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Building the Black Gate

Part three: The Towers of the Teeth

© Lotrscenerybuilder 2009

Step 13:

Now, for the first time, we are going to use MDF plate with a thickness of 10mm.

After all we’ve gone through already, the lateral wall is a fairly uncomplicated part to build. To construct the frame, it suffices to glue the Witch King grid (template 13b) onto 10mm MDF and cut it out.

However, if you want to do the drawings manually, best way is to start with copying the Foundation grid (template 13a) inside a 25,2cm x 19,0cm rectangle…

… before adding the details of the Witch King grid. As you can see we used one of the templates of the tower base (Step 16) to mark off the future joining with the tower. On the Witch King template this joining has been added to the design.

The Witch King element is going to be sawed along the red lines into three parts (the left-end part in the picture is waste). The yellow area is marking the starting point for the application of the wall decorations (Step 14).

Copy the Fell Beast A and Fell Beast B support elements onto 4mm MDF and cut them out. Study the pictures to find out in what way the three Witch King elements do fit onto both Fell Beast elements. Before gluing them all together, adjust the supports to the Witch King panels by removing the superfluous extremities.

The Fell Beast A support is placed at the base, the B support about halfway up (for help, you might want to draw a horizontal guideline at about 10cm from the ground on the back of the three Witch King elements). In the picture, the amputation of the extremities hasn’t been executed yet; note that the sawing lines are drawn at a certain angle – this, to have these supports out of the way when the final assembling of the gate takes place.

Step 14:

If we take a closer look at the completed wall we can see that the decoration is only partially finished. This is due to the fact that the wall is largely going to be covered by rocks – the green line is marking the level. However, in order to keep these rows of ornaments in correct shape we have to place the ‘hidden’ ones as well.

For dressing up the Witch King wall we are going to need sixty-six Nazgûl elements, of which thirty-eight must have a ‘shark-mouth’ (this will keep you busy for a while!). There are two different sizes:
– seventeen 6.5cm large ones, all provided with shark-mouths;
– forty-nine 5.2cm regulars, of which twenty-one must have a shark-mouth.
There’s an example of each template coming with the downloads.

We will start at the foot of the wall; for the first row we do need sixteen toothless regulars. You will remember the yellow starting point: that’s where we glue the first regular onto its place (study the pictures for the exact position). Now this is no easy matter: as it is, every element has to have its lips running exactly along the guidelines but that wont happen naturally as the shape of the Nazgûls is slightly tapering (if this sounds a bit foggy to you: make a dummy run and you will experience the ‘problem’).

To get things done it works best to press both wings inwards at the bottom side, while, at the same time, you push the element downwards at the upper side; the picture shows you the trick. The effect will be that the wings at the bottom side are forced inwards while, on the contrary, those on the upper side are forced outwards…

Since there’s a certain amount of strain on every element you will have to wait until the glue has dried up before carrying on with the next Nazgûl. Gluing all Nazgûls in place will probably take you a few hours. Being too hasty will see the Nazgûls breaking ranks from time to time… (Et tu, aedificator scaenarum!).

It suffices to put a tiny bit of glue on the rims of both wings.

We work from the bottom upward. The Nazgûls of the second row are going to be placed partially on top of the Nazgûls below. This picture and the next tell you what it’s going to look like. Use the correct guidelines on the Witch King template and the Nazgûl elements. The attachment of each individual element requires even more patience as you have to fix them in a slanting position, with only the upper part in contact with the MDF (bordering the upper red line in the picture). The pink markings on the Witch King template show you the positions of the shark-mouthed Nazgûls. Use a toothpick to remove glue remnants. Note that, this time, we won’t mask the incision lines; they are going to be part of the final model.

Put some glue onto the whole length of the Nazgûl rims; in this way they attach themselves to their neighbours as well.

Slow but sure the Witch King wall takes shape…
The seventeen Nazgûl (large) elements are to be placed at the uppermost row; they’re all shark-mouthed.