Hi all,

I've being fiddling around with this old 120mm Verlinden Luftwaffe general that I found cheap on the net. It's a really great sculpt, but I did not like the original pose and decided to change it (see the box art in the pictures). A Luftwaffe general should of course be looking to the sky, so changing the neck was part 1. Another easy bit was the right arm: it just needed to be a bit closer to the body and the hand in a cigarette-holding pose.

So far so good (at least I'm happy). Then came the hand-on-hip left arm. Boy I thought sculpting that would be easy: just looking through some Mike Good threads first, mixing magic sculpt and rolling some toothpicks and there it would be.... Nothing wrong with my self-confidence (at the time). Well, it turned out to be pretty hard actually!(and my admiration for you sculptors out there rose quite a few points).

Anyway, what you see here is my third version, and after putting about 6 hours in this left arm I am not able to see clearly anymore. So I would very much like to hear your honest opinions if looks half right in its current shape. Are proportions OK and do the folds look decent enough? In other words: does it make sense this way? If not please let me know any suggestions as to what to improve....

Thanks!

Adrian

Boy those pictures look bad now that I see my post... Sorry, had to use my phone, camera batteries were flat. Hope these are just clear enough...

Adrian

Not bad at all!

The cuff is tugged back aptly anchored away from the wrist (at the base of the thumb)

The one part that could use some TLC is the front inner elbow folds, the size of the folds gives the illusion of excess fabric.

Let me know if that makes sense or not

all the best!
gordy

Hi! Adrian.
The technique of your conversion is wonderful.
I'm a fan of this figure, but that I say that a figure faces to the bottom, I thought regrettably.
I think your figure was a very wonderful figure.
I'm waiting for completion pleasantly.

　　　　　　 Mitsutaka.

I'd echo much of what Gordy had to say Adrian. Very creditable job and good on you for trying it more than once until you were satisfied

In the way of general encouragement, I promise it will get easier the more you do it!

Einion

Hi Adrian!

Great conversion so far!
The left arm seems little bit out of scale? or maybe are from the drooping clothes?
Merry xmas mate!

look the arrow!

Hi Adrian:

I certainly admire anyone who attempt this kind of conversion. I've tried it
several times in the same scale and had a lot of trouble getting the arms
the right proportions, or "scale" as Pedro, correctly named it.

I think you're doing a super job here, and I'll be eager to follow the progress
of this figure. Some of the Verlinden early 1:16th scale figure were very well
done. I have the 16th Century (ah, not sure of the century) Archer, and hope
to do a quality job on it as some time.

You're doing great, so far, Adrian, and I like the tilt of the head. Good idea,

ricardo

The bit you highlight would be fairly typical Pedro - the upper arm is wider than it is thick and as you raise your arm to put a fist on your hip or waist the arm rotates so that it's more side-on when viewed from the front.

Einion

Maybe you right Einion! Sculpting and human anatomy are not for me.
Anyway, it is a good conversion.
Like I wrote before: "maybe are from the drooping clothes"?

great work amigo, looks cool, keep the good!

Guys, thanks for your constructive comments. They help!

@Gordy: The cuff I fixed in version nr 2 fortunately. First one was really off! I agree those front elbow folds look a bit dodgy. I think they are a bit overdone and not really natural. I am a lot happier with those at the back, but these...well...are at the back... Thanks for commenting, I know you have a professional sculptor's eye!

@Einion: Thanks for your hopeful comments! Although it is going to hurt this year's production rate, I will go for left arm version 4. I do feel I am converging to a halfway decent sculpt, so will give it one more try... (or two, maybe three?).

@Pedro: thanks for your comments mate! You took quite some effort with cutting out the picture, adding arrow and all. Much appreciated! Although I'd tried to copy a fold I noticed in my mirror image (wearing a suit!) I agree that it does not yet look OK, so I recognize your concern. Thanks for your remarks!

@Mitsutaka: Thank you very much for your positive and constructive comments! Yes, it is a lovely sculpt (the original figure, not my doodling) and I look forward to the painting stage very much! Thanks again!

@Antonio: Thanks man! I'm glad you like it. Will do my best to make it better in my next try! Man, this sculpting can be addictive....!

@Rickster: Thank you so much for your comments! I am glad you like the new tilt of the head. My idea for the base is to make clear somehow that the general is hopefully looking at some new wonder jets. Not sure yet how to do it. A flip chart with some Me262 drawing may do it, but I'm sure they didn't have flipcharts at the time yet. So maybe a piece of table with drawings? Or a mini-model? Well, I'm in dire need of ideas obviously....

Thanks for commenting chaps! Hope to be able to post an update soon (a week of holidays ahead so I'm hopeful!).

Cheers,
Adrian

Are you planning on starting from scratch, if so why not tweak what you have?

FWIW: it's definitely good to have the gumption to start over when needed but revisions to existing work - from small additions or some carving away of a little excess putty, all the way to grinding/cutting out of a large chunk to redo that section - are also worth having a handle on.

Great to hear you checked yourself in the mirror wearing something of similar weight, that's a great way of working Any chance you could take some photos of yourself to refer to as you work, rather than relying on memory?

Einion

Hi Einion,

I agree; the last versions were done by scraping away what I did not like and starting over. Because I halfway like the current version I want to use it as a backup, to hedge my changes so to speak.

And yes I do try to have some hard copies in front of me when working. In fact my bench faces a white wall that I tend to plaster with reference pics. In addition, I like to study some real folds to see how they 'behave' and mutually interact, but here I found it hard to find a suitable piece of clothing with the appropriate 'folding characteristcs'.

Reading back the above it definitely confirms that sculpting is hard work! I'm glad to hear it becomes easier with time..!

Cheers,
Adrian

excellent conversion Adrian, I got the same figure on my workbench but with the originals arms!!

Ah, good idea then. Even if you don't use arm #4 it's still good practice producing it.

Since you're planning on doing more work anyway, consider raising the line of the left shoulder slightly; the shoulder tends to go up (not sure about always) when the hand is on the hip.

Yeah, common problem unfortunately!

Einion

Thanks for the suggestion Einion. Thought about the shoulder as well. But I was reluctant to cut off the shoulder board as it is very well sculpted and easily damaged. Then did a mirror check with my own hand-on-hip and found out the shoulder is raised only very slightly in that pose, so decided to leave it as is.

I did add some body on the left waist and rear left of the back, where the jacket would be pulled slightly outward; also added appropriate folds there.

Cheers,
Adrian

Makes sense, sculpting a replacement would certainly be a pain!

If I were committed to moving the shoulder up a smidge I'm not sure about the practicality of slicing off the epaulette in one piece (a razor-blade saw might do it) so I'd make a press-mould of the epaulette as a backup, to cast a copy if I needed it.

Einion

Right. Good idea. I have some casting rubber here, so that might be even better.
Will have another look at the mirror today...
Thanks.

Adrian

Just a small update to share you in my sculpting misery... I'm having a tough time getting that arm right, but I'm stubborn enough to just keep going.

Two pics:

1) shows my new version of the arm (at right) against the one shown before. I left out the cuff so far and concentrated on the drapery at the elbow. I think it's better than before, but now I have a pretty big style difference with the right arm (pictured at left). By the way, in the new arm the drapery towards the shoulder needs to be updated; I made the upper arm too long and had to cut it back. Oh and I added some veins to both hands. Fun to do.

2) Bulked out the left back area and added some folds in the right directions...(at least according to the mirror image of me in a suit).

Anyway, I keep struggling ahead. I'd be happy to hear your honest opinions again.
Thanks for watching.

Cheers,
Adrian