Television is rather a frightening business. But I get all the relaxation I want from my collection of model soldiers.
Peter Cushing

Friday, 31 March 2017

Dr N R Gull's Patent Medicine and Pandemonium Shadow Show - Papa Doc himself

On the fourth night, the Burgomeister did not awake at all. His fat wife rolled over and screamed as she saw the wet mess her husband had become. Flies crawled over his eyes. Outside, she heard piping music.

The Carnival had come to town.

*****




This has come out pretty much how I wanted. One of those rare occasions when what I saw in my head translated very neatly to what came out in reality.

The construction on this was very simple  (I seem to say that a lot) with only one new technique required.

The wagon was a 4Ground General Wagon kit and the covering was tissue paper soaked in watered down PVA - which was the new technique I had to learn. It turns out to be very easy and something I think I might use a lot in future.






I filled the back of the wagon with Nurglings - because why wouldn't you? - and added some accouterments from the bits box.






The  horses are from the deepest, darkest recesses of the bits pile:


For 30 years I've had that box stashed; the old plastics have a lovely slender quality which would help with the balance of the composition. 


The base was constructed out of some blue foam, sand and tea leaves.





Papa Doc was bashed together out of bits and pieces. The base was then painted to suggest the disease and decay the carnival leaves behind.








And then a few bits and pieces of thread for reins and brass rod for harnesses. 












Well, I'm done. There's always a melancholy sense when you reach the end of a project. On the plus side, this has turned out exactly how I wanted; I am very happy with the overall look of the carnival as well as being very proud of some of the individual characters. There's also the satisfaction of knowing that these are unique, each handcrafted: no-one will ever have a set like these. That's a rather nice feeling.





If you want to see all the work collected in one place, I've put a page on the blog to record this project which you can access here.

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful, wonderful work! The pestilent wagon is something I've toyed with and i can now hold yours up as some inspiration for the future. Well done!

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  2. That, Sir, is a work of art! So much to enjoy and be inspired by, but it is the Nurglings' horns piercing the canopy that makes me smile - such a nice touch.

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    1. You can't not have fun with nurglings. Glad you like them!

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  3. Wow! Amazing work! Superb idea! I love the murky pictures as well.

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    1. Thanks :-) aiming for the Durer and Bosch palette

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  4. This is getting better and better! Clap clap clap!

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