Sir Henri la Tete - and the Dragon

An obvious take on the legend of St George, this wee project is a lot smaller than those I normally churn out, and which usually take me months to complete. I'm hoping to get this finished within the next several days though.
I was originally going to use this Mierce Miniatures model for the vignette....

....but then I remembered I had an old McFarlane dragon kicking around somewhere. A quick hunt this morning turned it up and although it needs a bit of work to bring it up to scratch, seeing I've become a real tightwad these days - it'll do fine - thus saving me around 60 quid plus postage on the Mierce example....

I've probably got a bit too much white showing at the horse's eyes, but then again, it's supposed to be pretty terrified - unlike the bold Sir Henri. Unfortunately, the lance is a bit bendy-wendy. One of my pet hates is lances, flagpoles, swords, etc, being mfr'd from soft metal that, once bent, you can never get back into shape. Not much to be done about it though, other than change them out for steel examples, or just don't bend them in the first place.
Oh, and I rarely bother doing figurine bases as these are usually blended in with some celluclay when I do the groundwork.
I recommend a visit to IKEA for anyone looking to get reasonably priced wooden vignette/diorama bases. Either that, or just raid the wife's kitchen, like I do....

Incidentally, the heraldry is a wee personal touch. I've no idea why an internet search throws up so many variations of the Anderson coat of arms and heraldry, (must've bred like rabbits back in the day), but anyway, I picked this one because it's relatively simple.

Cheers
H

Great idea.
Waiting for the next pictures

Marc

megroot said:

Great idea.
Waiting for the next pictures

Marc

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Hi Marc,

The first layer of celluclay has been slapped onto the base and is drying right now. I might do this as a SBS with photos at each stage of the building process. And happily for me, one of the international hobby orders I've been waiting for was delivered this morning, the one from Hanger 18, so I've now got more options for adding foliage, and will use one of their excellent photo backdrops for the finished snaps.

I'm sure you recognise the figure; it's from Crecy Models. Have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the horse's goofy looking face, and the chest doesn't look as deep as it ought to be either, but I don't have any spare medieval horses available to change it out with.
And I left the visor off the Knight's helmet so you could see his face easier, but might fix it on in the open position.
Those McFarlane dragons are really quite excellent value for money even though they generally need a bit of extra work. This is the second one I've used in a model scenario and I think they work extremely well.

I'm still trying to decide on what to place behind the figures to add visual appeal. Don't want to use just trees again as that could get a bit same-same and boring. I thought of a cave entrance, but that wooden base I want to use really isn't all that big, so I'll have another think about it.

Almost forgot, I think I'll go ahead and order up that Mierce Models Gryfen, (or whatever it is), after all. I can always use it for an idea I've had a different vignette.

Cheers
H

How about him travelling through a small valley with the beast emerging over rocks towards the end. Bit of a difficult base to work from.

Lew J.

Lew J said:

How about him travelling through a small valley with the beast emerging over rocks towards the end. Bit of a difficult base to work from.

Lew J.

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Good idea.
Think I'll just use a larger base. This one is actually a good size to use with Roland, Hello Kitty and Brunhild that're presently just sitting in the display cabinet.

Okay, I've slept on this one and decided to use a larger base after all, which means I really need to include more characters. The larger lump of resin on the right ought to work as the entrance to the Dragon's Lair (as a sort of "wedgie").



and I'll join it to the other lump of resin on the left. The pen is there for layout purposes and represents "The Sacrificial Pole". I'll use a cut down wooden chopstick for that.
I might keep the knight on his back as "The Aborted Rescue Attempt" - just before the bold Sir Henri arrives on the scene, and the Hospitaller knight on his knees is standing in as "The Victim" at the moment....



....who can be this young lady, shown below half-way through being converted to feature as the star turn in the "Iphigenia at Aulis" diorama I built some time ago.



She actually started out in life as a 54mm Ares Mythologic "Amazon", but being the very first conversion I'd ever tried to do in metal, she ended up looking, umm, not-very-good........so I gave up on her and used a different figure altogether from the old Phoenix line as Iphigenia, and she worked much better.



However, I think she's worth resurrecting for this latest project - albeit she'll need a lot more work done, (and it all depends on whether I can find which box of "failed good idea's" I put her away in anyway).

Will be back with a further progress report tonight, (my local time).
Cheers
H

Well, I made much better progress with this one than anticipated, (it's presently almost 17:00).

Here's the dragon's cave being worked on.


And I've found a good option for the "Sacrificial Virgin" in my stash - an EVD Egyptian. She's a good bit smaller than the Crecy and FL Knights, but that's okay; she can just be a very young virgin.
The empty Camel fag packet is the former for the plastercloth that's going over it.


The Kingdom of Jerusalem banner was a bad idea - it's got to go.


That's the first of the groundwork done.


And I took the next two photos through in the kitchen where there's better light.
Here's the back of the diorama;


And here's the view from the left-hand side.


I reckon it's coming along fairly well, but I'll now have to leave it overnight while all the plastercloth and the first of the celluclay dries out before I can get a paintbrush into the back of that cave, then finish off the groundwork - and get the young lady painted.
Hope you like what you see so far.
Cheers
H

Interesting knight, who made this...liked the heraldry....

debrito said:

Interesting knight, who made this...liked the heraldry....

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He's by Crecy Miniatures Rod.



They do a similar figurine....


....but my one's in the heraldry of Sir Allan Cathcart and will feature in my Battle of Teba diorama, which I'll have to get back to in 6 weeks time because I haven't quite finished all the knight conversions yet.



His cloak and horse's camparison have a "wet look" cos he's just splashed across the fords at the Guada Teba river.
(Need to do more work on that).



Oh yeah, and I've found a sister for the "sacrificial virgin"....

Okay, I had one of my occasional "Good Idea's" for speeding up the dry out time of celluclay - and it actually worked without me having to call the Fire Brigade out.

Mind you, if my very own little dragon ever finds out what I get up to in her kitchen while she's hanging out with her girlfriends in the local coffee shops, then I'll never hear the end of it....


So I was able to begin detailing the groundwork this afternoon.

Im pretty pleased with the entrance to the dragons cave. Thought about extending the right-hand side of the cave to blend in a bit more, but that would have meant the dragon wouldn't fit in it's location, and the view of the top of the cave should be obscured by it's wings anyway.

So the groundwork for this vignette ought to be just about finished tomorrow and then I'll get on with the figures themselves which still need a lot of work. The bit & bridle for the knight's horse will have to be scratch-built and I need to attend to the shadows & highlights on the Knight and his horses camparison. I'll also be converting the "Sacrificial Virgin" slightly.

Hope you like how this one is developing so far.
Cheers
H

You seem to have a good supply of oriental bases??? the one you are working on is worth about £50+..................they fetch amazing money especially since the rise in the Chinese Antique Market.
I'm not sure that the chinese base fits with the overall theme? but love the vignette and the creativity you put into your work.

Keith

Tecumsea said:

You seem to have a good supply of oriental bases??? the one you are working on is worth about £50+..................they fetch amazing money especially since the rise in the Chinese Antique Market.
I'm not sure that the chinese base fits with the overall theme? but love the vignette and the creativity you put into your work.

Keith

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Hi Keith,

Well yeah, getting my hands on these display tables is pretty easy and I like using them for certain vignettes.
Here's where I am right now with some patchy grass added. I deliberately don't want grass at the cave entrance. The dragon is where I'm approximately going to locate it so I can check the layout, but I still need to do some work on it, so I probably won't blend him (her?) into the groundwork until tomorrow.
Thanks for the feedback.
Cheers
H

Looks very impressive H.
Carl.

housecarl said:

Looks very impressive H.
Carl.

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Thanks Carl.
I've now signed up the final cast of characters - and what would one of my dioramas be without at least one tree?



That's the layout just about decided, although I reckon the celtic cross and the sacrificial virgins need to go further toward the back and more to the right so they're more in the dragon's line of sight. The sorceress (an old Phoenix casting) can come forward a bit as well - she's supposed to be threatening Saint Henri.



A picture says a thousand words. This is what I'm meaning about relocating the celtic cross.
BTW, I can't quite decide whether to keep the Hospitaller knight or leave him out - probably end up leave him out - but any advice, opinions or critique shall be gratefully received.



So now it's a case of get on with the figures, (cos there's still a fair amount needs done on them). Fix all the characters in place and blend them into the groundwork, then add more details to the groundwork.
Cheers
H

Unfortunately, real life has slowed down progress, but I did get more landscaping done yesterday and St Henri and his Dragon are now fixed in place although I still need to clean off the PVA and grass overspill on the horses camparison. I also scratch-built a set of reins and I think these make the horse a bit less goofy-looking.
Hoping to get the other figures painted today.
Thanks for looking in.
Cheers
H

Well, as suspected, I ran out of time for getting the three gals finished and the two "virgins" chained up to the celtic cross before I begin traveling back to the dayjob tomorrow.
Bit of a pest that, cos all it really needs is only two or three more days at it. Will just have to complete this vignette when I get back home again - and the "Wolfen" scenario cos I'm also halfway through getting two more 75mm figures done for it as well.
....
Here's where I'm at with it right now.


The sorceress definitely doesn't look too chuffed, but given the circumstances - can't say I blame her....


Oops - I missed some stray static grass on the horse's camparison.


And that's yet another Hanger 18 backdrop I used for these snaps. I reckon it's very effective.


Oh well, the overall display ought to look good once I get a custom acrylic cover made for it.
Cheers
H

This is the first chance I've had to revisit this Vignette since March and it's gone through a few changes this week.
The Dragon is being changed out for one I think is more suitable.
The Sacrificial Virgins are being left out altogether.
I've returned to the idea of including a couple of First Legion Crusader figures because I think they add to the story. The guy on his back is a repaint that's not quite finished yet.
I've also added a K&C Crusader figure - the guy with the crucifix.
All the additional figures have been blended into the base and I'm just waiting for the celluclay to dry out sufficiently so I can finish putting more foliage where required. Meanwhile, I ought to get the Sorceress, or "Mother of Dragons" finished today.
Hoping the entire scene will be completed by the end of this week.
Cheers
H

Well, I FINALLY got this one finished at long last during December.
For the record, here's the list of manufacturers;

Converted/Repainted TOY SOLDIERS
First Legion x 6
K&C x 3
Blackhawk x 4

KIT FIGURES
EVD Miniatures x 1
Pegaso Miniatures x 1
Andrea Miniatures x 2
Draconia Miniatures x 2
Yedharo Miniatures x 1
Valient Miniatures x 1
Pizarro Miniatures x 2
Crecy Miniatures x 1

AND
McFarlane (the dragon of course)

Even for me, that's quite a diverse group - 24 figures plus the dragon..!!
Oh, and the Dragon's Eggs were donated by my Wife. They're the tops off two of her nail polish bottles.
Hope you enjoy the photos;