The basic model is three split eggs - the size I use for my 40mm cavalry - and a spool for the body. As I did with my cavalry, I decided to add a flat plug for the neck, with some added wood filler to fill the gaps. The ears are teardrop shapes from the Woodsie round shapes pack. I used these for shields in the Armenian army. Grinding off the bottom, removing the point, made it look about right. Clearly this elephant is not yet excited as the ears are not flared out, as they usually are with most commercial models.
The mahout is the standard micro shaker peg (a.k.a. heart peg) with the bottom cut off and the head sanded down. Nothing really to discuss here, but I will add tile spacer legs to it rather than painting them on.
The howdah is simply a craft stick cut into square pieces. In hindsight I should have used the square Woodsie shapes; it would have been so much easier. As it stands, now I will have to fill the gaps with wood filler.
Inside the howdah I glued in a square platform for the crewman to stand on.
On the sides of the elephant I glued craft stick cut into rectangles to act as aprons or armor (depending on how you paint it).
The howdah crewmen will be standard heart pegs. The pikeman will have both arms up, holding the pike pointing downward, while the javelin man will be throwing a javelin and the left arm down.
I'd like to paint this beast, but I am giving Don the first right of refusal with them. If I want to paint one, I guess I will have to make one - with a corresponding army - for myself. :^)
Brilliant - lovely stuff Dale. Will you be painting Nelly yourself?
ReplyDeleteAs I am building this for the Seleucid player, he has First Right of Painting, but he hasn't decided yet. I need to finish the pikeman, javelin man, and mahout though.
ReplyDeleteI think painting it would be fun. All those armor scales.