A return this week to some more Footsore knights.
This is the first of two little dioramas I have planned. The other will hopefully be completed in a week or so. The model itself is a simple affair, just three figures on a base with very little ground work. My image of the crusades is one of an arid and dusty landscape. Whilst I like the array of colours and heraldry painting knights offers I do find the Templar and Hospitaller Knights very iconic. Of the two I elected to go for the Hospitallers as I had a preference for black over white.
What can I say about the figures?
The tunic crosses were painted freehand as were the two shields as there is no embossing or engraving on the figures themselves. The flag was hand made. You can buy flags and banners already printed but I found a YouTube tutorial on how to make your own so I gave it ago. Not a lot to it really, the key is to use Oriental/Asian writing paper. The paper has more of a fabric feel to it and in my opinion produced a decent end result. I went for a simple cross befitting both the model and my first attempt. Once painted and allowed to dry a wash of PVA was apllied. When the PVA had dried the flag could be folded and shaped more easily and hold its position.
Images of the model below.
TIM
The Imperfect Modeller 
These are great, I really like the dirt / dust on the bottom of the black tunics. Well done on the banner as well.
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Thank you glad you like them.
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Very nice, Dave! 🙂 I must admit, I like the dusty feel you’ve got with them!
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Thanks John. Hopefully it’ makes for relatively true representation.
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Very nice, I do like a crusader army. The dust on the bottom of the tunics looks spot on. My wish to rebuild my original crusader force and foe….I had a unit of the knights of Lazarus who had a green cross on the mantle instead of white.
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When I think knights it conjures up several things for me (Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, etc) but the crusaders are I think the most iconic. I like the idea of green crosses, maybe another time.
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and when fighting remember the green cross code, look right.. look left..
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These are great Davey. Really, really nice. Well done with the freehand and the flag is a tour de force.
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Thanks matey. Now working on another one. 😊
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you just got love these little dioramas, so neat and i bet every one that looks has their own little narrative going on, looking great..
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Thanks Steve. The little dioramas are compromise I have settled on to overcome the ever growing problem of space.
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As someone that lives in a flat I understand that problem all too well..
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Superb- love it.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Thanks Pete.
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Absolute magic Dave, cant fault these in any way ,the figures are great as is the flag you have made and as for their dusty robes marvellous. Just a note on your brilliant free hand I happened to accidently buy a paintbrush when shopping in an art shop with the young’un ,I thought gee its only 1 quid so I’ll give it a try ,bugger me it improved my free hand like you wouldn’t believe ! it is longer in the bristles than I would usually use but it wasn’t 1 quid it was 6 and sable ! maybe its time to change my attitude to brushes and having just read post by IRO on the subject I really think I should.
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Glad you like the model Pat. As for brushes some people don’t think the quality makes a difference but I am not one of them. Quality brushes like W&N made a big difference to me. They cost more but last longer and gave me better results. Each to their own but my advice is go for good brushes, especially for the detail work. The tip of the point is key in my opinion.
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I’m starting to believe you mate !
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This is a great piece and incredibly inspiring. The Crusades are like WWI for me and are a topic, I find fascinating. I can’t remember a specific conflict where it happened but I know there were times where the knights ended up wandering the deserts before and after a battle because they were in an unfamiliar land and I got those kinds of vibes here. Running out of water was a real problem back then and I can imagine these three being thirsty and looking for some relief after some kind of skirmish!
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Thank you and I like your background narrative 😊. Some periods in history are very iconic and when it comes to knights my first thought is always the crusades.
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