Il Gigante

Michelangelo's David has been a subject of controversy over censorship since it's original unveiling in 1504. From my point of view, rhetoric both past and present contain various forms of supposition, bias, and misconception that only serve to muddy the issue.

Galleria dell'Accademia
Not the
Accademia di Belle Arti

Modern sources typically repeat a claim that a girdle of 28 copper leaves was initially used to give the statue some modesty, but according to Franca Falletti in a guest post on the V&A Museum blog, it is not clear whether the "ghirlanda" of leaves was worn around his waist, or as a laurel crown.

Many of these accounts will also state that the "garland" adorned the statue until the mid-16th century, and I find this interesting, because it was around this time that the Council of Trent (1545–1563) proclaimed that religious imagery should not contain elements that they considered profane.

If the garland was indeed draped around the statue's waist, was it merely Florentine contrariness that lead to its removal during this time, or did the powers that be decide to replace the garland with a singular fig leaf?

In any event, a fig leaf was added at some point, and not removed until 1912 according to unconfirmed Internet hearsay (I've also seen c.1890).

From what I can tell, replica statues at the Piazza della Signoria (installed 1910) and the Piazzale Michelangelo (installed 1873) seem to have been displayed in their natural state.

Piazza della Signoria, 1918

Piazzale Michaelangelo
L'Illustrazione Italiana N. 5
4 febbraio 1877

The statue of David that I have is an accessory from an action figure set by NECA for the film The Goonies.

The statue in the film is a small ceramic replica that suffers an unfortunate accident.

That's my mom's most favorite piece!

Exercising their own bit of censorship, NECA produced the figure in its post-accident, pre-repair state.

The real statue stands 17' tall, which means that it should be 71.9mm in 1/72 scale, but the NECA figure is 67.3mm in height, which is a full scale foot shorter.

The math makes the figure out to be around 1/78 scale, but I think it might be closer to 1/76 scale (or somewhere in between) because I feel there is some discrepancy in the height of the base between the real statue and the miniature.

Anyway, the size is a bit off, but the figure is still a usable scenic feature. I'm up in the air about whether to do some sculpting to restore the figure to its intended form.

Michelangelo's Dave

Speira Miniatures

I placed an order with Speira Miniatures back in April, and received the models from Sweden in July, after a lengthy stop in Illinois.

Speira has a nice range of in-house historical miniatures, but their range of fantasy miniatures all seem to be 3D files licensed from other companies. I will cover some of their historical figures in the future, but this post will primarily be about the fantasy miniatures.

The first two figures are a pair of skeletons designed by Runeforge Studios.

Like most 3D resin printed skeletons I've seen, these do not disappoint. I really think that resin 3D printing technology is ideal for making skeletons.

The next figure is a dwarf (Roteante) designed by MiniaturesOfMaddness. I requested that it be printed as an 18mm figure because I imagined it would be on the tall and bulky side in 1/72 after seeing examples posted by Sceavus.

Unfortunately, the 18mm print looks undersized to me. Rotenante looks scrawny and underfed next to the 15mm Scibor dwarf (left), and is much smaller than the Caesar dwarf (right).

Next are three female figures – Elena, Aline the Bold, and a Female Warrior, all designed by Artisan Guild. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of the Artisan Guild models. Overall, their models seem to be influenced by a kind of WoW video game aesthetic that is too cartoony for my tastes.

With respect to these figures, the proportions seem off, and the first two poses are overly exaggerated. Still, I'm guessing they'll look okay after being painted up.

The final miniatures are lamassu terrain pieces, which I believe are in-house 3D designs by Speira.

The bull-type lamassu measures 54mm to the highest point.

The lion-type lamassu measures 60mm to the highest point.

I ordered the lamassu statues because they brought back faded memories from the 90s, of a fantasy diorama that I saw at the now closed Aero Hobbies in Santa Monica.

Notables from the D&D world associated with Aero Hobbies included the owner, Gary Switzer, and the renowned J. Eric Holmes who bought his first D&D rulebooks there. Of course, by the time I visited the store, the kid at the register didn't even know what Demogorgon was.

Now that I think about it, I probably should have ordered the 28mm prints, because I seem to recall that the pieces at Aero Hobbies were larger than these 1/72 prints (but it could just be my imagination). In any event, having something closer to the scale of the lamassu that are part of the Gate of All Nations would look quite impressive.

On a side note, about 20 miles due west from Aero Hobbies, you will find a shopping center known as the Citadel Outlet, which has several lamassu incorporated into its architecture. It is said to be based on the palace of the Assyrian ruler Sargon II, and quite eye-catching as you pass by on the freeway.

City of Commerce

Lasciate ogni pensiero o voi ch'intrate

The Sacro Bosco is a 16th century garden commissioned by Vicino Orsini in Viterbo, Italy. The fantastical renaissance garden has inspired the likes of Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau among others. An interesting article on the history and significance of the garden appears in Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes and is available online.

One of the most iconic sculptures in the garden is the Mouth of Orcus, which seems to be a particular favorite of many artists. In old photographs, it is often referred to as la Bocca dell'Inferno (the Mouth of Hell).

c. 1930

Salvador Dali nel
"giardino dei mostri", 1948

Mostro im Garten des Palazzo Orsin
Herbert List, 1952

Il Castello dei morti vivi, 1964

A model of the Mouth of Orcus comes with the Sons of Orcus box set for Gangs of Rome.

The model does not have the inscription over the mouth, but I think it looks better that way.

VC People: Ogni Pensiero Vola
(All Thoughts Fly)

Many of the painted models I've seen are colored a verdigris green, like the studio model, but the actual scuplture is constructed of gray peperino (and covered in green moss).

I plan on using the model in a larger terrain piece, most likely set in a wall, but I'm quite curious about what the actual sculpture looks like from the top and the rear.

If I get the chance to visit Italy again, the Sacro Bosco is definitely one of the places that will be on my itinerary.

Hirst Arts Blocks

I dug out some Hirst Arts pieces that have been sitting in a box for a number of years.

The pieces look like they came from the following molds:

Water Cavern Walls A (Cavern Mold #81)
Water Cavern Walls B (Cavern Mold #82)
Rock Cavern Pillar (Cavern Mold #84)
Cavern Floor Accessories (Cavern Mold #282)

I always thought that these were one part castings, but it isn't the case as some assembly is required. The Hirst Arts page is a trove of information, and I was able to put the parts together very quickly after taking a look at the instructions.

The pieces that I have were cast in Hydrostone, which went together pretty well with wood glue.

Once glued together, I could still see seams between the parts, so I used spackling paste to cover the gaps.

I didn't really see mention of doing this on the Hirst Arts site, but since they recommend using latex house paint with the pieces, maybe it's not necessary due to the thickness of the paint.

The natural stone arch was joined by pinning. Hydrostone is easy to drill, and the pin was attached using CA glue.

Spackling paste was used to make the arch look continuous and fill in the gaps between the parts.

I also did a little modification on the cut stone archway because the reverse side of the supporting pillars were completely devoid of features.

I carved some details into the pieces with a needle file to approximate the other surfaces of the pillars.

I recommend wearing some sort of mask if you do this, since I think I ended up giving myself Hydrostone silicosis in the process.

For painting the water cavern pieces, I plan to follow the rock wash technique described on the Hirst site. I like the cream base color because it conforms to the color that I see in pictures of actual caves.

The dark gray that is used in typical prepainted cave features seems to be the preferred standard of most people, but I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a real stalagmite or stalactite that was dark gray.

The rock cavern pieces will be painted in the typical dungeon gray colors.

Currently I've base coated all the parts, but I probably won't be able to finish painting until the weekend.

Venus figurines

"Venus figurines" is a term used to refer to Aurignacian and Gravettian carvings of the female form created during the upper Paleolithic period.

From White and Bisson (1998)

The Venus figures that I own however, are more contemporary. The figure on the left is the Reaper Fertility Idol (Bones Black 44093), while the figure on the right is a doll house miniature of unknown manufacture.

The Reaper figures is a 1/2 scale representation of the actual Venus of Willendorf, but at 1/72 scale it would be closer in size to the New Venus of Willendorf (sans Crocs) created by Paweł Wocial.

The Reaper figure came with a base that I thought was too busy, so I rebased the figure on a plain metal washer.

Because of its size, the Reaper figure reminded me of Hudekin the Giant Idol (Thane Tostig 12) from Minot's Miniature Armoury.

Hudekin is supposed to be holding the sword Blood-drinker aloft, but I misplaced the sword somewhere.

The doll house Venus is a representation of the Venus de Milo, which scales out very closely to 1/72.

I patched a couple of casting flaws in the miniature, then sprayed a couple of coats of white paint on her, and she was finished.

Dollar Store Finds

I stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up some school supplies and saw some Military and Construction Playsets from Greenbrier International in the toy section.

What caught my eye were the chemical storage tanks, which looked like they could pass for 1/72 scale, so I bought four of the sets.

The models are probably equivalent to 2000 gallon tanks, and can be used as terrain pieces or objective markers.

I'll probably buy some more of these so I can paint them up in different colors.

I also picked up another set with a car that looked like it could pass as a 3rd generation Pontiac Trans Am in 1/72.

The other two vehicles in the sets resemble a Flakpanzer Gepard and a Tectran ATV carrying a SSM of some type, but they're closer to 1/144 scale or smaller, so are of little use to me.

The store also had a selection of Maisto diecast cars. I picked out a few that I thought might be 1/72 scale, but I haven't checked their dimensions to verify how close they are yet.

The cars I bought include a Ford F-350, Dodge Ram, Pontiac Rosewood, Chevy Bel Air, Dunbar Armored Car, and a Ford Woody.

I'll do a more detailed report on these cars sometime in the future.