Diana gets her bow and her colours

The next line in the instructions is short: paint the figurehead and glue it in place. Well then, let us do that. I had filed away the casting lines a while ago, so Diana was ready to go.

The bow first. The instructions call for brass wire of 0.7 mm, but I used 1 mm. Otherwise I am afraid the bow will snap at the first hunt, and I simply think it looks better. Then into the primer and on to painting. Painting is not my strongest side, so I was prepared for a mess.

I followed ChrisVanDerLinden’s method as closely as I could, the one he described on the forum for pewter figures: primer, base colours, a wash and then highlights. For this little figure I still found it hard going, but I am reasonably pleased. The dress is blue, the hair blonde, the sandals and the belt leather-coloured, and the quiver on her back white.

One thing stays odd. The object Diana holds in her right hand should be an arrow according to The Anatomy of the Ship, but I cannot see it. It looks most like a golf club. Piet explained that the curve at the top is meant to be the fletching, and that this sort of thing goes wrong more often with cast figures; he went looking for a photo that shows it clearly, but that one had been thrown out. The drawing in the book (D2/8) does show it as an arrow, carried upside down, with the feathers above the shoulder. At 1:64 that is apparently not castable.