Tourney Horse - Revisited

A week ago I posted here about the creation of a new figure for my May Parade arts project. It's called the Tourney Horse.

However, when I put it with all of the other figures, two things became immediately apparent. Firstly, I'd got the scale wrong. For the project I'm working to a 1/12th scale and most figures are around six inches tall. The Tourney Horse was significantly shorter, as if the costume was being worn by a child.

Secondly, it just wasn't ... good enough. I was happy with the legs and the 'hooden horse' head. But the 'head' on top was pretty poor and the caparison - the draped cover looked a bit shabby and featureless. So, this weekend, I decided to rebuild it.

I started by pulling the entire thing apart. 

I increased the height of the figure using an old loo roll tube and hot glue. Then I bought some A6 white stickers and cut them into strips. Starting at the bottom of the 'skirt' I began layering the strips in place. My aim was to create a longer caparison covered in rags - rather like the Tourney horses from Minehead in Somerset. This increased the length of the skirt by about one and 1/2 inches.

I covered the entire caparison in PVA glue to lock it all in place and to create a good surface for painting.

I sculpted a new, larger 'head' piece and a tail. Then all of the pieces were sprayed black and highlighted with gold.

And here's the final re-build Tourney Horse. It's 100% better than the first version and about 90% is cannibalised and re-used, which is pleasing. It also looks right among the other figures.

A worthwhile rebuild.