Henk
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2018
- Messages
- 1,489
I picked this up recently at Bonaparte's stand at Bugle Call, at a quite frankly ridiculously cheap £30 (also available on Bonapartes website), but rather than doing a review, I'll do a more detailed SBS, noting my observations as I go along. I think this one may be on borrowed time, as the mold seems to have seen better days .
It needed a lot of clean up, some very pronounced mold lines (slips?) and a fair bit of flash. Still, the detail is still crisp, and I'm very happy with it.
Now, not everybody will like (part) of the subject matter, the decapitated head is rather graphic, and not to everybody's taste, but if you wish, you could leave it off. I have other issues, but more of those later .
It is a sculpt by Richard Bailey, and has several of his Hallmark features. Multiple layers of clothing? Check. Big bushy beard? Check. Windswept? Check. I like it, it adds life and movement to an otherwise static subject. Did I mention the scale? Its a whopping 300mm bust, it's huge, and at £30, an almost embarrassing bargain.
Now, every silver lining has to have a cloud... artistic license has crept in, in the shape of horns on the helmet, and the Chietan wearing his sword on his back.... I will explain why these two are an issue for me.
The horned helmet. If historical accuracy is important to you (without going rivet counter anal), the horned helmet is a bone of contention. There is no historical evidence, that helmets had horns, or other large solid protrusions, fitted to them. No helmets have been found, in any number, with horns fitted, or fittings to attach them to. A helmet is meant to deflect blows, not catch them and assist in breaking your neck. Whilst ceremonial helmets/headdress may have had horns, feather or what not, there is very little evidence of those. Anyway, I removed the mounting point for the horns....
Secondly, the sword carried on the back. I'm not disputing that on occasion, somebody might have carried his sword on his back, if he wasn't expecting to need it in a hurry. (Hollywood please note, Never into battle though, as you can't draw a sword when you carry it on your back. Your arms aren't long enough..). My issue in this case is, that the neck guard on the helmet, catches the pommel, every time he moves his head... sorry, but I have an eye for that, and it irks me. So the sword will be repositioned.
Anyway, enough of my rambling for now. A few pictures of the prepped and primerered pieces, and stay tuned .
It needed a lot of clean up, some very pronounced mold lines (slips?) and a fair bit of flash. Still, the detail is still crisp, and I'm very happy with it.
Now, not everybody will like (part) of the subject matter, the decapitated head is rather graphic, and not to everybody's taste, but if you wish, you could leave it off. I have other issues, but more of those later .
It is a sculpt by Richard Bailey, and has several of his Hallmark features. Multiple layers of clothing? Check. Big bushy beard? Check. Windswept? Check. I like it, it adds life and movement to an otherwise static subject. Did I mention the scale? Its a whopping 300mm bust, it's huge, and at £30, an almost embarrassing bargain.
Now, every silver lining has to have a cloud... artistic license has crept in, in the shape of horns on the helmet, and the Chietan wearing his sword on his back.... I will explain why these two are an issue for me.
The horned helmet. If historical accuracy is important to you (without going rivet counter anal), the horned helmet is a bone of contention. There is no historical evidence, that helmets had horns, or other large solid protrusions, fitted to them. No helmets have been found, in any number, with horns fitted, or fittings to attach them to. A helmet is meant to deflect blows, not catch them and assist in breaking your neck. Whilst ceremonial helmets/headdress may have had horns, feather or what not, there is very little evidence of those. Anyway, I removed the mounting point for the horns....
Secondly, the sword carried on the back. I'm not disputing that on occasion, somebody might have carried his sword on his back, if he wasn't expecting to need it in a hurry. (Hollywood please note, Never into battle though, as you can't draw a sword when you carry it on your back. Your arms aren't long enough..). My issue in this case is, that the neck guard on the helmet, catches the pommel, every time he moves his head... sorry, but I have an eye for that, and it irks me. So the sword will be repositioned.
Anyway, enough of my rambling for now. A few pictures of the prepped and primerered pieces, and stay tuned .
I like the way you are going with this and I agree with the points you have brought up, it's going to be impressive when painted.
