Building a dwarven mansion entrance

Since playing The One Ring (TOR), I've thought about dwarven mansions that lie abandoned in the Grey Mountains. That kindled the idea to build the entrance of one for wargaming.

I've got a Proxxon hot-wire cutter for christmas, and by now I also have some experience with it. So, naturally, I'd build it out of foam.

Fist step was to cut the 'mountain' face, glueing the parts together with PVA glue. Some of the cut-offs where instantly recycled as rocks protruding from the cliff-face.

The next thing was the actual gates and the frame. I wanted two pillars supporting the gates and some kind of 'roof', protecting them from stones and debris from above. Cutting them, I just put them in place to look, if it all fit - I did not glue them for some steps to come.

Next, I used a ballpen to put engravings on the gates and the frame. The orc on the picture is there for size-reference. I tend to build too big, so I have to see an actual comparison when building.

Adding some more rocks and finally glueing the frame and left gate into place, I painted the 'hall' behind the gates - at least a glimpse. The rockface was covered with PVA and sand to give it texture.
I also added steps and four small pillars besides the stairs to the gate.

First step of painting, painting the rocks grey and the gates and frame brown. This is merely a base paint.

Painting the rocks dark gray, the gates bronze and applying a brushing of light grey to get a feel for highlights and structure.

I did apply a Strong Tone wash on the frame and Green wash on the gates. The rockface was washed with dark grey. Then another brushing of a light grey followed.

Drybrushing and some more washes later, I was satisfied, and began adding patches of earth and moss, with brown and green paint.

I drybrushed with light grey and Spaceship Exterior (Army Painter) to get a more natural look.

On the patches of colour, I applied PVA, using flock and static grass.

Finally, I added some moss and tufts of grass, painted the symbols on the gates in bronze, so the axes would stand out more.

And this is what it looks like on the table:

All in all, it took me about 12 hours to build the piece, quite some time just waiting for the paints to dry.