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Valiant’s "Death Dealer" |
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Review by Al LaFleche, #30337 |
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Many years ago, when I first started painting figures, Valiant had a metal version of Frank Frazetta’s THE DEATH DEALER, a fantasy horseman in chain mail and cloak atop a draft horse totting a massive battle axe. While I was fascinated by this, I never got it. Squadron recently re-released this for about $18, really cheap for a 1/35 mounted figure. It comes, as did all Valiant kits, packed in a plastic bag with a postcard sized reproduction of the original art and information on painting the model on the back. Inside the bag is a second small bag containing tail, shield, spurs, horns for the helmet, battle axe and reins, the two halves of the horse, lightly detailed base and the one piece figure are loose in the larger bag. There is no instruction sheet and, really, none is needed. I began assembly by superglueing the horse halves and filling the resulting seam. This proved tedious and the seam remained over most of the horse. To remedy this I added a lead foil crupper, the gizmo that holds the tail up, to the haunch and a costume jewelry chain between the bridle and the saddle along the chest. Three pieces of chain decoration are lightly reliefed to the saddle blanket. I filed these off and added more bits of chain attached with brass wire inserted into holes drilled at the base of the blanket. I didn’t like the reins so I added some more chain to the bits and some lead foil for the reins themselves. I drilled holes in opposite feet and added brass rod. Corresponding holes were drilled in the base and the wood plaque to which this would be attached. The horse was primed in light gray the given a base coat of Floquil Grimy Black. The tail, mane and fetlocks were given washes of Prussian blue and black. Muscle detail was shaded with thinned lamp black and everything was highlighted with relatively dark gray while the mane, tail and fetlocks got lighter gray toe emphasize the texture. The eyes got a drop of Tamiya clear red over black (Hey, this is a fantasy figure!) Metal parts and blanket were painted bronze and leathers were done in Vallejo Saddle Brown. Turning to the figure, I replaced the white metal shaft on the battle axe with a more sturdy piece of brass rod and painted this shades of Model Master Metalizer. I primed the figure’s cloak in gray and painted it black on the outside with an Imperial Purple liner. The purple was highlighted by lightening the base color with Sky Blue. I sprayed his chain mail with Model Master Gunmetal metalizer then washed this with Lamp Black and lightly highlighted it with Burnt Metal, which was the color of the helmet. I painted what flesh was visible using my usual mixture of Burnt Sienna and white, but added a dollop of sap green to give him a more zombie like look. The internet provided better details of the Frazetta artwork and the artist has the figure carrying a sword over his back. I scratch built this from sheet stock, a Historex handle and more jewelry chain. Turning to the base, I painted it brown with gray rocks, then drilled random holes for Woodland Scenics tall dry grass. I then put drops of white glue and poured Hudson & Allen dead leaves and debris from the bottom of a bag of lichen to give the feel of a desolate landscape. I epoxied the horse to the base and the base to the plaque before attaching the figure to the horse. Shield and battle axe were next. The last parts to be added were the horns which had some pretty big attachment points to be cleaned up and spurs, since these were particularly delicate. Pros: This is an economical, relatively easy kit to build and paint. Being fantasy, there are no rights or wrongs to worry about. Completed, it presents an interesting, unusual figure. Cons: This is clearly not up to current standards of sculpting, especially in the quality of the chain mail. Getting rid of the horse’s seams was very difficult. The placement holes for the horns were not lined up evenly on either side of the helmet. One foot has joints for the armor sculpted in while the other doesn’t. Verdict: Despite some flaws that come from being a 20+ year old design, this is well worth the price and has a great deal of fun quotient, allowing the builder a lot of creativity in painting. August 2003 |
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