Beneito Miniatures Catholic King and Queen (1 Viewer)

[blaster]

Hi All,

I've had this set forever. A rather exotic kit then, from Spain. Now out of production, it represents King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. However, when I tried to assemble and paint it up, The queen figure was beautifully sculpted and cast. The king figure, however, was shorter than the queen figure (a possibility but unattractive pairing to me), his features were badly misshapen and there was some bulk missing from his fur coat. I tried to rectify these by raising the height of the king, corrected his features and sculpted some fur onto his coat. The first pic shows the stage at which I left this piece more than 20 odd years ago.

Then I rediscovered it in my stupendous Aladdin's cave of grey figures. On further careful reconsideration, I think I would like to rescue this piece from its dusty obscurity. Beneito's figures always seem taller and larger than the average 54mm. The queen stands at 65mm. My reworked king stands at 70mm. Therefore, I decided to drastically reduce the height of the two figures. I hacked away at the lower portion of the queen to reduce her by about 1 cm, taking pics of the original for reference and remodelling of the gown. The same thing was done for the king, but without so much apprehension. I will also try to improve on his features now that I have some pictorial references. The last picture shows the base itself, which is not great either. I will improve on this.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

More pics:

 

[theBaron]

Another interesting project, Vic! Even though they were unfinished, they look pretty good at that stage.

I look forward to seeing your progress!

Prost!
Brad

 

[blaster]

Hello Brad,

Thanks for yr inputs. I will be starting further work on this couple soon, now that I have finished a few other projects. I am thinking of resculpting the whole face and head of Ferdinand, as the present figure looks like a long-haired hippie. Might as well go the whole way.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

Well, I did it. I snipped off his face (Nick Cage fashion) and will resculpt a new face. I added some putty to sculpt in crumpled folds in the Queen's gown.

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi Guys,

While in Zaragosa, Spain this spring we saw an exhibit of items relating to these two very important rulers of Spain. I found it very interesting that his portraits all dipicted him with a very heavy 5 oclock shadow even from a very young age. She was similar in the semi sour or perhaps dour expression she had in all of hers. Looking forward to seeing the finished results.

Dave

 

[blaster]

Hello Dave,

thanks for that insight. I'll try to go for a droopy dourpuss look. Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I sculpted the face over about 3 sessions to let the underlying putty harden. I can't show you work in progress as the pics were not clear. I did try to avoid a phantom of the opera look. But the end result has the face and hair sculpted so far.

I also added surplus putty to the base and sanded it smooth.

 

[blaster]

I built up the jaw and lips.

 

[blaster]

I completed his face with a suitably dour demeanour. I didn't like what his right hand was doing, which was gripping the bottom edge of the robe. This resulted in some strange looking folds on the right side. So I decided to remove the right hand and resculpted the edge of the robe. I will be resculpting all the folds. It's obvious to me that the sculptor focused all his creative energy on sculpting the Queen figure and this King figure was just knocked up to accompany the Queen.

 

[blaster]

The robe was fully resculpted and a right hand was added.

 

[blaster]

Right hand and fur on robe sculpted.

 

[blaster]

Moving away from Mr Catholic, I trimmed the Book stand height to align the left hand with the Queen figure.

 

[blaster]

Took out this project and dusted off the cobwebs. I decided to create two levels for the base.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Took out this project and dusted off the cobwebs. I decided to create two levels for the base.

Excellent medieval scene.

Thank you.

 

[blaster]

Hello Matt,


thanks for your kind comment. It's a bit like staging a scene - quite fun to move the elements around. The raised tier for the King was an interesting concept.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I took out the King. What was wrong with him?

I figured that it was the gnarled right hand. I substituted an open palm to represent some form of benediction bestowed by Ferdinand.

 

[blaster]

Rearranged the drapery of the book stand to fit the Queen's robes. Sculpted a simple sceptre for Ferdinand. I was at the Royal Chapel in Granada. They only have the sceptre for the Queen.

 

[joesgis]

Amazing work!! Thank you for sharing all the photos of your heavy modifications.

Joe

 

[blaster]

Hi Joe,

thanks for your comments. Still WIP. I've resculpted some hair to the left side. Added a moustache and started to paint it now.

Rgds
Victor