Harold Ii The Last English King

[elanlane13]

Elan13 Miniatures are pleased to announce the general release of our 1/10 scale bust of Harold II in 1066.
Sculpted by Robert Lane
Box Art Adrian Hopwood
Price £25.00

Elan13 Miniatures have taken over The Basement range of figures and merged these with our own range. We now have a new webshop where Harold and the rest of the range is available.
http://www.elan13.co.uk

Here are the smudgy snaps

 

[thrax]

nice

 

[Mirofsoft]

Nice work
but a bust not for me ... 6 new figures today from wich 5 busts

 

[Helm]

Oh man this is rather nice indeed paint and sculpt both

Steve

 

[Gaudin]

Hmmm. I am torn between complimenting on a brilliant sculpting of chain mail ....

and pointing out that linkage on torso and head is not in correct direction and folds on chain mail are questionable.

Also - thickness of the axe handle begging to be more substantial - otherwise inertia of a heavy blade would snap this twig in no time.

But the chain mail rings - I bow to you, sir, liking it very much and sharing of how-to tips will be hugely appreciated. .

 

[Helm]

The axe handles are indeed thin on these and the Danish axes they descend from

contrary to popular belief the axe heads are not that heavy and were forged as to be thin the majority of these axes weighing in at around 4lbs only, they are designed as a cutting not bludgeoning weapon. Also they are made to be used all day and no matter how well trained or strong you are anything more than that would not be practicable to use in the manner intended

Steve

 

[elanlane13]

Thank you for the comments. I used many reference sources for this sculpt, including Harold's biography. I have included one picture, though I accept it is that person's interpretation of how a rich warlord would have looked at the time. I did try this pose with mail on to try and make the folds as accurate as possible. The mail was made by linking scale chain. It took days and days to do, total commercial sucide

 

[bagelman1952]

Very nice

 

[Gaudin]

Yep. I guessed it was real chain mail, that is dedication rarely seen these days, but totally paid off, Rob. Axe handle still feels a little too thin even after seeing references (thank you, Steve, well explained), but it is just personal perception.
Your reference picture does show correct linkage of rings on torso.

Very well done, anyhow.

 

[Gra30]

Very nice Rob and some serious work, looks great and I am in for one of these )
Would love to know a bit more of the chainmail method.
Very best wishes and sure it will do well, you have a sale here for sure

 

[ubbi]

i also think the haft of the axe is too thin , the two handed axes were used by the infantrymen as main weapon against the cavalry ( you can see warriors with the two handed axe during the battle of Hastings on the Bayeux Tapestry ) . A haft so thin with a 4-6 lbs weight axe would have been broken immediately after the first hit. anyway the bust is very interesting and with a really great chain mail

 

[Helm]

Sorry Stefano perhaps I phrased it badly the weight of the entire shaft AND head was only around 4lbs the actual heads are as light as two lbs in some cases

Steve

 

[megroot]

My compliments Rob.
This one is on the to buy list. The chainmail is the best sculpted I've seen.

Marc

 

[chippy]

That's some of the best chainmail I seen Rob , it must have taken ages to sculpt . As much as I like it my hero from that period is Herewood the Wake which today nobody has done, but I think I could tweek it to suit . Very nice
chippy

 

[Helm]

Wouldn't be too hard at all to do that Chippy not sure what if anything we have in the way of accurate descriptions of him but thats the joy of it

 

[ubbi]

Sorry Stefano perhaps I phrased it badly the weight of the entire shaft AND head was only around 4lbs the actual heads are as light as two lbs in some cases

Steve

Hi Steve, undoubtely they were made for cutting and were very light but from what i read usually the average weight of a two handed axe was around 4 lbs ( head without haft ) , but examples of more of 6 lbs are common , the average weight of moreless 2 lbs normally is for single handed axe . I have a small collection of 12 original viking single handed axe heads , the smaller is around 500grams the bigger is 1300 grams , i have also a double handed varangian axe and the weight is 3000 grams.( 7lbs )
An interesting link for the viking age axe : http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_axe.htm

cheers

 

[Gra30]

My compliments Rob.
This one is on the to buy list. The chainmail is the best sculpted I've seen.

Marc

A superb piece and as said by Marc.
Bought mine earlier and looking forward to seeing the workmanship and sculpting that is always a David Lane piece
This is a superb piece and close to miniature engineering on the mail alone.
I have no problem with axe or any other part, a great sculpt that must have taken many many hours, cheers Rob
Very best wishes
Gra
I would very much like to see a Roman by yourself
PM always open best wishes mate

 

[Nap]

Hi Guys,

Having seen this progress from nothing the completed piece looks really good ..chain mail ..really impressive ...I agree about a Roman subject and what about a Napoleonic again ...so come on Rob!!!

I will be doing a full and objective review soon .

IMO the Elan range is one of great variety and interest covering all types ..like the website as well

Nap

 

[Gra30]

As above, and agree the site is tops.
I really need to learn these things.
Looking forward to the review Kev but also getting this fine piece in my hands.
I am gob smacked at the mail and overall feel, something told me to buy, and I did .
)))) superb

 

[BobLff257]

Excellent sculpt Rob, I echo what everyone has said about it. Great subject, great painting and fantastic value, I am sure it will do well for you.

Rob