The Sundance - a 120mm vignette produced by Ray Brown Design
By Stephen Jamison
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I first saw this kit advertised in "Military Modelling" several years ago by a company that is no longer trading (the name escapes me) and was both delighted and surprised to find it on the Ray Brown Design stand. The kit itself consists of two figures, the "Sun dancer" and a drummer, the Sun dance pole, a rifle, Buffalo skull, a warriors medicine shield and a base all cast in white metal.
I chose a Sioux warrior because they used red body paint, I did not feel ready for the challenge of painting an all white figure and some of the other body paint schemes were too brilliant to suit the scene. The Sun dance figure is easily constructed consisting of an upper torso complete with head and arms, two legs, a horse hair plume for the back of the head, a hair ornament and the back part of his breechclout. The figure's eyes are closed in either pain or meditation and at such times it was probable that the dancer would blow on his eagle bone pipe, therefore I removed the pipe cast on the chest and replaced it with a small medicine bag. The medicine stick held in the left hand was too heavy and was replaced with a piece of brass wire. The mouth of the dancer was drilled to accept his new pipe and a lower lip built up using Magic Sculpt. The figure as cast does not have a front section to his breechclout and although the rear cloth was thinned at the edges I considered it too short and a new front piece and a longer rear piece were made from thin brass sheet. The additional decoration worn at the front was made from Magic Sculpt. The warrior is attached to the pole by wooden or bone skewers inserted under the skin and although these attachment points are depicted I enlarged them slightly and inserted the skewers.
The figure was painted as follows; the head, arms and torso to the waist were painted red. I used Windsor and Newton's Cadmium Red as a base colour and used Cadmium Red Deep, Burnt Sienna and a slight touch of Burnt Umber for the mid, dark and very dark shadows, each colour being sparingly applied and well blended wet on wet. The highlights were picked out using Scarlet Lake and the lightest highlights were initially done in Titanium White which proved unsatisfactory, Flesh Tint proving to be a better solution, again all colours were well blended wet on wet. The natural flesh tones were achieved by a mix of Gold Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Titanium White, (the proportion of Burnt Sienna being slightly higher than what I would use for a Caucasian), painted over an undercoat of Humbrol Matt Leather. The breechclout was painted in a mix of Gold Ochre and Titanium White with a hint of Cadmium Yellow added. Hair (including the horse hair plume) was painted black and highlighted with a very thin coat of Titanium White with a little Prussian Blue added. The horse hair plume was, as in reality, painted red, I chose to glaze with Cadmium Red so that the underlying black was still dominant. The face, arms and legs then had religious markings painted on in black. The hair ornament was painted in sacred red and the centre picked out in bright green red and blue to simulate beads.
This figure consists of an upper torso, two arms and two legs, a drumstick and drum (incorporating the left hand). It is depicted sitting cross-legged beating the drum. This figure needs painting before much construction can be carried out because of his pose. I began as usual with the face, I was immediately struck by the fact that the figure was too "European" in appearance, and my sculpting skills being virtually non-existant I had to seek another solution - that turned out to be war paint. By choosing a dramatic war paint I hopefully disguised the fact that this figure does not appear particularly "Indian-like". I bit the bullet and decided on a white face with a red band. I carefully blended very small amounts of my base flesh tone into the areas below the cheekbones, on the temples, beside and below the nose, corners of the mouth and under the chin, a tiny amount of Burnt Umber was blended in at the side of each nostril and below the lower lip, the rest of the face being left pure white. The red band was highlighted and shaded as per the Sun dancer.
The joints between the arms and torso need quite a bit of filler but otherwise the other joins are well hidden. I thought the buckskin shirt would benefit from the addition of beaded bands on the shoulders and arms and these were fashioned from Magic Sculpt and painted in typical designs and colours. The drumstick was discarded, as it was also a bit too thick, a new one was fashioned from brass wire and Magic Sculpt, ribbons (thin brass sheet) being attached to the end. The drum could also do with replacement as it just does not look quite right, but as I said, I am not up to producing a new hand, which is integrally cast, so I compromised by using the kit part. His hair was slightly reworked to accommodate ribbons and eagle feathers.
The warriors shield looks nothing like any Native American war shield I have ever seen and at best looks like a tambourine, it was scrapped and a new one fashioned out of Magic Sculpt. The rifle is quite good and was painted using Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna for the wooden parts, Windsor and Newton Pewter for the barrel and bronze printers ink for the tack pattern on the stock. The whole gun was given a thin wash of Burnt Umber and Prussian Blue when dry. The religious symbols attached to the pole were fashioned from Magic Sculpt, the ribbons from thin brass sheet, they were all painted and attached and the whole scene put together. In reality dancers were attached by two figure eight loops at the end of hide tethers, in my case I used silk thread.
I found researching the Sundance fascinating and attempted to depict the ceremony in a way that was truthful but vivid. The kit certainly shows it's age in terms of the sharpness of the moulding and basic inaccuracies but it does provide the basis for a very dramatic piece and one certain to catch the eye in any collection.