Okay, after some musing I figured out how I was going
to assemble the whole head/ cockpit area in a way that would bridge the gap
between this Knight template and the new Games Workshop model.
First, I put the head together. I gave it a bit of a bend in both directions,
wrapping it gently around my hobby knife.
The opposing bends did cancel each other out a bit, but it left a lot of
curve where I needed it. Then I dabbed
some glue on the tabs and worked my way through it.
Helpful Hint—Because of the amount of small
folds and overlaps, it might be worth putting this piece on thinner card. Maybe even something like a file folder
that’s closer to very heavy paper. It’ll
still be rigid, and once it’s on the head base it’ll be solid.
Another Helpful Hint—Start from the right side (looking at the above picture).
That way you’re folding the sections down onto the tabs rather than
trying to push the tabs up onto the sections.
Trust me, it’s easier.
Once I had the whole thing together, I held it for about a
minute and then mounted it onto the head base (the small oval on the
template). This helped the whole thing
hold together, and after maybe two minutes I was comfortable setting it down to
dry.
I also added two 1/4” circles from my hole punch at the back
for a little bit of detail. They’ll be
deep inside the cowl, but the head’s going to be the focus so I think the more
the better. I was careful to make sure
they didn’t hang over the back edge, since that’ll be flush with the
torso.
Next I mounted the head on the neck. The neck’s a very simple piece to assemble (just make sure to give the long center piece a slight curve at the front),
and the head goes on it with no problem.
I also added some hole-punch discs here for more detail. A 1/4” and a 1/8” on each side. Make sure the head is centered and lines up in the front (check the outlines
on the template). This combined piece
has to be just right so it’ll match up with the hull.
This model has a bit of empty space between the head and the
hood. I decided to fill this with a
secondary piece, which I’m going to call the cowl just to make things easier
and clearer. It was scratch-built, but
it’s very simple.
I marked off a piece that was 1/2” wide and 2 1/2”
long. While I was cutting it, I left a
tab on either end and one in the middle.
At the last minute (after I took this photo) I also made a 45 degree cut
on the corners (the red lines). I used a
straight edge on the front, but I wasn’t as worried about the back. I put a curve into this piece by wrapping it
around the handle of my knife.
Finally, the hood.
This was kind of a nightmare.
That front/ outside edge is so thin it’s almost impossible not to tweak
it. I over-curved the top section, I
scored all the tabs to the point that one of them almost fell off, and it was
still a pain. I ended up with half a
dozen clothespins on it, all braced to hold it steady and in the right shape.
Now... time to put all this together.
The scratch-built cowl went on first. I knew it would sit close to the head, and I
didn’t want to be fumbling with the tabs around that piece. I took some measurements, marked off the
centerline of the torso, and glued the cowl so it sat even with the edge-corner
across the “chest” area.
Helpful Hint—Because of the curve of the
torso, the cowl won’t sit flat. If you
look close, it’s connected on either side at the base and then by the tip of
the center tab. The important part is
that it’s flush at the base.
Now I put the head-neck assembly in place. Just as I’d suspected—it just covers the ends
of my tabs for the cowl. It would’ve been a
pain to add the cowl if this piece had been glued down first.
The whole assembly fits great against the torso. It's a very well-designed template. I held the head-neck piece in place for about a minute and it
was solid.
Next is the hood.
Some of you may have noticed that the hood doesn’t have any tabs on
it. I did, too. However, as I just mentioned, this is a very
well-designed template. The hood fits
perfectly against the hull at all points.
I put some glue on the edges of the hood, pressed it into place, and it
was so snug it dried solid.
Now, one last bit of detail...
The original template for the Knight has a sort of
“Mechanicus zipper” pattern across its back.
If you like that, I’d recommend cutting the pattern out on the spare set
of templates, giving it a light curve, and laying it down along the hull’s
center line for a nice, raised detail.
On mine, though, I think I’m going to make another tweak to bring this
model closer to the GW one.
On another note... I’m not going to be able to post next week
because I’m a guest at Texas Frightmare.
So if you happen to be in the Dallas area, swing by an say hullo in
person. But the week after that... much
more progress to show off.
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