The previous blog had a picture of some model animals. We are challenged (and tasked) to produce a life size war horse and a dog for 2023’s Community Remembrance Service hosted by the Norton Sports Charity.
Why not make an early start? You might have watched a delightful short cartoon film produced by the |BBC based on the story book “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”. Below is a page from the book itself.
Thought! Why not model our war horse on this horse?
A little research provided the information that a war horse would be about 17 hands high (hoof to shoulder). a hand is considered 4″. That means 6 feet.
We will use the construction ideas from the models in the preceding blog but the shapes are needed. These are shown in the picture below which will need to be scaled up 2.5 times.
5×5 sheets of A4 paper sellotaped together. Full size it would be 150 sheets!
Where to start? We decided to start with the horse’s head. Googling, we found a head for wall mounting. A framework of pieces which we could scale up and cut from thin ply. Below are some illustrations and photos of the head under construction.
The way to do it!
View from the horse’s mouth
Shaping up. Reminds Graham of his young days making model planes and boats in balsa wood!
Paul and Graham had a head to head over the size of the horse’s head. Was it to scale? Some picture archive research and the measuring of our own heads showed the head was correctly proportioned. You can imagine the banter involved!
Hoping to progress the head on Friday.
It was progressed but on the Tuesday! The Horse’s Head was taken to Whitby on the Wednesday for Whitby Shedders Colin & Marie to see it. They are both shut in for different reasons. They remain part of our Sheds though. Graham carried the head along the corridors of Colin’s care home attracting curious looks from staff.
Any resemblance between the two heads is purely coincidental.
This Friday (13/1/23) Brian painted the head – Black Beauty
Plus Brian started making a cash box from ply. Its for a guy identified by one of our Shedders who sells boxes of matches and needs to keep his cash safe.
Glued and clamped to be sanded and fitted with hinged lid.