[Kevin WS]

Moving onto another of the interesting parts now! The head.

This made up of 5 parts.

Picture 1 – This shows the main part of the head and the crest.

This part now needs to be carefully folded – as there are both “valley” and “mountain” folds involved, refer to the kit instructions, which clearly show how to go about the folding.

Once folded, the construction of this part is clear – start by glueing the base, glueing the tabs one by one. When this is done then glue the crest together.

Picture 2 – Once glued the part should then look like this. Anticlockwise from the crest just made, are the front of the face and eyes, a small piece (Part 12) that covers the area at the lower front of the crest (just above the beak), an insert for the inside of the beak, and lastly the outside of the beak.

The beak insert (Part 11) then needs to be glued onto some thick card. I used some cardboard from a cornflake box, laminating two pieces together as are cardboard here is a little flimsy nowadays.

Picture 3 - When dry, cut the beak insert out and then glue it to the base of the crest. Be careful that it is both centred and aligned, and then leave it to dry thoroughly. I then reinforced it with some extra glue and let it dry again.

Picture 4 - Part 12 is then glued in place at the front of crest above the beak insert. This is the finished result.

Picture 5 – The step is to attach the face and eyepiece.

Look carefully at the instructions which clearly show how it attaches. Pre-shape the front curve of the part so it fits nicely around the front of the head (under the beak insert). Note that at the very back there are two tabs – these when glued together these will ensure that the part is nicely aligned.

While this part dried, I then moved on to the beak.

Follow the instructions very carefully here as they show exactly how the beak should be constructed. It is important that this part is correct as much of the appearance of the finished bird depends on it.

I first scored all the tabs along the edge right back – and then started shaping the beak using a thin piece of dowel. The tabs are then folded in and glued to each other inside the beak.

Picture 6 shows the beak in the process of being made up. Notice the slits. DO NOT glue these – the beak needs to flex so it will fit nicely onto the beak insert.

Picture 7 shows the finished item after it had been further rolled and eased into shape. It should still be flexible in the vertical plane after it is dry (thanks to the slits).

I next dry fitted it carefully a few times until I was happy. I found that for me to get an easier fit, it was also better to now cut away most of the tabs inside the beak.

Picture 8 – The head from the bottom. Once the beak was dry I then also gently rolled it in places between my fingers to smooth out the uneven areas.

Picture 9 – The finished head. White edges on the crest and beak will be touched with watercolours when the bird is finished.

Next I have to build the base, as the feet are built directly onto this.