Wreckless Erik

[Foxbat]

I have several F-104s in the stash and decals for a couple of Danish and Norwegian options, but I fancied something different. I'd seen this kit in my LMS and this seemed the perfect moment to indulge. 

 

He's a generic Viking from the 9th century, a time when they were just starting to make their prescence felt in what is now the UK mainland - although their history and impact on European geopolitics would last a lot longer, but that's a tale for another day.

 

He comes in a box, which has a suitably active painting on it:

 

He has parts, the black ones are for his base. Several others are optional. I may miss the arrows poking out of his shield and go with the bearded axe as his only weapon. The knife is a sign he is a free man and not a Thrall. He should also have an arm ring in there somewhere but it could reasonably be under his armoured t shirt.

 

Instructions have a simple picture construction/painting guide on one side and a parts diagram and paint list on the other. Also included is a print of the box art wich is a nice touch.

 

There are no decals, so painting the shield is left as an exercise for the builder. I have a few designs for inspiration, including my own two (the first I just liked the design, the second is my senior cat, Tolv)

 

 

My cats will be following, they're Norwegians and love this kind of thing. That's Tolv from the shield at the top. Horologists will be happy about that, that's where Twelve should be  

 

I have several other GB builds on the go, but I'll try to fit this one in round them.

 

Andy

[Bertie McBoatface]

It's great to see a figure in a GB!

[JeroenS]

They're cute. I think I actually saw a cat like these 2 today, with the large fluffy tail and the pointy ears, while I was out for a hike (had the day off). I thought it looked special and wondered what it could be. I think now I know. 

[trickyrich]

welcome along Andy with a really great subject!!!!

 

It is so nice to see a completely different build brought along and a 1/16th figure is awesome.

 

You should have a lot of fun painting him and bring him to life, and Tolv is a must for the shield. Gosh they are lovely look cats!  

 

It will be great build to follow, so good luck with it.

[Marlin]

Great choice Andy.

I'm really getting an interest in ICM's 1/16 figures. 

I'll be following your build, taking notes along the way.

Good luck with your build.

/Bosse   

[Paramedic]

I agree, nice to see a miniature too! Really cool as well.

[Foxbat]

I started in the middle because that's how I roll. Actually, the skirt of his under tunic came in two pieces but they didn't go all the way round, so I glued the bits together just to see how it worked. Turns out the missing bit was part of his left leg. I also stuck his padded over-shirt together just for the craic, then slapped a bit of white on to see how the seams looked. Hans the (1/48) Horch driver and the perennial penny left in the background for scale.

 

Showed Erik his legs and it seems he approved. I'm still scared stiff of trying to paint that face - so much lovely detail for me to ruin.

 

Had a play about with the padded bit, just layering on inks to build up the colour, then a bit of drybrushing. Just faffing around really, see what works.

 

I got some colour advice from a friend who is involved in Viking re-enactment. My first stab at the under tunic was meant ot be mustard but finished up nearer orange, so the second attempt used Tamiya IJAAF grey green. Much better  Slapped some Tamiya Titanium silver on his hat too, it give a nice dull steel colour. Puttees were painted buff as a base for building up shades later.

 

Boots and belts were given a coat of Tamiya earth as a base, trying to limit the palette and use colours I know how to shade and highlight later.

 

Bit of shading on the boots and placed the two parts together just to get an idea of size. He's going to stand around 5" (13cm) when complete.

 

Decided to go with red for the trim round his tunic. By now there are so many layers of paint that all the detail in the embroidery has been lost which is a shame  Also repainted his boots as I rubbed half the paint off trying to give it a leathery sheen with my thumb  

 

I've done a little bit more, so expect another update soon(ish).

 

Andy

[desert falcon]

Great work so far  

[Foxbat]

They'll try to tell you that you can't use Tamiya paints with a brush, and you definitely can't blend and dry brush them. You can look those people square in the eye and reply "You never met Wreckless Erik did you?"

 

Started with a coat or three of XF-15 J.A. Grey then added highlights steadily lightened with XF-1 and a final drybrush of pure white (to be fair, that bit was very nearly pointless so 'they' are nearly right). Shadows were filled in with an XF-15/XF-63 German Grey mix which got me to here.

 

That red is ruined, but there are always casualties in war. We'll fix it (much) later. Once that had thoroughly dried. the whole lot was given a wash of very thinned XF-15 to knock everything back and try to blend it together. The results aren't too bad.

 

 

His trousers went through a similar process but using Vallejo paint and Citadel washes which made life a lot easier. I've started working on the bits and pieces too - another coat on his hat, and almost finished his axe (the instruction say to use Tamiya Deck Tan for the wood but it's way too pale. Takes washes very well though so the final finish looks about right).

 

I've also started on his arms, because I've got to bite the bullet and do the hard bits eventually. Loads still to do, but it's a start.

 

Andy

[JOCKNEY]

On 08/09/2021 at 13:20, Foxbat said:

 

 

Andy

 

 

Love the picture Andy, reminds me of a stag night in Shetland  !

 

Best of luck with this one.

 

Cheers Pat

[Foxbat]

I've been dreading this bit and doing my best to put it off, but you can't build a figure and leave the face in primer. So, loins girded, I set to and a couple of hours later this emerged. My favourite bit is his teeth, how daft is that? Shades of Brian Blessed too, this is Erik ordering breakfast at 90dB  

 

Won't be giving any real figure painters sleepless nights, and I'm really glad his eyes will be behind that visor, but overall I'm quite pleased with that. Phone pic for his close up, which really saturates the colours quite unrealistically.

 

I stuck his arms on too, as it was the easiest way to handle everything for the next round of paint. This is Erik having just conquered the elephant's graveyard of 1/100 armour projects  

 

Another phone close up, just for giggles. Super saturated colours again. You can't tell real colours from a colour photograph you know  Had to leave the fingers off his left hand otherwise I wouldn't be able to add his shield - the gripping hand doesn't leave room to slide the handle in (ask me how I know).

 

Having got the big bits done, I'm now into the final 20% that takes 80% of the time. Having fun though and that's the main thing.

 

Andy

[JeroenS]

I'd dread that part too... if I would ever paint a figure 🙂 

 

So good job is what I say. His teeth do look good, and I like his tunic a lot, that looks very realistic.

[Marlin]

WOW Andy

What fantastic work, and stunning painting you've done.

/Bosse

[Foxbat]

33 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

I'd dread that part too... if I would ever paint a figure 🙂 

 

So good job is what I say. His teeth do look good, and I like his tunic a lot, that looks very realistic.

Thank you. All those years painting Games Workshop orcs and aliens is finally bearing fruit  

 

4 minutes ago, Marlin said:

WOW Andy

What fantastic work, and stunning painting you've done.

/Bosse

Thank you Bosse. If it was a fantasy or sci-fi figure it would be much easier, but this one is scary because he has to look like a regular human when he's done and that is much harder

 

Andy

[JeroenS]

1 hour ago, Foxbat said:

regular human 

Are you sure? We are still talking about these guys from up north aren't we? 

[Marlin]

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Are you sure? We are still talking about these guys from up north aren't we? 

Hey.

I resent that remark, remember we were the ones who invented European Cruises. 

/Bosse

Edited September 23, 2021 by Marlin
Grammar

[Foxbat]

Thursday was a day of breakages, some planned, others not so much. Having already had to break his fingers off to be able to get the shield handle in, I then found the whole arm was sitting too high and young Erik wouldn't be ableto see over his shield, so the arm came off  and was repositioned. Also checked with my friend who knows and his shield is too big and the handle would be wood not the metal ICM would have you believe (remember he has to be able to run around not getting killed behind it so it has to be light enough to actually use. Plus, shields were essentially disposable - if you survived longer than it did, you just grabbed a vaguely serviceable one from somebody less fortunate and kept going[1]).

 

Then I was painting while tired and gripped the bottom of his padded jacket a bit too tight so the joint collapsed and his upper half went bouncing around the floor. Being in the slow learner group, I did it again before the repair had properly set and this time his head came off too. I bit the bullet at that point and used lashings of ginge... err, I mean liquid poly to clag everything into one big lump. Fortunately I was just about compost mental enough that everything was in roughly the right place. He's been sat in the norty corner since Friday thinking about what he's done, so no new photographs, but there will be soon.

 

Andy

[1] While I'm on a roll: Viking shields were unique at the the time because they were made of pine (which was abundant) while every one else used hard woods. This gave the Vikings an unexpected advantage - Saxon shields (for example) were hard but brittle and could be shattered if you hit them a couple of times in the right place. Viking shields didn't shatter and being soft, the weapons that hit them tended to bite into the soft wood and had to be worked loose, giving the guy holding the shield vital seconds to hit back unopposed. In addition, the Vikings as a matter of routine covered the outer face of the shields in cloth which  they put on wet then left to shrink. That served the dual functions of pulling the planks of the shield closer and improving the integrity of the whole shield, plus it hid the grain of the wood, so the enemy (who was used to finding the weak spot in the grain and shattering his opponents shield) didn't know where to hit you for maximum effect. Sorry for the lecture, but I love this stuff, and it's no more boring than the colour of RAF oxygen cylinders 1942-44  

Edited September 26, 2021 by Foxbat

[Foxbat]

Repairs completed and set, I added a lot of bits and pieces. the buckle end of both belts, his seax (the big knife at the front), his sword and satchel and finally glued on his hat. My gluey finger lifted a perfect circle of paint off that, so that is part repaired - again 😡 Couple of pics, just because there were none last time.

 

 

 

I've modified his shield handle and I'm now deep into making a pig's ear of painting it. More on that as it develops.

 

Andy

[Marlin]

WOW.

Fantastic painting.

/Bosse

[JeroenS]

Nice! I'm glad you got 'im back together and in this painted state. Looks great.

[Foxbat]

OK, another quick history lesson  To give the maximum utility as a defense, a weapon and something that wasn't too heavy to actually lug around the place, the Viking shield had roughly the same radius as your forearm. The box art has it right. Note also the planks of the shield are at a fairly random angle, not nicely horizontal which is an open invitation for someone to split the joints: 

 

The circumference was covered in a couple of layers of leather, or sometimes rawhide. This meant that if Johnny Saxon hit it and knocked the bottom edge into Erik's thigh, it hurt but didn't cause any damage. In return, when Erik knocked said Saxon down, the shield edge was still blunt enough and the shield just heavy enough that he could use it to crack Johnny's skull. All good clean fun, yes?

 

Having got the box art right, the shield as moulded is too big, but it would be a world of bother to modify it, so I'll live with it. I've modified the handle and painted the back so I can glue it into his hand and glue his fingers back on round the handle. I also added a some highlights then a wash of XF-15 over his arms to blend everything together a bit more.

 

Thorsson has got his hat on, hip, hip, hip hooray  All his bits and bobs are painted now, and his axe hand has been finished so it looks like a hand and not a bloody steak which it did yesterday. His fingernails are maybe a bit overdone, but just go with me on this one.

 

Just the front of the shield to do now. At this point I have no idea what to put on there. I'd like to get creative, but in reality fighting shields didn't get all that much time and effort - disposable, remember? Something geometric seems in order, and a chance to add a little colour.

 

I've stuck the base together and started something scenic. I need a trip to the LMS for some grassy stuff to finish it. Hopefully that will happen on Saturday and I can get him finished this weekend.

 

Andy

 

[Paramedic]

It´s getting better and better! Nice painting, especially the leather (?)

[Foxbat]

1 hour ago, Paramedic said:

It´s getting better and better! Nice painting, especially the leather (?)

Thank you 😊 Yes, the top layer is quilted leather. Cheaper and lighter than mail (I've held a mail tunic, it weighed a ton. You'd have to be extremely fit to fight in it for very long). Everything else is wool or linen. Interestingly (or not, your choice) although the Vikings could make black paint, and blackened the iron they used for nails and shield bosses they didn't have a black leather dye - all their leather was shades of brown. My historical advisor was very firm on that: NO BLACK LEATHER!! And no gold 🤣

 

Andy

[Paramedic]

Yeah I have this buddy that makes chainmails and reenact Crusader time-ish stuff.. He is fit.. Tells me the same..

[Foxbat]

His base needs tarting up still, but he's essentially done. Historical note: he is carrying a sword as well as his axe which marks him out as a Jarl or similar. Swords were expensive and not everyone could afford one, so they became a badge of rank and status. Similarly, his shield is blue. Like purple in Rome (and later in England), blue colouring was hard and expensive to make so was reserved for the aristocracy/elites. The design I went for in the end is a well known Viking representation of one of Odin's ravens - Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory). It's a bit crude, but I think we can all agree it's adequate for a working shield.

 

Nuff waffle. Some pics - that's what we're here for right?

 

 

For some reason while he was rock solid on his base for the first three pics, he would NOT stand up for this shot, so he's leant against the paint pots  

 

Next pics will be in the gallery sometime over the weekend.

 

Andy

Edited October 2, 2021 by Foxbat