Helmet bird

[carlos filipe]

AUTOR: "atom"
http://guru2.karakasa.com/Hieronymus%20Bosch_menu_e.html
The “helmet bird” is a small creature holding a pot of ink and a pen folder, whilst two lovers are signing a contract in Hell in the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.

 

[carlos filipe]

Building the model

I printed it on A4 card as suggested. In the end I had a figurine 130mm high (roughly 4’’).
Although the author’s step-by-step is clear I got lost with certain assemblies. The first was the torso. I couldn’t get the right position and obviously I was doing something wrong as it was also too tall.
By then I had already decided to putty the joints, so I started trimming until I got the right pose.

 

[carlos filipe]

The helmet was a little tricky for me to acquire the right shape.
Actually it only made sense when I assembled the front part, only possible to glue in the end.
As usual with large pieces I apply cyano glue inside. It’s a “bath” actually that stiffens the parts.
I applied Tamiya’s putty and smoothed the joints, but didn’t “erased” the original forms and some of the joints.

 

[carlos filipe]

I airbrushed with Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics following the colors of the model artwork. Then I coated with gloss varnish from Windsor & Newton in spray can form.
I cannibalized so much the author’s model that I went all the way through. I paid more attention to the colors in Bosch’s painting and tried to match them.
The hako style feet, specially the one hanging on the helmet’s crest were not of my liking. But still undecided as what to do.
I went on assembling the small parts like the arrow and the inkpot. After visiting the site again (http://guru2.karakasa.com/Hieronymus%20Bosch_menu_e.html), looking for clues I came across a link to the forum kartonmodellbau where a modeler downsized the figurine to half and made a new foot using what I believe to be a home brewed papier-mâché. I felt stronger my idea of doing one looking more realistic and decided to try my own recipe: equal quantities of tissue paper, PVA glue and finishing plaster (the one used to finish drywalls). Kept the bowl closed airtight in a plastic bag for some 20-24H and got myself an interesting paste. Too wet and rough to work with, but after some 3 or 4 days it cured and could be carved with a Dremel. Unfortunally my recipe was too lumpy to carve fine details, so got fed up and used a coat of Vallejo acrylic putty.
I think the work was worthwhile as I feel that a corpse foot dangling from a strange bird’s helmet was important for the scene.
The ink pot with a lid that wasn’t in the model, the mace (detailed inspired by the German colleague’s work and the new foot by the original one from the kit.
It is missing the arrow that by the way has a strange feature. Only displays two sets of feathered fins. I thought they always had three fins, but went to check the painting and it shows only two fins. So I stuck to the original.
I also cut three toes on each foot of the bird and puttied with Vallejo’s.
Time to finish the figurine and think on how to display it.
Added spikes to the helmet. In my understanding, Bosch uses some insect features in his dream creatures. So I inserted copper wire and coated with several coats of PVA glue that dries transparent. I tried to preserve that transparency by mixing Tamiya clear orange with brown, but the mix was wrong and the effect was lost. The best approach should be with clear varnish and drops of some tint. Well, anyhow I had to conceal the copper wire that could be seen prior to painting. Perhaps spikes like these (or drool from monsters) could be better replicated with UHU type of glue, applying tiny drops on toothpicks and let them cure hanging. Or then medium gel.
I also added some rivets following the idea of the German modeler in kartonmodelbau or kartonist. But I tried to stick to the colors of the painting, avoiding a realistic treatment with metallic paints.

 

[carlos filipe]

The helmet bird is a footnote in the painting. I wanted to have it in context. It is aesthetically powerful, but it belongs to a small scene in the bewildered world of Hieronymus Bosch.
What I call the “supporting actors” glued on 2mm cardboard, the edge painted dark brown to give a round effect. On the back two steel wires are fastened with pieces of cardboard from a cereal box. You’ll notice a change of color on the edges. That is due to a coat of cyano glue I spread over the edge. This way it hardened and I could use a sanding pad to smooth the cut.

I took two sets of photos. The firt using bubble wraping plastic as a backdrop. they look silly. Then I found home a nice paper looking like old leather; it blends a little better.
«end of presentation»

 

[Wojtee]

This must be the weirdest model around here
I like how you used the flat part of the picture as the second plane.
The background paper also fits the scene perfectly.
(insert some clapping smiley here)

 

[Zathros]

This diorama slapped me right in the face when I first saw it. I know artists who have copied paintings, sometimes just to own a copy, but bringing this into 3d like this, well that is just superb! Not much gets to me these days.

 

[carlos filipe]

Thank you for the comments.
I hope to start soon another model from the same author. This designer (the link in the beginning of this topic) has more figures based on the Hyeronimus Bosch paintings.
Regards
Carlos

 

[Zathros]

My son was looking over my shoulder and saw this and said "Whaaat is that!!", That began a 45 minute odyssey which only a Father and Son can have. That's a wonderful thing!