Basically there is only one specimin here.  That isn't to say that this is the only custom I've attempted.  In fact, since I stumbled onto Jimbob-Wan's Image Depot last year, I've been fumbling around with different moldeling techniques and materials.  As a result, there's a big bag of deformed Super Sculpey heads, half-sewn reject uniforms, and cannibalized knock-off equipment sitting in a box on a bookshelf in my workroom.  There's also a half-finished Adventure Team RV sitting in the closet (inspired by a desire to bad-assify the idea behind Mattel's Big Jim, and likely to never be completed).

Anyway, here goes.  This is my pride and joy, probably because A) I am pretty satisfied with the way he turned out; and B) he took about five months to pull together and anything that takes that long is automatically elevated to pride and joy status....

This began with a desire to just plain build something cool.  While surfing around Amazon.com I found some of those Osprey Elite Series books on the English Civil War (an area of interest as the About Me section of this site explains).  I thought, "why not", ordered a few, was really inspired, and trucked out to Walmart to buy a boatload of Fimo (my modelling compound of choice) and broadcloth.

This head was the starting point.  The sculpting took a good six hours, but I think the results are pretty close (you be the judge; reference pictures are HERE).  The big decision was Fimo hair vs. real hair.  Since one of Charley's most notable features was his hair, the latter seemed a better plan.  Of course, two hours and ten super-glued together fingers later, one can always second-guess onesself.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Clothing wise, Charles sports a two piece green suit, a white lacy dickie (boy, doesn't that sound provocatice?), brown leather leggings, and a variety of belts and sashes.  His chest and back armor was crafted out of Fimo, embellished with styrene details and fashionable faux leather, and painted with craft acrylics -- after Testor's enamel ruined the first run of armor >:(
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

To be honest, Charles I probably never saw two minutes of real combat in his life.  That being the case, he is nonetheless armed with a sabre (a SOTW generic sword with a shortened scabbard and a resculpted hilt) and a pair of pistols (individually made out of fimo and styrene after an attempt at resin casting failed miserably).  The plans for these came right out of one of the Osprey books; they are rifled, breach-loading cavalry pistols (the breach-loading feature is not duplicated on these small models).  These boys are probably not as ornate as the pistols that a European monarch would carry, but they would be state-of-the-art for 1643; a fair trade-off, if you ask me.

The horse came last.  He's a Toys R Us generic flocked horse (I think they're called Chestnut Ridge?).  Again, the mount represents a compromise since the horse is not 1/6 scale.  Unfortunately, those big SOTW horses STILL haven't arrived in this area, I wasn't willing to dump $70 on a Marx horse on E-bay, and I wasn't sure that I really wanted to spend more than the TRU $8.99 price tag.  Once again, historical accuracy succumbs to the tyranny of cost-effectiveness and crappy distribution by America's toy retailers....

Anyway, the saddle work is a pretty close approximation of what a seventeenth century cavalryman would have --  relatively crude stirrips, hoslters and maintenance equipment for the rifled pistols, saddle bags, etc. -- with a few additions specific to a European royal (e.g. maps and royal proclamations that were printed off microfilm, scanned, reduced, and printed on parchment).

So, here's a last shot of Charles.  By the way, since Charles was relieved of his head in 1649, I've been very reluctant to permanently attach lil' Chalres noggin' to his neck post.  In my darkest moments, I consider this figure to be a (pale, effeminate, and largely tyrannical) forerunner to Britian's Action Man, and view the removable head as his "action feature".