiverse and found a 3D Mount Doom, which I printed and used and was very happy with. After the game, I added texture and painted it.

Unpainted in-game shot

Painted 

With vulcanologists

This submission, ~0.5 STCs

About 0.5 Standard Terrain Cubes 10

Cooke's Crevasse 30

Where to next? I wonder...