Soldiering On

Hi Stephen,

Thanks mate. I got my surgical gloves on tonight and soldiered on with my bust. I'm determined not going to let my Magic Sculpt skin allegry stop me.

Here's the latest pics. Latest work includes the shirt collar and tie and more volume added to the underside of the service cap and the addition of the red General Staff band around the cap.

I think I've made his ears too big. He looks like General Dumbo at the moment.

Cheers

ears look fine but look to the jaw line i say; reckon you have 'thinned ' him out a tad too much imo. in the photo, his jowls give his face its dimensions.
Coming on though mate. when i think of the 'big green heed' i showed in 2005, well i sorta go Red!! heh, heh!

regards Tim.

Hi Tony yeh sorry to hear about the bad reaction and i can tell you that you are not the first to suffer some type of reaction and it seems to be with magicsculpt everytime i hear of it.
I had a bit of an eye problem after accidently wiping my eye whilst sculpting but it cleared up ok.I am seriously considering looking for an alternative putty as i dont want to risk long term exposure to MS.
As for the para bust i was working on it for about 2 months on and off,i realy enjoy a good bust LOL.

Nice progress and keep going with the bust mate,

Steve

"Australia's greatest soldier"; that is quite an accomplishment given the quality of the Aussie military. Great choice of subject. Thanks for the block of education too.

Hi Steve,

Thanks mate. Monash wasn't just Australia's greatest soldier, he was regarded by his peers as the most talented Allied General on the Western Front, and would have almost certainly replaced Douglas Haig if Lloyd George (the British Prime Minister) had had his way.

Monash's planning for the Battle of Hamel in 1918 was a masterpiece of precision staff planning and coordination of arms and created the template for the highly successful Battle of Amiens, which the German High Command regarded as "the black day for the German Army".

He began the war as a reserve officer (Brigadier) and ended it as Australia's highest ranked military officer. His tactics are still studied by Australian Army Officers at Staff College to this day.

He was the target of much resentment from his fellow Allied officers because he was not a regular professional army officer and was born of German/ Jewish parents. Nonetheless, he developed the tactics to overcame static trench warfare that dominated the Western Front from 1914-17, by coordinating infantry, artillery and tanks with aerial reconnaisance and the rolling barrage into what he described as "the orchestra of War"..

In effect, Monash developed the "Blitzkreig" tactics that would be perfected and put to devestating use by the Germans 20 years later.

Latest pics include the addition of the collar for the service dress jacket and leather chin strap around the brim of the cap.

Cheers

While watching the football this afternoon, I sculpted the oak leaf trim on the visor of the cap and added a pair of gorget patches on the collar of the tunic.

Hope you like my progress so far.

Cheers

the real football was played yesterday and we won by 61 points

but nice work on the oak leaf trim.........had to be far more interesting to do than watch a WCE v Dockers derby

G'Day Tony.
Good to hear you are on the mend, mate, the oakleaf is looking good as is the bust of this great man.
Al

Thanks Ian and Al,

Yep, I'm on the mend after my reaction to Magic Sculpt. My skin still feels tender and puffy but the itchiness has almost gone and the blisters are starting to fade.

Ian, the only footy result that matters is the Hawks victory over Collingwood on Friday night (and don't mention the rugby union results).

Using latex gloves to sculpt with hasn't been too bad, although I walk around the house feeling like a lost surgeon.

I'll do a bit more work on the bust tonight and post a couple of shots before I go to bed.

Cheers

As promised, here's a few more shots showing my progress this evening.

I've added the General Staff officers badge on the cap, and the Sam Browne belt (which I think is a bit thin) around the upper torso.

Cheers

Hello Tony,

I've been following your progress on the bust. Let me tell you that you did great for a first sculpt especially when you have to fight the adverse reactions to the putty at the same time!

A simple advice, if you don't mind. Bust sculptors, especially beginners, tend to focalize so much on the face that they tend to neglect the rest of the sculpt –namely the torso– resulting in a somewhat flat-chested and wimpy-looking character.

You will give more presence and power to your bust by merely 'buffing up' the chest or angling it so that it projects forward.

In any case, congrats for your first bust. I'm looking forward to the next step.

Quang

he's looking really good now. love what you've done with the cap badge, the sam browne does appear to bit a bit thin but i'm sure thats just a trick of the eye

i used to be a Hawks member once upon a time but i only follow WAFL these days as the big league is ruining the game at grass roots level.this is getting way off topic, sorry folks

Hi Quang and Ian,

Thanks very much for your comments guys.

Quang, I thank you for your expert comments on my bust, and I agree with you. The upper torso does need to be bulked up a bit. I'll do somemore work on it tonight. I'm not happy with the Sam Browne belt. It is too thin, so I'll remove it and focus on getting the body shape right first.

Ian, the cap badge came out better than I could have hoped. I surprised myself actually, which is always a good thing. Gives me confidence to crack on and try to do the cloth badges of rank on his epaulettes and the brass "Australia" flashes.

Thanks once again for your encouragement.

Cheers

although as you know im new here... this figure bust is well... something better than i have seen so far to what you can buy (considering i haven't seen many figures). Just out of cosideration, will you enter this into a comp?

Hi Daniel,

Mate, you live in Perth!!! Great stuff. I hope you'll come to WASMEx later this month and we can meet up and have a chat.

Thanks for your kind words about my Monash bust. I probably wont have it ready in time for WASMEx this year,but it should be ready for WASMEx 2009, and I'll probably enter it then.

This is the first time I've ever sculpted something, so I'm still muddling about and making all the normal beginners mistakes.

The main advantage I have is plenty of constructive comments from Planeteers who really do know what they're talking about and offer plenty of welcomed and informed advice.

If you're interested in joining our local figure modelling club,Historical Military Figure Society of WA, come and see me at WASMEx and I'll give you all the details and introduce you to some of the guys. We'd love to have another new member.

Cheers

Well.. if i havn't told you yet.. im still in high school, i met some of the figure club there last year. If i remember right you do meeting at stanbridges on saturday afternoons?

Anywayz... i know im young and all but ive always had an interest in figures.. Hopefully i will see you guys again this year

Daniel,

You're never too young or too old to share your passion for figure modelling with others. I think you'd really benefit from joining our club. We meet on the first Tuesday of each month, at the Bassendean Library. If you visit our HMFS club table at WASMEX I'll probably be working on my Monash bust. I hope you bring along something to put in the competition.

My 12 year old son is also a member of our club, so please don't worry about being too young to come to our club meetings. If you'd like to get in touch with me, send me a Private Message and I'd be happy to give you my personal contact details.

Cheers

Young blood in a club of any kind is a good thing............for both parties

Bulked Up

Hi Quang & Dan,

I've taken your advice and bulked up the chest and the back to make the upper torso fuller, and it instantly looks better - thanks so much.

I think there's still a lot more bulk to be added to fill out the chest.

I've also done a bit more work on the General Staff badge on the cap.

Here's the pics from where I stopped tonight.

Cheers

Surgery

Hi guys,

Following a chat with my long time modelling mentor and great mate Phil Walden, I've done some radical hacksaw surgery on my bust to get the proportions of the head right.

As you can see from the pics, I've reduced the length of his head by approximately 2mm, and reduced the cap by the same amount. This corrects his rather elongated head. I'll need to reshape the neck and jaw line too.

While he's in pieces, I'm going to concentrate on the eyes, ears and mouth and then stick him back together like Humpty Dumpty.

I'll also rotate the head to the right and extend the neck upwards, to give it a bit more character.

Thanks for your help Phil.

Any comments welcome.