Build: Iron Throne

Having never seen the show, I still feel like this was the appropriate way to light the Iron Throne model. I was probably influenced by the photo of the actual throne from the show on the back of the packaging. But I really like how it turned out. And, of course, Chewie had to be sitting in it. And sorry, I feel like I’m obligated to say that I haven’t seen the show every time I post one of the models.

You might notice something a little odd about my build of this model, and it, too, was inspired by that photo on the back of the packaging. Now, I’ve actually read the first book in the series… and then the second book was just so slow that I never finished it. But I still got the impression that the throne was designed to be not comfortable. And being somewhat dirty kinda goes along with that, right?

If you haven’t guessed it, I decided to do another “wash” with slightly thinned out black paint. And this time, I didn’t clean it off completely. Well, that’s not true. I cleaned most of the parts really well, and then used the dirty paper towel to dab the parts randomly, adding splotches and specks of black paint back on. And I really, really like how it turned out. Of course, I wish I had done it a little more evenly, as some parts are dirtier than others, but still. And the etching contrast it adds really pays off! It adds a lot to the layered feel of the model, though the actual layering on the back rest is rather impressive to begin with.

What might surprise you about this model is just how few pieces there actually are. That’s not to say that it’s an easy build, it’s just not made up of a lot of small parts. It’s several large solid parts, and then a few more parts with a bunch of gaps in them. Seeing the number of parts, I thought it would be a quick build, but I was a little bit wrong. It wasn’t a long build, but it definitely wasn’t one I would consider quick. And it’s one that will challenge you if you are a “perfectionist.” Because this model has a lot of imprecise curves, as well as areas that are open to some creative styling of the curves if you are wanting more depth to the layering.

Anyways, the first thing I did with this model was… not knoll it out like usual. Because I had decided beforehand that I was going to do the “wash” (I really wish I knew the right term, but that’s the best I can come up with), I decided that my life would be a lot easier if I did the wash while everything was attached together. And so I set about it. Got myself a little cup, put a bit of water in it, then squirted in some cheap black acrylic paint. Stirred it up with a small brush, and then got to work, painting every part on a single sheet. After that, I went through wiping all the parts off (with paper towel), in the same order. I didn’t press too hard, as I wanted the paint to remain in the etched areas, but I wanted the un-etched surface clean. Then, I repainted any areas that didn’t get the etching filled, and re-wiped. Then I just kinda smooshed the semi-dried paper towel down over the parts so that it appeared a little dirty. Lather, rinse, repeat for all the sheets, flip ’em over, and do it again. Then I did put some spots of paint into some etched areas that didn’t want to stay painted. Bonus fact: I decided to record the process, so here it is:

After that, I let everything dry overnight, and the knolled everything out as usual. I am still who I am. But before we jump ahead to reviewing the build itself, I just remembered that I took a couple of photos of one of the sheets, as a before and after, to try to show the difference. Not sure they turned out real well (probably should have used a different backdrop / angle), but I’ll include them anyways. I think you can tell which one is which…

On to the build itself. Which starts off rather interestingly with the back of the chair. But I guess they wanted to start and end on a frustrating note. Because holy cow, those stupid “legs” on the back of the chair. Or more specifically, the sword-layer on top of / between the legs (parts 5 – 8). I based my curves on the “smooth” curve of the blue line in the in the diagrams. Don’t. Honestly, I wish that the first thing I had done was add a very slight curve across the whole thing, and then “line up” the unfolded tabs as close as I could, and then just pressed it into place with a cylinder (drill bit for me, but a pen or pencil would work too. Because it’s a sharp curve, and it has to be at just the right place to get those cursed tabs at the very bottom slotted (especially at the junctures between two legs).

Using the “crease” that action creates as a basis, I would try to finesse the curve until it fits flat against the surfaces (not attaching it). And after all that, I would deal with those annoying attached cylinders (pommels for some of the swords). They’re annoying because they are attached, so it’s hard to get good access to shape them the way I like to (shape before folding at the point of attachment). Then I’d finally fold the attachment tabs and secure the part onto the chair back. I did add a little extra curve to the tips of the swords, of course, but that’s just my personal preference.

Moving along, you get to the real joy of this build. And I’m not being sarcastic. The next few steps are building out the backrest of this model, which is a beautiful piece of kit. The layering is superb, and the results are gorgeous. But you can definitely get caught up in getting the curves “just right” and end up taking a lot of time on this section. One thing I disagree with the instructions over in this area is where it has you attach two or more layers together, and then curve them after. I prefer to curve beforehand, so that each layer has a nice smooth curve, but you can’t smoothly shape them when they are layered like that, cause you can’t brace each layer. Of course, lining up the slots together might be a little more challenging, but I think it’s worth it.

Oh, and there is one significant (at least in my opinion) error in the instructions when it comes to building the backrest. The blue line indicating the curve for part 13 is just flat-out wrong. This part does not have the recurve in the middle (where it pushes back in). Because if you do that, you’re not going to be able to attach that to the back of the seat, which requires that the part be curved out forward (just look at the adjoining line in part 14 and you’ll see what I mean).

The front legs / seat of the chair are fairly easy, aside from having to guess the right amount of curvature for everything. But that’s just part and parcel for this whole model. Though getting the seat / armrests aligned to the base was a bit of a challenge. Nothing compared to what came next, but it wasn’t entirely easy. So… I guess it’s not as easy as I was thinking it was on first reflection? Lol. I never claimed I was always right.

The final step of this build reminds me of the Batmobile models. Joining the two halves in a nightmarish effort of inaccessible and hard to align tabs. And with this model including a lot of guessed and estimated curves… well, it’s extra frustrating. I had a lot of trouble with this, and the left armrest has a bit of a gap at the back to prove it. I wish I had some advice to make this step easier for you… but I don’t. It’s just going to be annoying (unless you did a better job with curve estimation than I did – heck, it could be easy for everyone, and I am the outlier who screwed it up!). Especially with the tabs that have to be slotted through slots that are obstructed with swords that are layered over them.

Now, one might think that I didn’t enjoy this build, from how I described the frustrating parts, but it is a really night build. I really enjoyed being able to fine-tune the various compound curves, and add little character here and there with a little extra curving. And, of course, I enjoyed trying out the “wash” and dirtying of a whole model. There’s just something fun and weird about doing that, when most of the time I try my hardest not to get them too dirty.

Now it’s time for my customary conclusion, along with the total amount of time spent building the model, and the build videos. Unfortunately, I don’t know the precise amount of time it took to build… because I paused the recording during the last session to take care of something, and forgot to un-pause it while I sat back down to finish. So… I’d estimate that I lost roughly half an hour of building video, which gives me a rough total of at least 3 hours and 15 minutes of building, plus an additional 45 minutes spent doing the “wash” on the part sheets. You can see most of that in the playlist below (which includes the “wash” video, too).