Mauro Benni set Dante Alighieri at the Court of Guido Novello

I finally finished painting this nice little set. It comes with a small copy of the painting as a guide.

I modified the first set piece by sculpting in some epoxy putty to represent the lower part of the dress for the seated lady in yellow. The original with simple undercoating can be seen in my earlier post under March 2012.

Moses

The Moses figure had its base trimmed and fixed onto cardboard cut to simulate a rocky terrain. I saw this done in a German zinnfiguren journal and am doing the same. However, I plan for this piece to be part of an overall Golden Calf Diorama, so keep watching.

Bedouin Diorama lit up

This is the Bedouin Diorama with lights switched on at night.

Israelites

Themes from the Bible make excellent small dioramas.

                               Dance of Salome (top row) and Judgement of Solomon (bottom row)

Samos and Polykrates

Samos was a vibrant Greek island culture during the rule of Polykrates.

                                                            The set pieces are terrific.

Roman Gladiators

A very promising set to be staged in a Coliseum diorama.

Assassination of Caesar

This set is from Cortum. Roman senators are mostly in white togas.

Alexander and Darius at Issus

This really attractive set from Cortum is based on the Issus Mosaic. I always undercoat in acrylics or enamels before overpainting with oils.

Sekhmet Priestess

                                                      The Sekhmet piece framed and labelled.

More on the Boxed Diorama Bedouin Tent

This was the earlier Berliner Zinnfiguren set boxed up. It took me awhile to get the frame to fit onto this diorama.

                                           The boxed Diorama placed on my work table

Staging a Mammoth Hunt scene

This picture shows a simple staging of the Mammoth Hunt set from Braune.

         I think it looks really promising and colourful for a lively diorama.

Puppet Master

This is a larger 54mm piece by Braune. As I have developed some insights into Javanese culture, I bought this piece and have modified it with some of my own production wayang kulit pieces made from brass etchings.  These are based on authentic wayang kulit puppets.

For more info on Javanese culture and shadow puppets, go to www.gcmtoy.com.

Sekhmet Princess

I couldn't resist this rather fanciful piece based on an imaginary priestess of the Egyptian Cat Goddess. I am making a small frame for it and will post a picture of the finished piece soon.

Developing two Renaissance sets

These two sets by Mauro Benni are being painted. I have to rely on the small colourful pictures that come with the sets as I can't find any larger pictorial references to them.

                                         Most of the picture is very dark to create a sombre mood.

                                          Starting to develop more highlights in the pieces