Statue Weta Rivendell Environment

[The Josh]

I'm not buying the stickers either. Mine arrives tomorrow to which I'm really excited about.

 

[nemenforcer]

stickers would be very dissapointing. As a whole it looks great though! Looking forward to more pics.

 

[N2Darkness]

Well I got mine last Friday #59/300 and have a few issues as well. 1st there being a large gap between buildings and the other is a tear in the roof (meaning there is some sort of sticker or over lament) here a few of my pics, oh I have already sent an email to Darren at Weta and he is to get back to me on the issue.

Size comparison

and the issues with mine.

 

[kierbaudy]

Darren has really been unresponsive in the past. I hate dealing with him. He didn't answer my emails and forget about changing credit cards, he cancels all your orders and then if the pieces are still available, you reorder it. If not, you're out of luck. Weta is skating on thin ice with the sticker business, every time they pull something like this, the value sinks. After helms deep and the uniform gray paint jobs, weta stuff started to to take a nose dive, not helped by the super large edition sizes. Overall, Rivendell looks pretty good.

 

[puppet pusher]

Rivendell #13 arrived at my door this evening, and I love it!! There is some slight mis-alignment of a couple of buildings, but not a bad as NZ's. Overall this is an amazing achievement and it I feel it mostly matches up with the copy that's been photographed on display at the Weta Cave. This is a beautiful piece that is quite impressive--I actually let out a gasp when I first set eyes upon it upon opening--it's far better than we have any right to expect for the price point.

Oh, and yes, the roof tile-work has been printed onto some kind of 'sticker' material, but it has its own slight texture, which helps hide this a bit. But let's be honest--how in heck would it have been possible to do this otherwise, eh? There is no way you could paint something this fine and intricate on all of these surfaces. The only bad thing about it is that it can pick up a shine depending on how the light hits it--and it can show some unevenness in shine based on how it lies on the roof surface.

 

[Elfstone]

If you can´t do a Rivendell enviroment because it´s too expensive, don´t do it. I prefer WETA didn´t painted the roof over stickers, at least I could paint it myself

 

[nemenforcer]

Awesome Pics N2, very impressive, congrats!

 

[Elfstone]

"1,200 hours of creativity and attention to detail went into this piece. Every tree, every ornament, every brick was considered and produced to make up the whole"

2,350 (approx) individual bricks



"And if the roof tiles were individual too (as it is, they were made as larger sections) there would be over 24,000 of them."

 

[Adolfo]

All I can say is I will personally touch up whatever needs it when I get mine...Great looking piece from 2ft away or more...from 6 inches it could be better...I could say that about alot of pieces...Grats on all those guys who got this...even with the problems

 

[NAZGUL-KING]

Are the roof tiles really a sticker? Or is it maybe some sort of clear protective sheet that is meant to removed?

 

[Scarver]

wow, I was on the fence about this piece, but the roof being sticker, laminate, or whatever, is a huge turn off for me. Congratulations to those who like it though!

 

[Elfstone]

All I can say is I will personally touch up whatever needs it when I get mine...Great looking piece from 2ft away or more...from 6 inches it could be better...I could say that about alot of pieces...Grats on all those guys who got this...even with the problems

Adolfo, it´s a miniature, it´s supposed to be looked away from 6 inches not 2 feet. Anybody knows how they made the tiles?

 

[carbo-fation]

It looks good to me. Can't wait to get mine.

 

[Adolfo]

Adolfo, it´s a miniature, it´s supposed to be looked away from 6 inches not 2 feet. Anybody knows how they made the tiles?

Are you gonna put 1/144 scale elves in there too?...I understand but it's not a coin or stamp...every shot looks awesome from 2ft away...If I look at it very closely it's for a few seconds...I've accepted a few things in life like perfection just doesnt exist, etc...I do not have one in hand yet but I know I wont complain unless it's really broken....I have every environment and am happy about what I have seen...plus I have the advantage of being able to take care of any of those flaws by being a master modeler...But I understand the eye of the beholder is different for everybody...The only thing is did one really expect perfection in this piece?...I dont..not at all..even before looking at this forum..otherwise I understand your point....My only gripe is that open edition and that it's not strictly L/E with the ES...when the Hobbit comes out they might make 5000 more...who knows

 

[Adolfo]

In regards to the roof I will see what is loose or has the potential to be loose then add adhesive...Then check for paint applications and touch up if needed....third I will cover the roof in poly or some clear application...flat or semi mixed with flat...gotta look at the piece first...cant wait

 

[cstojano]

Mine just arrived. I will try to get pictures uploaded as well.

First, it comes with its own wrench, hadn't seen that mentioned before, maybe I missed it.

Second, there is no way these roof tiles would have ever come out as painted. I do wish Weta would have told us to avoid the "sticker shock" (har, har) but I don't think it would have looked good painted to this level of detail. In fact I can say without any doubt that the complaints would be deafening given what China has been producing quality wise.

I too have the middle gap under the one large building, there are other join issues here and there. This is a complex model and you see can see how it was put together in production and it must have been a nightmare.

The color scheme overall is more muted than I imagined, certainly the roof does not scream PINK when I view it.

My paintjob is better than N2's I think. For example the fretwork is well painted as I tried to show in these images.

 

[cstojano]

 

[gagaliya]

Glad i waited, vinyl/plastic material on an all polystone statue such as this detracts from its overall appeal cheapening it(in my opinion). I would preferred a slight worse paint quality of the roof but on the same material as rest of the statue vs a roof sticker. At $400 and unnumbered it isnt exactly a bargain.

Congrats to all those who love it, that's all that matters at the end.

 

[cstojano]

I think your only option on the roof would have been a much more muted color design, fewer colors and in not such a complex pattern. The sticker is textured as someone mentioned. I don't know. I know this will cause havoc and they REALLY shouldn't have let us all discover this change given how much communication they did on the development of this piece. Figure out how much this is worth to you and then wait for an open edition to sell on eBay in a few years. You are unlikely to see another one made.

 

[cstojano]

You know what, I change my mind. I think the issue with the roof is less the complexity of the paint scheme and more about having the little bumps/tiles come out well enough in casting to allow a painter to dry brush the colors in the pattern. If you look at the close-up I posted with the pencil you can see a base color and then the pinks applied in diamond shapes to raised bumps against that background. Now if you can get the 3D contrast in the polystone then a painter could dry brush the colors. It would look good but be a time consuming affair.