DIY Hauling Beast

I said I liked one of the new releases very much. I won't pay that much money for it though, so I did something better, I tried to make my own. And this is what I learned: I will never be a good sculptor unless I start to copy well executed works. The design; the pose, capturing some sort of movement; and then trying to make that with your little tools and your stupid chewing-gum putty. Too much. So I will now just copy until I can start to stray away little by little from the original and try to get better and actually learn something from my mistakes instead of what always happens: Failing with legs. Failure again, but this time I learnt something.


I figured the GeeDubb Hauling Beast looked too much of a turtle (or is it tortoises that have those beeky faces?) in the face and too much of an elephant in the body. So, I copied the general pose of the official one, but made it more like a pig and a certain dog breed I can't remember the name of. The face got smaller and more toned down.

The result? It looks too much of a grazer, but it has a too short neck to actually be such a creature. The teeth will make it look better. I hope. The body is just a pig and a cow-mixture, but still, quite pleased with the three hours of work. Did a shortcut with the polystyrene pre-body (instead of a proper armature) - never tried to harden super sculpey with that under. It melted, as expected but it held the shape anyways! Much happiness in the Llama-building.

The missing pieces, toe/claw-parts mainly (and the eyes!) will be done in green stuff.


Do you like the red thingies I painted on the pictures? Those are for my enjoyment and learning :)




Didn't e-bob make Hauling Beasts? And I am quite sure I have seen Hauling Beasts in a White Dwarf Siege of Gondor-article... but they looked slightly larger than the new release with the Howdah. And speaking of Howdas! That's something that'll be great fun to try to do!