Mithril LOTR miniatures: 15% off everything until July 1st.

Mithril Miniatures, the oldest officially licensed manufacturer of metal miniatures based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit books written by J.R.R. Tolkien have a special one week sale now on.

This sale will deduct 15% off EVERYTHING you place in their shopping basket as long as the total value is at least 35 Euro (ex. P&p). Check it out today. http://www.mithril.ie/

This may be a good opportunity to try out Mithril's realistic style of 32mm and 54mm scale collectables.

They have produced 600+ different miniatures over the last 20+ years, including any main character you can concieve of.

And if you DO find that Mithril has missed an important character from those famous books you can join their Fellowship club (now also discounted) and suggest your idea and it may be produced if other members support it.

Mithril's New LOTR Release: The Horn of Helm miniature MS567

The great horn of Helm was housed in one of the towers comprising the great defensive complex of Helm’s Deep. Named in honour of the great Helm Hammerhand, the horn itself was strategically placed so as to echo through the gorge of Aglarond, so as to hugely amplify its sound. It was used both as a warning signal and as a rallying cry, notably during the Battle of Helm’s Deep to signal Theoden’s mounted attack on the forces of Saruman.

The newest Fellowship club miniature was suggested in December 2010. It retails at 24.95 Euro, but duplicates are only 20.95 Euro (available for limited time period). http://www.mithril.ie

Soldering a metal Toy Soldier together with a soldering iron.

Sometimes glue is just not your cup of tea, you want firmer hold, perhaps for more demanding wargaming or for your children to be able to be more aggressive when playing with their castings.
In a previous video I showed how to use a gas tank and welding/soldering torch, but most people will not be able to afford such equipment, so today I show how to use a little soldering iron, easily available from any hardware store. We are using soldering wire with a composite of 63% Tin and 37% Lead.

Follow this link if the video above is not working: http://youtu.be/2Wf3ZmhXuOc

This video covers all the important steps to soldering and all in about a 3 minute video. Key to a good solder project is taking the time to clean the metal of all dirt and greese, otherwise the solder will not adhere properly.

The figure we are demonstrating with is the 54mm scale Napoleonic French Artilleryman (PA80-12). He has a ramrod in his hand used for loading the cannon.
http://www.princeaugust.ie

Mithril Miniatures: New Lord of the Rings figures, Guthlaf and Thorin III

On the 25th of May 2011, Mithril Miniatures released the latest 32mm scale metal LOTR miniatures. These were suggested ideas by members of the Fellowship club in October and November 2010. Chris Tubb designed them with his usual care to attention to detail. Guthlaf (MS565) and Thorin III Stonehelm (MS566) are available to purchase on their Mithril website.

How to Vent your Toy Soldier Rubber Moulds.

Find your mould does not cast exactly as planned? Cannot quite get that sword to come out correctly? Well worry no more, Prince August has put together a comprehensive video on the process of venting, often misunderstood or ignored by hobby casters, for fear of permanently damaging the mould.

It covers predrying the mould, warming the mould, analyzing the problem areas, cutting channels easily and in the CORRECT direction, doing a test cast, application of talcum powder and more. All in 5 minutes.

Just check it out today, try venting a mould and enjoy a whole new experience.

Note: using these tips you can use the cheaper standard metal and get much better results too.

2011 LOTR Easter sale from Mithril Miniatures.

Mithril Miniatures: Happy Easter to all our customers. To celebrate this years special weekend we have reduced by 25% on a massive range of our Fellowship club miniatures, and also the club clothes.
The sale does not cover the newest releases but it still offers any LOTR collector an unparalleled opportunity to catch up on their collection, and fill those pesky gaps.

Here are the quick links:

http://www.mithril.ie/Fellowship/index.html

http://www.mithril.ie/Fellowship/clothes/index.html

Mithril's Entombed Balrog Stirs to wreak havok.

Mithril Miniatures has released September 2010's winning suggestion from the Fellowship Club this April. 'The Entombed Balrog' is one of the larger releases in the exclusive range of collectable figurines based on 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' books written by J.R.R. Tolkien. This Balrog was suggested by 'Grond' (username of member) and comes in several pieces so assembly is definitely required. It will NOT be primed as it requires assembly and therefore will need to be primed afterwards. It measures 55 mm in height, measured from its base to the top of the wings. For those who also purchased the original Mithril Balrog box set, the new one is much smaller, partly due to its pose but also due to its many thousands of years of slumber depleting its power.

History: The Balrogs or fire demons were the mightiest of the servants of Morgoth. They were his strongest forces in his battle against the Valar in the First-age of Middle-earth, and possessed not only great strength , but intelligence and sorcery also. They were finally destroyed in the great war between the Valar and Morgoth but at least one survived the breaking of Thangorodrim, fleeing to the east and hiding itself in the very roots of the Misty mountains.

Here the Balrog lay undisturbed and entombed for countless centuries until during the Third-age of Middle-earth the Dwarven miners sunk deep shafts into the mountain roots in their quest for Mithril. Here they unwittingly disturbed the crouching form of the somnolent Balrog.

Mithril LOTR White Council Painting Competition Announced.

Mithril Miniatures ran a painting competition from November to the end of February, to paint the latest box set LOTR release, The White Council.
We received 5 excellent entries, all noteworthy in skill and effort and originality.
However there can only be on 'winner', so our judges, Lars and Chris, came to the decision that Christoph Linscheidt's excellent diorama should win.

To see more information and photos go here. http://www.mithril.ie/painting_competition_2011/index.html

"I would like to start by saying how difficult it is to judge this competition. I can see the huge amounts of work and imagination that have gone into all these pieces and can only hope that I have done justice to all this by spending a very long time studying and comparing the photographs.

Although it might sound somewhat of a cliché it was indeed very difficult to choose between all the entries and select one as the winner. I am sure that an argument could be made for any of the entries to have been selected as winner and of course there is a subjective element involved in the decision.

The marbled floor effect achieved by Yves Boussin was a beautifully executed piece of work and the globe which held David Daines' vignette was a brilliant concept, and conveyed instantly the idea of the world's fate being decided at the meeting. David's faces are also superbly done, and Saruman conveys just the right amount of pique and irascibility.

Nikolai Egold's Galadriel is a near perfect rendering of what I conceived when designing this figure, and Elrond's costume is painstakingly patterned.

Nino Luk's colour scheme is subtle and pleasing especially the contrast between Gandalf, well travelled and weary and the finery of Saruman who he confronts across the table.

Christoph Linscheidt's vignette is subtle and his colour palette which is predominantly greys and blues conjures up exactly the right atmosphere. The colour scheme alone tells me that this is Middle-earth." by Chris Tubb, Mithril's Sculptor.

Interested in painting the White Council yourself?
http://www.mithril.ie/Boxed%20Sets/index.html

Making a Karoliner Battle scene.

Go to http://www.princeaugust.ie today to see the new releases of Karoliners.

February 2011 Mithril LOTR releases. Laketown Lady & Orc Wolf Rider

With the White Council finally completed, Mithril has completed the next two MS releases that were winners from last summer. These two 32mm scale metal miniatures are limited to only 150 so they are as rare as they come.


White Hand Orc Wolf Rider: (MS561)
Wargs were common throughout Rhovanion and, as the power of Sauron grew, also in Eriador. The Wargs were large evil wolves of some intelligence who allied themselves to Sauron and to the Orcs. They provided swift-footed mounts for the smaller Orcs but like their riders had an innate fear of sunlight and operated best at night. They were used mainly by the Hithaeglir Orcs but also saw service in the armies of Saruman.


Laketown Lady: (MS562)
Laketown was a wealthy trading entrepot and goods from Rhun, Dorwinion and Dale passed through it en route to the west. It had no kings but some of its great trading families possessed much wealth.
This figure represents a Laketown woman of this class. Her dress is typical of the Northern folk of this period. Unlike the military costumes of Laketown her attire shows little or no Easterling influence.