# Aurora Red Knight of Vienna WIP



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

This is the Revell/Monogram reissue of the Aurora Red Knight. This time he comes in a more managable light grey plastic. The instructions are very poor, but much of the kit is really self explanatory. Molding is fairly rought. There is a bit of flash on most parts, and there are some blemishes on the surface of the otherwise smooth armor. Nothing really impossible to fix.

I try to build my figures up into natural sub assemblies to make painting easier and to reduce the number of parts that have to be glued once paint is applied.

The body and skirt go together okay. I used some filler around the shoulders. The parts are primed with Tamiya light grey spray primer.










The arms, legs, etc. all fit well enough as-is, with no filler. I did sand down the joings carefully to eliminate them where applicable. The lower leg armor is actually in front and back halves, so there is a natural seam there.










The two-headed Vulture for the helmet top. The front piece did not fit well but I filled the gap with a Correction Fluid pen.










The Knight's head needed a little putty and sanding.










Small parts are removed from the sprues, cleaned up, and then fixed back on the sprue from behind for painting. This way I can paint them without handling them. A tiny bit of liquid cement on the back holds them in place, but they are easy to pop off for final assembly.










The three piece helmet did not fit well. I used some red Bondo glazing putty to fill the front and back seams. I really did not want to add the top of the helmet, but it fit poorly and had a bad seam that needed to be blended into the helmet shell. I used more Correction Fluid here. Correction Fluid pens are fast and neat for simple gap filling.



















The lance was very poorly molded. Again, some Correction Fluid drawn down the seam and sanded smooth did a nice enough job. Making a new lance from hardwood would be fairly simple.


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

Comming along very well!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

For what its worth, this is the actual suit of armor (incomplete) that the Aurora kit is based on.










Most if not all of the Aurora kits, including the mounted knight, are based on suits of armor in the Wallace Collection in England.

http://www.wallacecollection.org/index.php

The Aurora kit differs in detail but is obviously based on this suit. They added the funny gilt vulture on top of the helmet. I'm not sure where that came from. It is not a heraldic emblem of Vienna or Austria, both of which use a single headed eagle, nor is it an emblem from the Holy Roman Empire (double headed eagle). Most likely while Aurora used a book or catalogue of the Wallace Collection to design the kit's armor, the bird and detail of the suit were concocted by the sculptor to make the kit more interesting. 

Likewise there is no indication this suit was ever painted red. Colored knights tend to be more of a modern, pop culture thing. Historically, Edward the Black Prince, whose armor is well documented, wore polisted steel armor and a bright blue, yellow and red tabbard. No black at all...


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## buzzconroy (Jun 28, 2002)

Aurora made kits that would appeal to kids, same scenerio for Captain Kidd, looks too hollywood on boxart. Kidd wouldnt be dress like that at sea.Apache warrior looks like a hollywood indian, but they are what they and I like em.
Didnt airfix made realistic knights?

Randy


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Airfix had a few 1/12 knights in their figure series. They are all really old (late 50s early 60s). Figures weren't Airfix's best subject, but they look nice when finished. They had Edward the Black Prince, Richard the Lionheart, Charles the 1st, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cromwell, Ceasar, and Joan of Arc in various types of armor. The kits don't go for super amounts of money, usually just more than I want to pay for them considering they are fairly poor. I got a Heller reissue of Joan of Arc at a fair price, and found a Black Prince at an IPMS show for $5. On eBay they go for $25-$45. Early issues were sold in bags.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I painted all the armor with Tamiya Metallic Red spray. It's a very nice, smooth color that looks close to the original Aurora plastic. The color covers well and dries quickly. Each part got at least three coats so they are all nice and dark. Its hard sometimes getting all the parts to match up as the more paint you apply the darker and deeper the finish gets.










The chain mail areas are painted with Humbrol Acrylic Gunmetal.










I started the face with a layer of Humbrol acrylic Flesh and some Rust brown on the hair areas.










A wash of Humbrol acrylic Dark Earth and Black will pick out some details. Right now the face looks "muddy" but this will be fixed later on.


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## IanWilkinson (Apr 23, 2010)

WOW!..never built one of the knight series before.. looks like a real challenge due to the seam work involved!... out of the series which one was the harder to build??


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

The good thing about most of the seams on most of the kits is they are where pairs of plates meet, IE Breastplate to back plate, or halves of the greaves ( lower leg armour) or vambraces and rerebraces..(arms)


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## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

"I painted all the armor with Tamiya Metallic Red spray."
- You mean directly from a spray can?


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Yes spray paint/spray can. Tamiya spray lacquers are excellent. They go on smooth, dry with a hard, glossy finish, and can be handled in a short time (I did let these dry overnight before serious handling).

The kits build "okay". Molding is a bit rough, even on the original issues. Just some lumps and bumps to remove here and there. Fit is not bad but some things like the way the arms fit to the torso are very tricky and sloppy. The parts fit but not positively, so be careful and figure out just how they do fit before you blob glue all over. I only used filler on the helmet and shoulders for the most part.

I painted the eyes with white (gets toned down) and applied a wash of black/brown oil paint to sharpen up the details around the eyes, nose, edge of hair, etc.










Now I go back with the Flesh, White, and a bit of Scarlet and paint in some highlights and color. The eyes are brown, but I have not added the black pupil yet.


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

IanWilkinson said:


> WOW!..never built one of the knight series before..


You should be able to pick most of them up cheap on ebay, Ian, and then you'll find that they're a very nice series, and the seems aren't that much of a problem really. If you can find and build a Gold Knight on Horse kit, you'll be amazed at the finished item :hat:.


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## Frankie Boy (Feb 28, 2002)

djnick66:

May I ask (please & thank you with sugar on top) if you could try to get your photos in proper focus. I'd really like to get a better look at the detail of your work.

thanks


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## machgo (Feb 10, 2010)

Very nice work so far. That red color is gorgeous. Dumb question time: can these be assembled withOUT the head/face and body parts? I think I'd rather have a suit of armor as it would display in a museum case. Thanks, and impressive!


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I try to get the important pictures in focus but basically I take these at the counter of my shop by holding the part in front of a piece of black cardboard. I don't have a fancy set up at all. Just the camera in one hand and the parts or cardboard in the other. Basically I do this at work in my down time with an inexpensive camera.

You could sort of make these into empty suits of armor but it would take some work. Most of the Knights have areas of clothing or skin on the backs of the legs, etc. To do it properly you could use the actual metal parts of the armor, and thin the edges to make it look hollow, and then not use the backs of the legs, etc. The leather straps that hold the armor to the body (and that are molded on the backs of the arms, legs, etc.) could be made from lead foil with wire buckles.


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## jaws62666 (Mar 25, 2009)

djnick66 said:


> I try to get the important pictures in focus but basically I take these at the counter of my shop by holding the part in front of a piece of black cardboard. I don't have a fancy set up at all. Just the camera in one hand and the parts or cardboard in the other. Basically I do this at work in my down time with an inexpensive camera.
> 
> You could sort of make these into empty suits of armor but it would take some work. Most of the Knights have areas of clothing or skin on the backs of the legs, etc. To do it properly you could use the actual metal parts of the armor, and thin the edges to make it look hollow, and then not use the backs of the legs, etc. The leather straps that hold the armor to the body (and that are molded on the backs of the arms, legs, etc.) could be made from lead foil with wire buckles.


How do you spray paint your parts. I use spray cans as well, but i dont hve anything to hold the parts up. I lay them on cardboard to paint. Do you have a method so that the pieces stand up so you dont have to move them around


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I cut the parts off the sprues, and clean up any seams, joints, etc. If its something like an arm, I glue those parts together and smooth out the seams. Then, I stick the large, hollow parts on the end of bamboo shish kebab sticks. Sometimes I stuff a little wadded up paper towel inside to keep the parts from flopping around. The long sticks let me hold the parts, and when they need to dry, I can just stick the long handle down in a glass, edge of a cardboard box, etc. Smaller parts get tacked back onto the sprues on their backsides. I just use a little CA glue or tiny amount of liquid cement to temporarily bond the part on an unseen side. The figure's head was stuck to a piece of sprue, for example. My first post here shows the small parts fixed back onto their sprues for painting.


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

machgo said:


> Very nice work so far. That red color is gorgeous. Dumb question time: can these be assembled withOUT the head/face and body parts? I think I'd rather have a suit of armor as it would display in a museum case. Thanks, and impressive!


 Indeed you could, just leave off the heads, and you could even cut away the area around the breast and backplates where the neck would be.


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