Our very good friend Floyd Wilson is a big fan of the movie “Warlord”. When the Conte Warlord Playset came out Floyd bought the set. Since then he has been adding various converted figures either done by himself or Gary Dutko to enhance his playset.
Floyd’s latest addition is a mounted Norman with spear to go with Draco as he rides to get help. As you can see via the photos< Floyd has done a done great job.
Nice Job, I’d like to check that movie out sometime !
Great idea and work of a (MISSING LINK SCENE OF THE MOVIE) not represented by Conte, love that movie too. Very realistic in the way depicting how life was in that time contrary to wrong depicted movies done about same era with romantic contrast. For first time ever the Normans were represented with the very accurate hair cut/clothing style represented in few art works of the time seen at museum. Charlton Heston will be always my preferred artist. Movies like Ben- Hur,El Cid, The Agony and the Ecstasy and many others are among my favorites.
Wonder how close any one will try to match CH acting on the new copy cat movie of Ben Hur coming!!
I remember seeing “The Warlord” as a boy; the memories of the battle scenes were nothing short of mesmerizing. It remains one of my all-time favorites. It is available on DVD (I have a copy) and has shown up on TCM. I dread the remake of “Ben-Hur” if it is as great as other attempts to recreate the classics have been recently I might have to take an airsick bag to the theater – that is, if I go.
Talking about Beau Geste .Could any who had seen the 1966 film tell me if is good and worth seen or not!?
Beau Geste is a good movie erwin, I liked it.
Beau Geste 1966 was one of my favorites as a kid but it was never released in VHS in the 80’s or later in DVD format. It was not shown on TV after the 70’s. The Movie studio (I forget the name) basically forgot about it. I heard the copyright ran out on it and it’s available on YouTube.
Thank you all. I will get it then found it on eBay new on DVD format and other web site too. Here is the item number on eBay
261543645812 so far….Will order and watch now for first time..
Admin note: the item above is from Australia. They are under the PAL system than is different our system NSTC. you will need a convertor or have a DVD player that can play any system.
Thank you admi for the heads up. I forgot to mention it to everybody else as I do have the convertor to watch them in my PC desk .I apologize to any and admin for not clearing it out before. Sorry!!
They will play the Warlord once in awhile, however it has been many years since they showed El Cid, another great movie that Heston starred in. Its even been some years since the Ten Commandments he starred in, both these movies are excellent.
One question:Why Conte never had done any cavalry figure and or/horse?. In this case the Normans at the movie use them in two action scenes plus non action parts. In fact Norman uses the cavalry historically very often. It was the one stronger factor in their victory at the battle of Hastin.Conte had covered many periods and fails to cover any mounted troops. AIP ,TSSD and CTS had done it.
They did (the war lord) with no Normans in horses
They did the (beu geste) playset that have the FFL on foot as the movie and all Arabs on foot, not like the movie, neither like most Arabs(tuaregs) that fought on horses all time.
They did (the Alamo) where Mexican used cavalry.
They did the Spartan (300) and not Persian cavalry (that they used so often and in huge numbers).In fact they had not done any Persian, but thanks to (expedionary forces) we got them now
They did civil war (no cavalry)
We have to wait till Paragon, TSSD and EF to bring some new cavalry figures to match with..
I could guess, but I do not know for sure. He may have came to the same conclusion as me, if I were going to produce figures, they would be foot only. The main reason is because of expense. Also if you are going to package the item, space is also a factor. You can get more sculpts of foot only figures cheaper, and pack them in smaller spaces, such as blister cards (his civil war figures). This is only speculation on my part however, and I am not sure of Conte’s reasoning.
Good poses! I haven’t seen that movie since I was really too young to understand it all. I’d love to see it again.
Nice job, great conversion, Marxman, had two Norman prototyps and both were mounted, well one was actually on his horse, the other was behind his dead horse.
I had been informed by a very good friend that the horse mold is one of the most complicated and hard to do. Could some please explain to me better in what specific relate this matter?.Interesting fact that I was not aware off.
Erwin
The horse mold is more complex to make from what I was told. It also has a higher cost to make. Paragon when they did their cavalry saved money by using TSSD’s horses.
Thank you admi; still will like to know exactly in what it consist, if it is because amount of plastic as size? bigger than standard figure or else?. I’m still interested in the technical detail of as curiosity!!.After seen true mold machine process working so many times in figures and vehicles. Never on a horse by the way!!?
As I understand it a horse mould is no more complex than a figure mould, it can be a two-part mould, like the AIP horses, depending on the position of the legs. Or a three part mould , which would be slightly more complex but still easily engineered if the model needs to be more natural.
A three part mould consists generally of a left and right side and a piece under the hoses belly and putting detail inside of the horses legs. Check the Britains deetail horses for mould lines. A three part mould horse usually has a detachable base.
Thank you Les; I appreciate your time/response. It tell me if need to have more inside bottom detail, them a three part mold that cost more need to done/used. That made it a three mold figure versus standard two side/face figure mold. That is probably the main reason on cost. Still the technique used by simple Chinese factory doing four legs animals in toys is with two mold pieces and they come with good detail inside some time. So I’m still a bit confused about it again..Sorry
Erwin,
It is possible to do a good natural horse pose from a two part mold, the Italerei horses are a good example. They got 4 horses in a single mould with attached base. The leg poses have to be arranged so that you don’t have a position where the legs are side by side they have to be apart enough to allow the mould line to be continous betwen the two parts. It can be done, it has been done. It certainly is more expensive unless you can get more than one use out of the horse, different riders for different sets for example. The type of plastic is of course also important so that it is rigid enough to have the horse stand upright unless you had grass or something to the base to supoort the legs ,like the TSSD horses. I think this is why Conte hasn’t done horse because his plastic is too flexible. Does this explanation help ? Email me if you want to discuss this further, I’m happy to help if I can.
Best regards,
Les
Les: Yours and Ed help me most so far. I got the big picture set now and appreciate your help, time explaining it. It makes more sense in where and why with those examples you just mentioned. I will look the figures/horses soon to review it. Will contact you if need more answers.
I never sculpted a horse erwin, but a model of one in the same scale as a foot sculpt will take more plastic to produce. Some companies started hollowing the under belly of the horse to save on the expense of the amount of plastic.
Solid plastic horses, or even cattle, or other animal figures are usually harder to find because of this, from certain companies. Timmee is a good example.
The earlier ones are often times, solid plastic, and because a horse is bigger than a man, if its the same scale its going to take more plastic to make the figure. It will also affect packaging costs, plus you still need to sculpt a rider. Unless its just of the animal itself.
Well, if you are going to go thru the expense of producing figures, you need to plan your sculpts very carefully, like any business expenditure. Packaging adds to the costs as well, even back in the 50’s. Every little detail is scrutinized, every way to save money is looked at, and whether any savings can be made even after final prototypes are done.
I am leaving a lot out, because it would probably take a book on all you may, or may not need to know. Plus I don’t know all there is to know.
Thank you Ed C..for the information…
Personally, I think a good horse is just harder to sculpt so people shy away from them as much as possible.
Your welcome erwin, I hope it was helpful. I do not know much about the mold making process at all. I know a little, probably enough to tell you wrong stuff, lol. I know most molds are 2 part molds, these are usually the simplest, and cheapest.
You can check out ancient mold and mold making techniques via a search on the internet, and on youtube. There is some really good info out there. Good luck.