Asmus Toys: Eowyn in Armor

Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
*reps TG again*

Only 3 points away from that second pip! *looks at Wor-Gar* :p

Seriously though, TG, your attention to detail and work on this figure is exceptional. Thanks for all the step-by-step information and pics.
 
Before I get to the chainmail, I forgot to mention I shortened the legs. As Wor Gar mentioned, the figure body is extremely long legged, more like an anime figure. Since we're modeling this after an actual human named Miranda Otto (who from celebrity photos on the red carpet and such looks to be of average proportion), the calf had to be shortened. So I ground it down with my dremel, over a half inch! Essentially, I wanted the boots to come up to the bottom of the knee. I might add back a few millimeters by stuffing some spare plastic or wood dowels into the boot, because she looks a little squat now, but it looks much more realistic to me. BTW there are no issues with the boots coming off because they are extremely tight to the calf. You don't need the foot pegs at all.

View attachment 187047

I like the bunching up around the knee because it disguises how tight these "leggings" are. Like I mentioned in a previous post, she wore pants, not stretchy leggings.

Finally, the "full mail hauberk," as it's called in my LOTR sourcebook. As YDG mentioned, the color is too black and not gold enough. Essentially they slapped on some gold paint randomly, basically doing a poor job of dry brushing over the black micronet fabric. More than that though, they hemmed the sleeves and overall length too short. Why hem it at all? 1:1 chainmail has no discernible hem, it just stops, so hemming this fabric further ruins the illusion that this is actual chainmail. And, as I've noted above, you don't need to hem these synthetic fabrics if you heat treat the edges, which they did anyway! So out came the sharp thread snips, and I undid all the hems (not easy as the stitching is black on black). This essentially lengthens the hauberk to the correct length. They also incorrectly cut in side slits and neglected to put in a rear slit. So, I hand-stitched the side slits closed (did I mention how much I hate sewing? :mad:) and unstitched the rear to create the slit. I then soaked the garment in acetone to remove all the gold paint, washed it, and painted it. I began with a coat of Flat Metallic Grey (all paints are Tamiya), then put numerous alternating coats of Gold Leaf and Metal Brown. I used thinned coats, essentially dry brushing it all. Depending on the scene Eowyn's chainmail can look either yellowish or white metalish, with a strong undertone of brown. It took several coats to get a multitonal effect. The lighting in the pics washes it out a bit--it looks darker in hand. The pic also doesn't really show any of the weathering I did on the dress, but it's there.
View attachment 187048View attachment 187049View attachment 187050

Now the extra fabric in the dress works better under the hauberk as it now folds and undulates more like the real one. Still a little puffy in the pics but the fabric futzes well and responds well to water treatment. Also notice how the length now hits right above the knee and below the elbow, as it should:
View attachment 187051

Oh man...
I love what you've done, but I also hate it when people start customising the hell out of something I haven't even received yet and make it look ten times better... :lol
At this rate I'm going to frigging hate the figure that comes out of the box!
 
Oh man...
I love what you've done, but I also hate it when people start customising the hell out of something I haven't even received yet and make it look ten times better... :lol
At this rate I'm going to frigging hate the figure that comes out of the box!

I know! I was so excited for this figure a couple of weeks ago! Now I'm not going to be able to look at it without dreaming of what might have been! :lol
 
Oh wow Tank Girl your work is fantastic! I really need to learn how to customize.

"Obsessive" is probably more accurate a description than "care and passion!"

I think for us lot the lines between the two are very blurred.

If you do get the time I'd be interested in your 'harsher' review, you clearly have a lot of love and interest for the character. What is the title of the source book you are using? I can only find ones specific to table top war gaming.

Thank god, I thought I did all that for nothing.

Far from it War-Gor. I was on the fence about pre-ordering due to the issues with the other figures, after your review I canceled my Thor pre-order for Eowyn but then the only UK stockist of Asmus (at the time) sold out of her.

yo @YDdraigGoch cool pose!!
thats exactly the pose i have in mind nazgul vs eowyn just like in the battle.
patiently Waiting for mine to come...=D...

Thanks. You'll have great fun posing the pair.
 
Thanks all for all the feedback! I haven't had this much "fun" (you know, in that obsessive/compulsive 1/6 project kind of way :gah::thud:) in the hobby for a while now. Most of my stuff has been WWII (used to post in SAG and 6th D), with some recent stuff in RC planes and vehicles, but I haven't done too much in recent years. Things started to change when I got that ACI Roman General figure (another of my grail figures), which led to some Greeks, and now this! Like I've said Eowyn is my favorite character in probably my favorite movie trilogy of all time (I watch the whole extended trilogy once a year over several consecutive evenings, and actually wish I could watch it more often but don't want to wear it out!); this is why I'm putting in some effort.

Most of the stuff I do is typical hobby stuff and doesn't require excessive skills. I don't repaint heads or sculpt and cast my own parts or do complete scratchbuilds. I think most people can do what I've done if they take their time. Unstitching, restitching, gluing fabric, cutting leather, mixing hobby paints and applying washes and drybrushing is all part of the game and for me is part of the fun. If I can provide ideas and maybe even give people a template or roadmap and inspire others to improve their figures than this is worth it.

I'm still torn about giving this figure an unvarnished review, esp. since most haven't even gotten theirs yet. Asmus should be encouraged to continue to improve, so I'm reluctant to be too harsh. But at the same time any manufacturer who falls short shouldn't be given a pass, esp. for $180. I'll be curious to see what more people think when they get theirs, esp. if the sticky vinyl issue is widespread. If Asmus can provide new bodies for the WK or a new head for GTW, perhaps they can do a new batch of cuirasses (and that baldric belt) with the right mix of plasticizer and use a vinyl safe paint (a girl can dream, right? :pray:).

What is the title of the source book you are using? I can only find ones specific to table top war gaming.
Hey YDG, the book I have is pretty old, it's The LOTR Weapons and Warfare book by Chris Smith. It actually only has two pages on Eowyn with a few decent pics, but the real source I've been using is something most people probably have. If you own the Extended Edition DVD/Bluray (and I think most who love the movies and are buying these figures do), you'll find that the special features on "Part 5 of the Appendices" of RoTK (the first disc of special features for Rotk) has a full section of design galleries for each major character. The one on Eowyn is loaded with tons of pics on all her dresses and her armor outfit, with closeup details and layer by layer shots. It's a gold mine, and all the reference pics I've posted are screenshots from that disc. Of course, I've also used the film itself, rewatching all her scenes in her armor in slo-mo and pausing to see how the stuff looks on her as she moves (yup, "obsessive" is putting it lightly!).
 
Asmus please hire Tank Girl immediatly!

What really bothers me is I don't believe the quality of these figures is as good as it should be considering the price we are paying for them. Don't get me wrong, I am stoked that someone is even doing this line, but seeing how great the Game of Thrones figures are looking so far (still not without their faults) for less money I am getting quite annoyed. Straight out of the box this is looking far to Barbie doll like and not nearly enough like a high end collectible.

Tank Girl has made some freaking amazing improvements, but I feel like that's how it should have come straight from the factory. By unstitching the chainmail, bunching up the pants and "loosening" the dress I feel like this figure is a keeper. I know some people love doing the futzing and customising but at that price THAT much customising shouldn't have to go in to it!

*Sigh* and yet I will keep buying every single one of them because I have a serious addictio....I mean love for Lord of the Rings.
 
Asmus please hire Tank Girl immediatly!

What really bothers me is I don't believe the quality of these figures is as good as it should be considering the price we are paying for them. Don't get me wrong, I am stoked that someone is even doing this line, but seeing how great the Game of Thrones figures are looking so far (still not without their faults) for less money I am getting quite annoyed. Straight out of the box this is looking far to Barbie doll like and not nearly enough like a high end collectible.

Tank Girl has made some freaking amazing improvements, but I feel like that's how it should have come straight from the factory. By unstitching the chainmail, bunching up the pants and "loosening" the dress I feel like this figure is a keeper. I know some people love doing the futzing and customising but at that price THAT much customising shouldn't have to go in to it!

*Sigh* and yet I will keep buying every single one of them because I have a serious addictio....I mean love for Lord of the Rings.

I agree with your post a little bit but for the most part I don't think it's accurate. Seems to me, that for the most part, what Asmus has shown pretty much matches the release. I really don't see any bait and switch here. I'm not happy with the prices either but I'm going into it knowing what I'm getting. About the only thing I will say is it seems like they intentionally took pictures so as not to show the 2nd "hook up" area for the belts. I think we can all agree though that tankgirl is doing a fantastic job on hers.
 
I agree with your post a little bit but for the most part I don't think it's accurate. Seems to me, that for the most part, what Asmus has shown pretty much matches the release. I really don't see any bait and switch here. I'm not happy with the prices either but I'm going into it knowing what I'm getting. About the only thing I will say is it seems like they intentionally took pictures so as not to show the 2nd "hook up" area for the belts. I think we can all agree though that tankgirl is doing a fantastic job on hers.

You may have misunderstood me. I am in no way suggesting Asmus is trying a bait and switch. I have never thought that or suggested it.
Either way I am excited for my Eowyn to arrive and I will be immediately coming back to tank girls posts for reference to make the dolly look more like a collectible.
 
Love the work you're doing on this, tankgirl, always inspiring to see in-progress photos :clap
 
Thanks, guys!
---------------------------------

So IMHO the single worst piece of kit of this figure is the cloak, if you can even call it that. More like a "cape-let" fit for Batgirl, not a Rohan warrior! The fabric is a flimsy t-shirt jersey material, the color and shape not even close, and the weathering clumsily applied. It was clearly regarded as an unimportant afterthought by Asmus, even though Eowyn's actual cloak covered roughly 1/3 to half her body the whole time she wears her armor and so is a prominent feature of her "look."
eowyn cloak.jpg

It bothered me so much it was the first thing I worked on, even though I haven't shown it yet. I looked long and hard for a substitute fabric at my local JoAnn's fabric store (along with the dress material and pleather/leather), and I found a lovely forest green flannel that I thought could work. Initially I thought the color was perfect, but it turned out I was thinking of the color on the Rohan Royal Guard, not the average soldier which had a more olive drab color. So I bleached it, then ran it through several soaks of various strengths of Rit Dye in dark green and black to get to a color that was closer. It's a little more yellow/brown than the above pic, but in the movie the color is more olive like this and less grey (no doubt an effect of the lighting and camera filters). The fabric is a little thick so I thinned it out by scraping it with a "defuzzing" tool, but it also frays beautifully just like the actual heavy woolen cloak Eowyn wears. It looks like she quickly cut down a regular cloak so it would fit her better. I also found a pattern online which seemed to fit her cloak. Ironically it was a LOTR themed site, available here. Here are some comparison pics of the stock "cape" with my new cloak, the original fabric showing the color and thickness/texture change, and the final harness/belt I figured out only recently (the first two show my initial attempts at a simple leather thong to tie the cloak which is incorrect).
P1050401.jpgP1050400.jpgP1050405.jpg

It took me a while to figure out how the cloak is held in place, thinking it was just tied around the neck and tucked down into the cuirass. I realized after studying stills and watching the battle scenes and the attendant behind the scenes footage in slo-mo that there was a belt wrapped around her torso underneath her cuirass, just peaking out underneath her armpits:
EowynAndWitchKing.jpg
It's the same way my ACI Roman General figure wears his cloak, and also all those characters in Game of Thrones with their massive belts crossing their chests.
P1050402.jpgP1050403.jpgP1050404.JPG


It totally makes sense: if you are going to have a cloak you're going to fight in, you'd better have it properly secured to your body rather than across your neck like a noose! I cut the belt from the real leather material I had, installed a spare buckle so the whole thing could be adjustable for future use with the cuirass, and glued it down to the corners of the cloak with Fabritac.

The way it drapes in these pics is acceptable, but to really get it to look like Eowyn during the battle will require some strategically placed stitches to keep the folds in place.
ew 01.jpg
That's okay, because the costume department did the same thing for Miranda Otto to keep the cloak from getting in the way but still looking good while she was thrashing around killing orcs and Nazgul! It's really obvious when you watch it in slo-mo because the cloak sways but the folds don't fall out of place. I'll add the stitching later on when things are close to final assembly.

Now comes the hardest part: the cuirass. What to do, what to do?:dunno
 
Awesome. Just awesome.


TankGirl, if you'd be interested in making up a few more cloaks, I'm sure there would be several of us round these parts who would be very keen to buy them ...
 
Awesome. Just awesome.


TankGirl, if you'd be interested in making up a few more cloaks, I'm sure there would be several of us round these parts who would be very keen to buy them ...

I'd be interested in a sending mine for a rework. I like all the changes, especially the underdress. This figure seems a bit of a letdown.
 
It is an awsome job, Tank Girl. But at this price, Eowyn should have come out of the box like that. It's why I didn't ordered her.
:)
 
I'd be interested in a sending mine for a rework. I like all the changes, especially the underdress. This figure seems a bit of a letdown.

Awesome. Just awesome.


TankGirl, if you'd be interested in making up a few more cloaks, I'm sure there would be several of us round these parts who would be very keen to buy them ...

Thanks guys!! It's very flattering to be asked to customize or produce stuff for others, and someone else had PM'd me to ask the same thing earlier. However, before I get asked by more people, I'm going to have to let everyone know I do this strictly as a hobby and for my own enjoyment (even if it's the OCD kind :lol) and I just don't have the spare time or energy to reproduce this type of work for others :(. I have months' (even years? :gah:) worth of backlog in hobby projects that I want to make some headway on, so once my Eowyn is done I'm moving on.

My motivation for posting is to share my techniques and help give others ideas and maybe some inspiration to improve their own stuff. I can't tell you how much I've learned from and been inspired by others over the years on all the boards I've participated on because they've shared their own work and techniques.

The cloak is actually really easy once you have the fabric and a pattern to cut. I've provided the template pattern in my pics (the dimensions are roughly 10"x7"). You don't even need to do any bleaching or dyeing like I did if you find a fabric in a closer color match (google "olive green cotton flannel fabric" and you'll find some vendors or on ebay; or you can wander the aisles in your local fabric/craft store like I did). You don't even need to buy a ton of leather/pleather just to cut the harness belt, simply buy pre-cut leather lace strips (often found in the jewelry section); glue them on using fabritac and tie it around in back--you don't need a buckle if you don't have one, since it won't show.
 
Thanks for sharing with us tank girl. I'm feeling inspired. I just want my Eowyn to arrive already! I hope I can get mine to look half as good as yours! I love looking at photos of people's figures and seeing what they've done to them, or even just how they choose to pose them. Share some more photos soon 😊
 
(sniff)

Heart ... breaking .... :monkey2




I guess I'll just have to try to get my dumb little sausage fingers to follow your excellent instructions. (But, honestly, I don't like my odds. :lol)
 
Has anyone ever ordered from dead rising toys I can get eowyn there for 164 and free shipping?
 
Back
Top