I completely feel that.. timeliness and deadlines are huge factors also.

The only rule I ever experienced was at Verlinden and VLS yet it was more of a guide.. when doing masters for armour, accessories and planes there was an industry wide gentleman's understanding of the ``70% ', modifying a commercial piece 70% is acceptable in reuse.

Well put

Well don't stop the thread now- it would be like canceling a t.v. show mid-season!

Resourcefulness is the modelers greatest asset.

The ability to "see" items inside of other items or mundane house hold items, or improve upon stock items is something to be extolled and not challenged.

Now back to Mike's topic...

Thanks for the pics on this beautiful peice Mike. It's kind of like being able to "look under the hood" before purchasing a car. If we are lucky to see this fig for sale we will appreciate it all the more by realizing and visualizing the effort and skills that went into creating it.

Gary Daugherty

hands and arms



Here I have added wires for the arms and hands, which were borrowed from previous projects. The right hand was close. I did a little carving on it and then just added the last two phalanges on each finger. The fingers were clipped off and drilled to take wire, then the fingers were added with Pro Create putty. The second hand was newly built, using only the palm of what previously was a fist. You can see the finger wires. Notice that I sculpted only every other finger at first. This is so that i can sculpt them independently and avoid squishing the soft putty of the adjacent finger with my clumsy ministrations....

I have also fixed the arm wires to the torso with a blob of putty conforming to the shape of the shoulder and the figure's deltoid muscles. The torso was greased with Vaseline before applying the blobs. When the putty is hardened, then I can remove the arms and they will fit perfectly every time. The need for establishing the complete shoulder now will be apparent later on.



Here the missing fingers and thumb have been completed on the second hand. This was done after the previous putty had hardened. The red stuff on the face and hand is primer. This allows me to see and deal with any less than smooth transitions between layers of putty and resin. At this point, although the shoulders are firmly established, the lower arms can still be easily adjusted.

The collar added here is the collar for the standard army tunic which would be worn under the motorcycle coat. The neck was greased up first, so that the head can also be removed once the collar has hardened.



After bending the arms to their final position, I have started to fill out the arms. Notice that i have still not filled in the crook of the arms. This still allows for some limited adjustment before filling in the arms permanently.

More anon.....

Damn, it looks great!

Hello Mike,

well I like this new sculpt of yours!
you are the undisputed master of sculpting heads with faces that also look like the "nationality" that the kit advertises : a german always looks like a german when you sculpt it, you can't use the head for a figure of an englishman sounds funny I know I'd be very curious to see what you would make of a Belgian (some good WWI subjects by the way )
Also you have set the standard for sculpting the correct "folds and creases" to represent garments in textile, wool, even a rubberised poncho like this sculpt, etc. - btw what happened to the napoleonic sculpt you were working on, the coat on that figure was brilliant, I seem to recall you explained that the wrinkles appeared where you sculpted them because of the cut & design of early 19th c coats - very narrow in the chest, long sleeves etc ? that was brilliant.
anyway, I'm sure this figure will be a success when finished !

cheers

johan

Looks Great! Top Notch as usual.
Will there be a companion for the sidecar (Tasca); or is he lost looking for way home by himself?
Brent

The motorcycle coat does not have sleeves that cut off at the shoulder like most clothing. Instead the sleeve continues over the shoulder and attaches at the collar at the top. To make a nice join of the arm along the seam of the coat means that shoulders of the torso need to be removed and the arms extended up the shoulder. So the shoulders were ground away from the torso and this area greased up.



Here you see the putty added to the shoulder area to extend the arm. Once this hardened, the top part of the coat can be started, working from the inside out. Here I have added the sides of the coat and the front on the right side up to the collar area.



Here you can see the lower part of the back of the coat added. This was hardened and part of the lower torso ground away to allow for the fitting of the rifle.



Here I have added the false cape to the upper back and resculpted the missing area of the coat on his hip. Then while the putty was till relatively soft, I greased up the rifle and pushed it into place. Next I will add the front of the coat....

Mike,

It's fascinating to see the process used by other sculptors and how they work out challenges!

I've only recently adopted the partial-putty method , where as before I would pack on the full volume of putty before shaping. The partial-putty method sure helps control and focus on a smaller portion rather than racing to finish a whole torso of setting up putty!

How are you rolling out the putty while on the fig and which tools ?

Keep 'em coming!

Mike,

Superb piece of sculpting! I will follow with interest.
I which I could sculpt this good.

Cheers,
Marcel.

WOW - speechless!

Regards

Gordy,

The reason the upper torso clothing was done in pieces is because it kind of demands it. I could do all the different layers in one go, but it would never look as fully resolved as if I did each bit separately, let that harden, and then move on to the next. That way edges remain sharp and each portion remains distinct and independent of the others with no iffy transitions. The final look is just better. Quality over quantity.



These are my basic sculpting tools. Just a small pile of toothpicks, a needle and an x-acto knife. I just put some putty on the figure and start rolling it into place, steam roller like, with the toothpicks. Excess putty is either wiped off with the toothpick or trimmed with the knife. Extra bits of putty are just pushed on with the knife and rolled out to even things up. It is not high-tech, more like no-tech. It ain't about the tools, it is what you do with them. Sorry, you have to work that out for yourself!

BTW, thanks to everybody for the nice comments! I am sorry for not responding to them all. I have been concentrating more on getting the pics and commentary on here as i have limited time to do that. I truly do appreciate the comments. I will be adding more progress shots this coming week....

Cheers!!

Mike

Hey Mike,

Thanks for taking the time for the sbs. It is a great learning tool! I do have a question. I have always seen you use the primer (red) for the head and hands but I would like to know what primer you are using and how? I have tried it using Bondo but when it drys it is always to rough. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Joe

Joe,

I hate this question. Why? Because every time I answer it people do not know what the hell i am talking about!

The "primer" I use comes from a tube of Ditzler auto body "spot putty" that I bought about 30 years ago. Yeah, you read that right. I have been using this stuff since I was a young lad. It is about a 1 pound tube that has a lot more left than I have ever used.

Auto "spot putty" or "glazing putty" is actually the gunk that is left on the bottom and sides of a 55 gallon drum of auto primer paint, in this case, red-oxide primer. When they are through pouring the primer out of the big drums of primer into smaller "retail" cans, the gunk left over is scraped out and put into tubes. Auto paint and body shops use this stuff after the first coat of primer. Any small sanding scratches and pits are filled with this glazing putty, then the area is sanded and re-primed to prepare it for final paint.

The old Squadron "green-stuff" was the same kind of lacquer based putty. Tamiya currently makes one too. It is gray in color. I just get a glob of the stuff out of the tube, put it on a pallet and thin it with Testor liquid plastic cement and apply it with a brush. Slightly thicker mixes are then used to fill minor imperfections. Any auto paint supply or auto parts store should have similar stuff. Or, you can try the Tamiya putty which just says: "Tamiya Putty for Plastic Models" on my tube....

Now, do you see why I hate this question?

Cheers!!

Mike

Thanks for that explanation Mike Should I add it to the wiki as a FAQ that you can just link to ?

Gordy,

Sure dude! Why not confuse people with their frequently asked questions? I will have an update later today....

to better understand.

Hi!

Rather see this great creation in video.

A little progress here....



D'oh! I set the rifle too high on his back the first time around, so I had to grind away a bunch of material and have a second go. Much better this time and the rifle is "hanging" more like the photos I have.



Next I added the rifle sling. This is just a piece of evergreen plastic strip. I don't think I will have any copyright issues using that stuff instead of scratchbuilding. The object here is to get the rifle and sling both pulled up tight against the body as they would be in reality. A groove had to be sculpted into the the hip to show the strap "digging" into the coat.



Here the front of the coat has been added. The gas mask canister was greased up and pushed into the front of his coat as well. It is hard to see from this photo, but grooves or depressions were sculpted into the coat where the gas mask canister slings will hang down the front of his chest. It pays to think ahead on these details.



I was hoping to get the sleeves on today but it didn't happen. Instead, I added the cuffs. The rather stiff cuffs of this coat just seemed to lend themselves to this approach. The sleeves should go a bit faster with the cuffs firmly established too. More anon....

great work Mike, your work is very inspiring and the figure is amazing!
cheers

Mike,

Thanks for taking the time to post this demo. I know your time is money and I know I'm not the only one who appreciates you sharing this. So many great tips. I'm really impressed by how cleanly you work. I'm not sure if anyone else in the hobby has your grasp of modelling folds. Thanks, Dude!

Matt