Bought the Pegaso Murmillo...Jeez was I disappointed. It's tiny compared to the Young busts and had mould lines and pin holes galore. For 40 quid I expected very much more as my first and probably last Pegaso purchase.

I thought I'd try and put real feathers on but am not sure if it would go. The feathers are true red in real life and not the pinky colour in the photos.

The guy does have plummage running along the crest of his helmet but I don't know if I should colour it red, black or leave it off.

Tell me what you think and if the feathers look a bit naff.

Hello Grant
I love the helmet too much REAL panache that put it, from what is true;
Great idea!

Cheers
Alexandros

Leave the feathers off.

Marc

Hi Grant,
This is not my historic period so I don't really know what all the authentic helmets are like. I do think those feathers make the helmet look like a quill holder.
I would say from the ones I have seen the plumage on the crest looks superior.

The bronze metal is on the money.
cheers
Richie

Nice work on the metals Grant , but I think I would leave off the feathers and go with the crest.


Cheers David

I don't think they look really in scale. Perhaps try to cut off some of the fluffiness? Are these a replacement for cast feathers that come with the kit?

The single upright feathers shown being worn by gladiators were a continuation of an ancient Italian warrior fashion. They were apparently made from a primary wing feather of a large bird. They are usually said to be goose feathers, since geese were sacred to several of the gods (and geese are bad-ass fighters in their own right), but I don't know of any ancient source for that assertion. The appearance of them in Roman and Italian art does show a very close resemblance to goose quills though. Goose quills can grow up to 18 inches or so long, so the size matches the depictions too.

And, by the way, the eagle's head on the front of the crest holder indicates that he's a Thracian, not a Murmillo. Roman gladiator-themed art is totally consistent, over all 400 or so years, in showing only Thracians with eagle (or griffon) heads on their helmet crests, and no other gladiator types.

Thanks for clearing that up Harry.
It doesn't surprise me that Pegaso got that wrong judging by the crap state of the bust.
Found this photo on the Web.
Obviously it's not taken at the time of the games but it gives you the idea of the scale of the feathers.

I thinkt he feathers look great. Matter of taste I guess.

Colin

Yes. If you want to do something like that then it's entirely your call, but I'd say that reconstruction doesn't really match the Roman depictions very well. When side-feathers are shown they are always shown as plain and straight. They seem to have been fanatical about sticking to traditions like this. These two images are about 150 to 200 years apart (one is from Rome, the other is from Libya):

[clickable thumbnails]





Even the crude graffiti just show straight feathers. This one is from Pompeii (Marcus Attilius in his first fight beats Hilarus of the Neronian school):

I am sorry, to contact the Pegaso models on the site and you'll see that the bust will send you again without having to pay
in fact I do not like the feathers!
franco