fredag 27. mai 2011

The eagle project

I've already pissed off a few Americans, but it bears repeating: There are way too many bald eagle models about. Nothing wrong with baldies, but there are so many other species that haven't been done to death!
But... I've got paint, I've got an excellent reference book - why don't I fix it myself?

I'll be using this long dormant blog to document my progress for as long as I can be bothered - this isn't a project with a finite end, and I don't intend to paint models of every single species in existence (many need way to much bodywork anyway).
My available bodies are the current and recently retired Schleichs and the Bullyland, as well as whatever else I can get my hands on, so basically I'm restricting myself to the larger birds.

And what better place to start than with the biggest eagle of all?
Steller's sea eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) is a large, strikingly colored bird that lives in northeastern Asia. As a robust sea eagle it's very close to the baldy in build, so this is an easy repaint on most bald eagle molds. I chose the Bullyland, as it's quite a large model and looks proportionally big. 
 The only model I know of the Steller is the one from Colorata's excellent raptors set.  


White-bellied sea eagle (H. leucogaster) looks something like an eagle in seagull's clothing. It's found in southeast Asia and Australia and has - as far as I know - never been made into a model before.
The model is the recently discontinued Schleich. Not a terrible model, but now I've seen the new mold I have to admit it's an improvement.