English Knight - shield

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Bone

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
172
Location
Singapore
Hi,

Here's a pic of the 90mm 14th century English Knight from Soldiers that I'm currently working on.

At the same time, I have a question about the shield (pic enclosed). I expected to see a design similar to the sketch on the left of the shield but that's no the case. Can someone advise on this? Also, I would appreciate if someone could post some pictures of the back of a heater shield.

Thanks!
Basil
 

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Hi Basil,

Some figure manufacturers have different treatments for rendering shields. Some shields were uncovered wood, others had a leather (or canvas) facing, and some were entirely covered in leather or canvas. Some shields had pads, and some didn't. Some pads were straight across like yours, while others were angled. I suspect the wealth of the owner and/or the speed at which they were needed had something to do with it. Your sketch is fine. You can scribe in the planks and paint the grain on the shield at right. Use sculpting putty to replicate the folded covering along the back edge. HTH.

Your figure is turning out well. Can we see the rest of it?

Cheers,

Glen
 
A knight's shield - if it was intended for use - would always have been faced with animal hide (leather or buckskin) or maybe canvas. Sometimes this was pulled around the rim and the edges tacked in place as in your drawing but from what we can figure out sometimes it was just glued to the front of the boards. Although this seems like it would be less secure in fact the glues they used were very strong.

Shields could simply be thrown away if damaged so often they weren't built to be as robust as we'd imagine.

I wouldn't scribe in vertical plank edges - the boards were fitted very tightly together - if you want to depict it as though the back is wood (not covered in another layer of hide or fabric) then just paint the detail in.

Einion
 
Hi Glen, Einion,

Thanks for your feedback. What puzzles me a little is that the back of the shield is concave, so the hide would have to be glued down to secure it. However, that would leave it to possibly 'pop' up from the back surface if it wasn't glueed properly. This I would guess would create some discomfort to the user.

I was uncertain also if the shield was rendered as such because it was covered with a sheet of steel. I read on a website that there were such instances though I could not find any pictures or dates.

Lastly, would you know if the heraldry on the shield typically be painted on or embroided?

Here's another pic of the figure.

Cheers
Basil
 

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Bone said:
I was uncertain also if the shield was rendered as such because it was covered with a sheet of steel. I read on a website that there were such instances though I could not find any pictures or dates.
Knightly shields, at least of this type, were never covered with steel. Except in Hollywood :)

Bone said:
Lastly, would you know if the heraldry on the shield typically be painted on or embroided?
For a field piece, painted. If the person were of very high status sometimes they could have had the motifs in relief using some combo of shaped leather, carved wood and gesso (like plaster), even for a functional piece. But generally they were just painted.

As I think I've mentioned in a previous thread, heraldry was usually quite simply depicted on shields, to the point that they could look almost like they were stencilled.

Oh BTW, don't forget to make the colours of the painted heraldry different from the fabric! Hard enough to get an exact match today, back then it was much more difficult and they may not even have tried a lot of the time.

Einion
 
Well, Einion is right about the plank seams and grain. If you paint to scale, the seams, let alone the wood grain, wouldn't be visible. Nevertheless, manufacturers tend to depict both with regularity and painters (including myself) dutifully paint it. This is a case of the objective - that which is technically correct - taking a backseat to the subjective -that which is aesthically pleasing to the painter's eye. Your call, here...

I've never heard of shields being layered with steel either, although I do remember the movie Ivanhoe's final battle (between Robert Taylor's Ivanhoe and George Sanders (?) Sir Guy) where both knights had sheet metal shields that crumpled like tin foil during the battle. Ahhh... Hollywood!

Thanks for the extra pic. The detail painting on the surcoat looks great (well beyond my skills!). I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

Cheers,

Glen
 
.

WOW Basil!!

Superb work so far on that figure, especially the surcoat, and beautiful work on the chainmail.


Excellent!


Cheers,
Jeff.
 
Thanks guys for your feedback and kind words.

Einion - I must have chanced on a Hollywood website!!!! Next I 'll be reading about plastic shields :)

Glen - the detail painting is actually easier than it looks. Can't really explain but all I can say is give it a try and I bet you could do a better job.

Cheers
Basil
 
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