Per the request of a client, I have started keeping a log of the progress and images of the Standard Bearer Rider of Alahan that he commissioned from me. He was kind enough to allow the WIP pages hereafter to be made available to the public.
PREPARING THE MINIATURE:
First off, the horse came in three separate pieces. Two sides split
right down the middle and the head. There was a lot of cursing and
finagling to do to get the two halves to join properly with the head inside, but
it was accomplished. Once this was done, I removed the bottom tab and
drilled in 4 holes to hold the horse to a temporary base for priming/painting.
Next, came the work on the body. The client specified that the head should be
facing upwards, so to make this happen I first drilled a pilot hole to hold the
wire into the bottom of the head, and then placed the head onto the body, noting
carefully where the crest touch the armor in the back. Then I used a
jewelers saw to cut a small area into the crest so that it would allow it
to sit level.
However, the was a rather noticeable gap between the head and the body, so I
use some semi-cured brownstuff to create a collar ring to place the head upon.
In using the head already drilled, I was able to imprint a tab in the center of
the collar area so that the head will line up perfectly for gluing when it is
finished being painted.
So, to check my work, I just dry mounted the head and body to the horse.
He looks like he's facing up, correct? And since the head is now up, I can rotate it so that is is looking to the left when finished.
Here are all the pieces set up and to be primed. I generally try to
keep as many pieces separate as I can when painting. Especially on finicky
miniatures like Rackham ones. The sword goes into the side of the horse,
the shield mounts on his back and the lance/standard is very tricky because it pins
into his wrist, but there is also a small pin/tab on his right foot that the
bottom of the standard fits into. Took a bit of cleaning and
drilling to get that
to line up correctly. But as you can see, everything is mounted separately
to wire, so that I can pick it up, prime it, and set it back down all without
having to touch it at all.
