1:35 Bogatyr

Bogatyr, a name with two meanings

The word bogatyr denotes a hero of the Old Russian epic songs known as byliny. Their cycle settled around the Kiev of Prince Vladimir, and the best-known trio is made up of Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich. They were inscribed in the general consciousness for good by Viktor Vasnetsov's canvas of 1898, on which they look out from their saddles into the steppe.

The life of the word did not end there, however. In a contemporary military setting it is used as a nickname and as a call sign, usually for a man of strikingly sturdy build. The same figure can therefore carry a name after a medieval horseman and after a present-day soldier alike, and what decides it is the equipment the modeler sees on the casting.

Building recommendation

Wherever the figure belongs, the usual rules for a single figure apply to it. Choose a sparing plinth so that it does not overpower the silhouette, and build the color range around a single leading tone to which the rest only adds contrast. With a single figure in a case the cleanness of the transitions matters more than the number of shades.

The face and the hands deserve the finest brush you have and paint thinned enough to be applied in layers. Metal parts come out well after polishing with a hard graphite pencil over a dark base, which looks more natural than silver paint.

If you lean toward the epic reading of the name, an earthy muted range with a single bold accent, say the red of a cloak, suits the figure. A contemporary treatment, by contrast, takes patterned cloth and leaves the contrast to the equipment. Both paths are defensible, and the decision can be made only once you see what is really in the box.