Sir John Holland - Prepwork (cont.)

It has been well over a week since the bench--any bench!--has seen any work worth noting, and I'm afraid that will be the status quo for the remainder of the year. . . 

That being said, I managed to squeeze in a little time this evening, and the helm is starting to morph quite nicely into a dedicated tournament piece. A finalization of the conversion is still 3-5 sessions away, but things have progressed to the point where I felt confident enough to rough-in the core of the cap of maintenance: the crest will be an entirely separate piece.

Finally, the integral plinth has been roughed-in with MS.

More to follow! 

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Sir John Holland - Prepwork

Work has begun in earnest!

Unless one is completely satisfied with the product as presented (i.e., quasi-historical), there will be "some" work involved. And nearly all of it will involve the helm. . .

I won't bore you with the minutiae as I have in my previous discussion groups/forums; however, if you are interested, then by all means further the discussion via your comments. Bottom line, if Edward is your subject of choice, you will have to rework the lines of the helm AND sculpt a new crest. And please note that Andrea based their helm on the Pembridge helm, not Edwards's!

If your subject dates from the last quarter of the century, you will have to resculpt (read: convert) the helm to a prototypical frog-mouthed helm before sculpting a new crest. Given the relative simplicity of these helms, it is not as daunting a prospect as it might appear; BUT do your research and gather your references!

I have decided to take a more circuitous route in my conversion. First, I am roughing-in the lines to Edward's helm: after refitting the "faceplate", I have extended the faceplate to create a one- piece front half of the helm in MS. This will lock my proportions and eliminate any mid-plate seams. Once cured, this will provide the basis for the conversion to an early frog-mouthed helm.

More to follow!

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Andrea bust of The Black Prince - Review

Earlier this week, I received the 165mm Andrea bust of The Black Prince (S9-B21). This is one of two companion busts released in 2005, the other being Jaime I "el Conquistador", King of Ara- gon (1208-1276). The fact that no other busts were produced in the series suggests an unsatis- factory market reception: if that was indeed the case, then it should have come as no surprise.

The two busts are identical save for the respective helms' crests. This is the main issue with the bust of Jaime as he flourished a century before Edward! Andrea would have been better served by marketing this bust as Pedro IV of Aragon, an opponent of the Black Prince; or, better yet, Pedro the Cruel of Castile, an ally of Edward's in the second phase of the War of the Two Peters.

So much for the bust of Jaime I. What of the bust of Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, bka The Black Prince? It is a straightforward, largely uninspired, classic bust, comprised of 22 pieces: the resin bust and pedestal, plus 20 white metal castings to complete the coronet, crest and mantling + the front half of the helm (1-piece). Historicity-wise, it is on much firmer ground, but the style of the helm, to say nothing of the crest, are fantasy! Given that Edward's funerary achievements have survived, there is really no excuse for this!! Hence why it is only now, a decade after the fact, that I have broken down and acquired this bust. I will elaborate on the shortcomings at greater length in the course of the prepwork of this project.

I found this bust for 55% off the current msrp: as such, it was too good to pass up! The resin castings are exceptional and the jupon is cast 'clean' (i.e., no heraldry!), so there is minimal work on the bust itself to reduce it to a mannequin for virtually whatever subject of the second half of the 14th c. one elects to depict. In case you are wondering, of the 22 pieces that comprise this kit, I intend to use--as of this writing--at most 3!

This bust will be the base figure of my rendition of Sir John [de] Hol[l]and, KG at the Smithfield Tournament of 1390, and work is already underway. . .

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003

Sir John Holland, KG, 1st Earl of Huntingdon

With Fall upon us, and with the advent of more temperate--if not cooler--temps and change-of-season afflictions, I have been seriously stricken with a historical 'bug'.

I won't go into what prompted this malaise: let's just say that my reasons for turning my back--publicly, at least--on the historical genre are not only alive and thriving, but gathering benighted fools and their followers to its ranks in mind-numbing numbers!

But, as always, I digress. . . In the weeks and months to come, I will round-up my scattered "friends", dust them off, and [re-]immerse myself in the spectacle of the late 14th c. tournament. And as of this writing, my subject will be Sir John Holland, KG, 1st Earl of Huntingdon (and future 1st Duke of Exeter) as he would have appeared at the Smithfield Tournament in 1390.

The research phase of the project is in full-swing, and I will [hopefully] have a better idea of how it will unfold by the end of next week. . . 

“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003