"The Hound"--Preliminaries

Let the game begin!

First things first: the sprue blocks have been ground/cut off, and reduction and/or finishing has begun.

I then removed the right forearm at the lower edge of the visible rerebrace/upper cannon and pegged the arm to the torso: this will be a classical, "armless" bust.

Next, I ground-off 4 of the riveted base plates for the large lateral spikes on the pauldrons; and attached a smaller spike to the front of the left pauldron. 

Finally, I removed the "fauld" of the coif, pegged the head to the torso, and filled-in the scooped-out portion of the gorget. I will probably begin reduction and finishing tomorrow.

Not a bad start. . .

Sandor Clegane, “The Hound”

Sandor Clegane, "the Hound", younger brother of the even-more formidable Gregor, "the Mountain that Rides", is one of the most memorable characters in GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga. He was horribly disfigured at the age of 7 by his brother, who thrust his face into a brazier for playing with a toy that he himself had discarded.

The kit I selected to serve as the base for this project is one that, I must admit, would otherwise never have made its way into my hands: Young Miniatures' La Hire, Battle of Patay, 1429. My views on this release require but one simple statement: Production quality is as superb as the historicity is deplorable! For those of you who might be wondering what might be wrong with the depiction, I have an even shorter response: EVERYTHING!

The kit is comprised of 17 exquisitely cast pieces + the support plinth. Of these, I will use but 7 (4 major components plus 3 spikes), and "feed" the rest to my spare parts bin.

 

This will be a rather long term project, as there is much to be done to effect the conversion. First and foremost will be the sculpting of a new head, around which The Hound's iconic helmet will then be sculpted. By way of wrap-up, the armour will be reworked to some extent, but that will largely be at my discretion as there are no defining descriptions of The Hound's harness. I should point out that this will be a synthetic depiction of the character, drawing from both the literary and the visual sources.

More to follow. . .