Swift & Silent (woodland Indian Rd. 3)

[John Long]

Here's the latest progress shots.

[John Long]

Here's the layout. Progress on integrating the tree with the base and beginning groundwork.

[Anders Heintz]

Hey John!

Looks awesome, how many figures are you doing for this one? Is that a preiser mannequin? Can't wait to see them this weekend :)

[Guy]

John, I love the way it is taking shape....look forward to the next step.

Guy :thumb:

[garyjd]

John, I really like what you are doing. The second figure is looking good. Great idea to "rough" out the ground work to get a better idea of how to stage the figures to full effect. ~Gary :thumb:

[Joe Hudson]

John,

Very nice work. :thumb: I look forward to seeing more of what you do. I agree with Gary, great idea to rough out the groundwork. Any luck with the bow?

Joe

[John Long]

Thanks guys, I have a couple of flaws to fix that showed up in photos. I may redo the leggings too.

No luck on the bow, but the closest I came to success was with plastic rod. I shaped it by scraping it with a knife blade. I got the arc by putting it in a clamp lengthwise and soaking it in 190f water. The only reason this didn't work was the fit to the hand. I broke it trying to get it to work. Then I had to curse for a while.

[garyjd]

John, Given the small scale, this no doubt makes it more of a task. I would say plastic is the best route. As for the leggings, since they were either trade cloth or deerskin I would keep the legs from the mid thigh down thin as adding the material for the leggings may make them too thick. Back in my reenacting days I sometimes wore a pair of red trade cloth ones and they were fairly snug. I find that a lot of commercial pieces with a figure wearing leggings is their weak point. They all too often end up looking like big and bulky tubes of cloth/hide instead of fitting tightly to the leg. These couple of photos may be of help.~Gary

[garyjd]

Here's another.

[quang]

John,

I made this with some left-over putty (MS/Duro mix) while my other stuff was cooking.

I hope the pics are self-explanatory. The yellow bottle (talcum powder container) was used to give the final curvature.

May be it would work for your bow? ;)

Quang

[btavis]

John, far be it for me to criticize but the figure that looks like he will be holding a gun, his left hand seems bent at the wrist too much to be anatomically correct. It could be the angle but it appears to be bent too far to the left which could only happen if it was broken.


Note close up:

[garyjd]

John, Here is the arm positioned differently. You could also move the upper arm as indicated by the arrows thus moving the arm away from contacting the torso. I'm not sure how the arm is attached, so I do not know how difficult this pose would be.~Gary

[John Long]

Thanks gang, it looks like some rework needs to be done. Thanks for the advice, and the pics Gary.

Anders, the figures started out as Tamiya Samurai. And I think that will be the only two in the vignette.

Quang, I tried that method and it worked well enough, but like the others it broke under my ham-fisted influence.

[Jason W.]

Looking good John! Keep plugging away.

Jason

[John Long]

Okay gang, I think I've got it. The bow was done ala Quang. I rebuilt the left arm and redid the clothing from the waist down. There's still some tweaking to do, and the rest of the leggings to add.

[John Long]

And side.

[John Long]

And overall including beginning to add foliage.

[LCoote]

Looks good John, the bow turned out well, in the earlier shots I thought the right shoulder was too high but now I can see it looks better with the bow in hand.

[gordy]

beautiful :thumb: it is coming together very nicely! the bow looks great and the rotation of the wrist makes a big difference

[Guy]

WOW....looks absolutely great John. It is all coming together and looking beautiful. Can't wait to see the finished version.

Guy

[quang]

John,

It's turning out quite nice! :thumb:

One word of caution about the bow, though.

As far as I can remember without checking the sources, Indian bows seldom had a cross section THAT flat. They also had no nock to hold the bowstring in place (these were held in place by the noozes at the end of the bowstring and also the tapering and the wrapping around the bow's ends).

Small details indeed but which can be easily corrected and would add greatly to the general, authentic feel. ;)

Quang

[John Long]

Thanks guys.

Quang, I could add another layer easily enough to the belly to flesh it out some more. I'll check my reference again, but I think the notches on the limbs are okay.

[garyjd]

John, Very nice, it's really starting to come together.~Gary

[John Long]

Well I've made about my fourth or fifth bow now. I added the quiver and am just about ready to let this one rest a while.

[John Long]

Rear view.

[Guy]

Your figure looks great John. Every time I see him posted, he looks better and better. :thumb:

[garyjd]

John, That figure is looking pretty sweet. One thing though, I'd make about ten (10) more arrows for the quiver. :lol: Just kidding, very nice my friend. I like the neck knife.~Gary

[Joe Hudson]

John,

He is coming along really nice! I am looking forward to seeing them both completed. I like the arrows. :) Can you tell us how you made the feather parts, sorry I am not sure of the correct name.

Joe

[John Long]

The arrows were not too difficult, but they are a litttle one dimensional. I used some small brass wire and CA'd the ends to a strip of metal foil. I cut them free of the strip leaving a rectangular shape for the fletchings. I then cut wedges out of each end to form the shape. The one being nocked is the only one that is full length. The others are about half length, and glued together and stuck into a small hole in the quiver. The quiver was made with a cylinder of MS dried and drilled out. Detail was added with a scalpel blade. Here's something new I tried; I used a dental burr chucked up in a pin vise to scoop out some wrinkles in the quiver. It worked really well and I intend to incorporate that technique again for subtle wrinkles.

[Joe Hudson]

John,

Sounds pretty good. Thanks for the info. :)

Joe