10mm Fenryll - Fighting Dragon 

by Christian Curec - aka Chris Cat

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  Romania National Day 2006 

 

The story

Zant tightened the grip of his tail along the old ruin. He opened his wings with a gesture that could freeze the blood of any living being. But slowly he realised that nobody will come in the open to attack him.

The huge arrow missed him very close. From the darkness of the wood, those tiny little humans launched the arrow in his direction. They were probably running now, taking advantage of the huge trees. He was surprised how good they have hidden the tools that throw that arrow. In the light of the evening he was able to see it only in the last moment. 

Who could believe that – small, week without claws and teeth to attack or defend the humans were always seen as a perfect prey.

Only now he realised how dangerous they were.  In a short time they succeeded to kill all of its kind.

The cleverness in building new tools, the hunt in pack and the ferocity displayed in protecting their young were above all claws and teeth’s. 

Hanging on the ruins of an old guard tower Zant realised that his days are numbered. He could never win against such a cunning foe. Sooner or later an arrow will break his flight.

The kit

I usually build airplanes but lately I was attracted by other types of models.

This figurine is made from resin by “Fenryll” and has a height of 100mm. There are a small number of parts, six together with the tower ruins.The parts have a lot of details and there is no excess material on their surface.

But my biggest surprise was that the documentation – THERE IS NO DOCUMENTATION – no colours, nothing…

The only guide is the photo from the plastic box. So I had to rely on my imagination and I must confess that it was a pleasant experience.

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The build

The first step was to study how a dragon looks.

I must say that there is a huge difference between the image of a Dragon in occidental culture and the image from the Chinese culture. I have downloaded from internet a lot of images from dragons and old towers and I have decided the followings:

- Dark green and shiny (as a lizard or snake) and a little ugly.

- Yellow eyes – to have a good contrast with the skin with black and red pupils.

- The wings will have different shades – red on the back and pale green on the inside.

- Black shiny claws.

I chose to make a small diorama, a top of a hill to place the ruin and dragon. 

I started by checking how well the pieces matched and I decided to use filler and glue all the parts before painting. I primed the entire model with an automotive primer.

The tower was painted with acrylics. I have combined several colors until I got one similar to the color from a photo of an old tower. The paint was lightened and I used a brush to paint the ruin. Afterwards I made two different tones (lighter and darker) and picked different rocks from the walls and painted them in order to break the monotony of a single paint and to give the effect of different rocks that made the wall.

I have used dark brown (email paint) to paint the branches, and “Faller” grass fiber to make the leafs. Finally the tower received an oil wash with dark brown color.

With a brush I painted the belly with a pale green and continued with a dark green for the rest of body. Eyes were painted in yellow and teeth with ivory.

I used a toothpick to paint a red dot and over the dot I painted a black line (used acrylic and enamel). I had to make it several times until it got out as I wanted. I have also used Future to enhance eye shining.

The wing shades were made with enamel transparent color (red and green) and airbrush. I have airbrushed the paint from a small angle from the surface in order to obtain the desired effect.

Washes were made with dark brown oil paints. I have covered the wall completely with the tinned oil paint, letting the paint to flow in all the crevasses. The Dragon was washed with a 0 brush and the wash was applied only on the crevasses in order to maintain the color. After 20 min. I have washed the excess paint. 

I have made the hill from an old polyester frame. I used a cutter and the bread knife to form the hill. I made a path to the old ruin and I used modeling paste to make debris and rocks fallen from the old ruin along the path and inside the tower.

The grass was made with modeling fiber grass (Faller) used mainly for railroad dioramas. I also added some bushes around the ruin.

The small stones from the path were made with baking soda, painted and washed with oil paints.

Conclusion:

I have to confess that this is my first figurine. It was a pleasure to build. I am convinced that this will not my last one. After working 6 months on a plane or tank model it will be a pleasure for me to make a small figurine. 

Christian

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Photos and text © by Christian Curec