Here is a figure I just came up with on a whim last night. I need a quick easy project to balance with the other work I am doing as well as some relief from the tedious sculpting videos where progress is painfully slow. I also wanted to do another semi sbs here on the forums as I have been focusing mainly on the blog lately.

The completed figure will represent a fifer in the line of battle, any battle really, marching towards the enemy during the revolutionary war.

I hope to make this a weekend project, however we shall see how that works out. My Mom is stuck here in the US due to the volcano dust from the volcano that errupted in Iceland. All flights to northern Europe has been cancelled until early next week, interesting times we live in!

Anyhow...20 guage copper wire with a resin armature then fleshed out with Aves Apoxy Sculpt. If you want to see how I go about making the armature and fleshing them out, check out my blog where there are videos covering the process.

Nice start off Anders on a subjecy i always liked ! Waiting to see the progress !!

Costas

Anders, great start with the anatomy and pose. Look forward to following.

Cheers Ken

Thanks Anders, I'm looking forward to following your SBS and getting some tips on sculpting.

Good start on a very good figure.

Marc

Here is what I got done yesterday on the fifier. As always, starting off with the legs, more specifically the left leg. Not sure why I always do this, but seems like the 'logical' place to start.



As you can see, the entire leg is sculpted in 'one go', the putty being applied and rolled out, then the lines for the socks and the 'cut' in the breeches are added. I find this method a much better way to do then first sculpting the sock, then sculpting the breeches ontop of that. It is faster, and it is also easier to keep everything in check proportion wise.



And the same process is repeated on the right leg.



Now that the legs were done, it was time to do the vest. I tried to show a fairly used vest , indicated by the smaller, tighter and with a large amount of folds as thin fabric tends to fold up more then heavy.





The arms were a lot of fun, the challange here was to sculpt the sleeve, then tear it up and make it hanging and flowing a bit without loosing the realism of a torn shirt. It was a first time experience for me, but I have to do it again as it was a lot of fun!





Taking a step back, here is how I fleshed out the right arm. Left side shows wet putty work, while right side shows the carved final result.



And the sleeve sculpted in the same manner as the left sleeve.




The figure will be finished today, all that is left really is the hair, which I did last night, and to work on the hands a bit and the ground work. Will post pictures of the final figure later on today.

Anders, fun piece, and I love all the wear to his clothes, should add a great deal of interest to this simple piece.

On a side note, when I see this guy I think of the famous "Spirit of '76" painting I posted a pic of below. Has this ever been done in miniature? (I can hear all the "old guard" moaning now! LOL! Of course it's been done, blah blah blah........) OK, I've never seen it, and I would LOVE to see it done by todays standards! Hint, hint, you've got a good start here Anders! I've just always liked the painting and thought it would be great to see it well executed in miniature!

Jay H.

Great stuff Anders, really amazing to see how quick you can create something. I guess not having to talk at the same time may be helpng too , ha ha.
Looking forward to the finished result!
All the best
Mat

Anders,
like the sculpt,
and really like how you share the process too.

Definitely know how to push putty, and make it seem simple!

Cheers

Excellent SBS Anders and this is a weekender you say ?

Can I ask please what heads, shoes, and the starting torso parts you use ?

Regards

Andy

Thanks guys!

Jay,

I had forgotten about that painting! I knew I had seen something similar at some point, and I appreciate you posting it here! The idea behind this was actually another painting, by Howard Pyle -The Nation Makers-.

Mat,

Indeed! Much more streamlined then doing a video of it. It is amazing how much the video process is holding me back to actually finish something!

Andy,

I guess you can call it a weekender! Did the mannequin Thursday night, and sculpted the rest Saturday. I think I've got about 12 hours or so in it all together.

The head is a Hornet 1/32nd scale head, the shoes are copies of ones I got from Mike Blank. The Torso/Pelvis are ones I have gotten from Bill Chilstrom back in the day, I think they were initially designed by Mike Good.

HTH!

The figure is now finished, will post pictures later on today.

Brilliant, cant wait !

Great work Anders,
Seen the video's on your blog a couple of times, and it seems all so easy.
But infact it isn't.

Marc

Anders,

I plug into this thread rather late....
Impressive work!
It sure looks easy, but that's the way it is with all things perfect...

Please keep doing such SBSs. One day I WILL try this at home!!

Cheers,
Adrian

Thanks guys!

I agree, it is not easy!! If you have watched the video on the blog about posing the mannequin you will see it is a pain! A lot more so then pictures alone shows!

Here is the finished sculpt!

And the primed figure and groundwork.

great looking figure brother. Sculpting always amazes me and you do such a good job. Is this going to be a Thunderbird or a one off?

Sweet! Can't wait to see this painted!

I find that very interesting that you prime the groundwork.

Thanks guys!

Unfortunately it is a one off! I am looking forward to getting started painting it, but have to finish another 54mm sculpt before that!

Andy,

Yeah, I prime the groundwork in black first, then I 'dust' it with a gray primer, thus creating a bit of a highlight. I do this so that everything is black and no static grass, putty, sand...whatever, can be seen, and the gray is to make it easier to paint lighter tones such as green for the grass. So far it is a method that has been working out pretty good for me. I'm not very good with groundwork so I keep trying new things to help improve!