The Argo with stern piece attached
This is the first resin piece by Grand Manner that I have ordered through the post and ! was nervous about it arriving in one piece. It was beautifully packed, however, and the five parts (hull, steering oar, stern piece mast and boom) were all in great condition with just some sanding and minimal filling needed. I have attached the stern piece, using a pin for extra strength, and have filled most of the small holes and joins. I have just a few bits left to do with Citadel's excellent liquid Greenstuff to cover some slight indentations.
Looking at the picture on their website I thought it might be a bit small for my Argonauts but at slightly more than 14 inches long it works out at around seventy feet, scale size. Given that this was about the size of most of Colombus's fleet it is quite capable of sailing around the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea.
2000 Argo
It is a lovely model, designed by Tony Harwood (you can see his work on Dampf's modelling page), and is more reminiscent of the Argo from the 2000 Hallmark TV mini-series (actually built for their version of The Odyssey (1997)) than the one from the classic 1963 Ray Harryhausen film, which was more like a classical Greek galley. This is a good thing as it has a more appropriately archaic look I think.
It also looks a lot like this painting. I think I am going to base the paint job on the Harryhausen one, though. More on the Argo as I start to paint it.
1963 Argo
