"Hand of the Queen" - Prepwork II: The Doublet

The doublet is the"pedestal", the foundation if you will, for the portrait, hence I will begin by re- working the garment.

The garment as provided is superbly sculpted! It is a perforated and tooled leather shell with silver clasps, covering a patterned fabric lining, This will be reworked to represent black-dyed full-quill ostrich leather.

As I indicated yesterday, I had already removed the "Hand". But before I filled-in the sizeable divot, I began by filling-in the sculpted pattern of the doublet with glazing putty. After applying a medium coat of putty and curing it in the oven, I then proceeded to fill the divot with MS. The MS is now curing. . .

Finally, the "Hand" is over 85% cleaned-up. . . 

More to follow. . .

UPDATE 06.08.16. . . Phase I of the doublet is now done! It took three coats of glazing putty to effectively fill sculpted tooling and establish the foundation for the full-quill ostrich leather. 

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

"Hand of the Queen" - Prepwork I

The bust arrived today (thanks, Chuck!), and it meets--arguably exceeds!--the self-imposed pro- duction standard/s of NutsPlanet. In a word. . . EXCEPTIONAL!

And I was very gratified by the fact that my conclusion re: the apparent shortcomings of the like- ness was spot-on: this is a VG++ likeness of Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. It could use some tweaking here and there depending on how demanding you might be, but it is more than acceptable straight OOB. As noted earlier and elsewhere, the challenge to realize a convincing likeness will be in the painting. 

The sprues have been removed, as has the "Hand" (to be relocated to the left upper breast). I have also removed the exposed edge of the neckwrap, as well as the visible portion between the edges of the mandarin collar.

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

"Hand of the Queen"

I indicated in my introduction to the Daenerys Stormborn/Khaleesi project that  "I was not parti- cularly taken with [NutsPlanet's third and fourth Game of Thrones offerings], considering them a significant decline in the excellence manifest in the first two." As with Dany, I have come to the conclusion that any deviation from the likeness is due primarily to the paint application/photo- graphy, and not the "canvas"; thus, I will shortly have a complete set of NutsPlanet's GoT busts!

"Hand the Imp" was the third 1/10th scale bust of a Game of Thrones' subject released by NutsPlanet--as with the first two, it is sculpted by Jun-Sik Ahn. The 3-piece kit (including the pedestal!) is based on Tyrion Lannister--"the Imp"--as acting Hand of the King in season 2. I intend to "convert" the bust to Tyrion at the conclusion of season 6, when he is appointed to the position of Hand of the Queen by Daenerys Targaryen.

This will be a relatively minor conversion, which is at once a relief, as well as no small source of trepidation. Details will be presented as the project unfolds.
 
Unless there is a significant departure from the standard set by NutsPlanet, there will be no hands-on review forthcoming.  

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