I know that generally one posts about his own sculpting or painting work, but I was thinking to show you something about the casting process, so here comes the post. Do not get me wrong, I am really excited about that commission and I just would like to share that feeling. For me the enthusiasm is the most important thing, the day I will lose it, I will change my hobby for sure.

And now the real masterpiece. It is the Sargeant 93rd. Sutherland Highlanders (Balaclava, 1854) sculpted so many time ago by Raul Latorre. Guys, when I got the original master my hands were trembling... It is not common to have the opportunity to handle a such master and when I was cleaning and sanding it I was really scared...

Seeing the original, I changed my mind. Raul is a real trip. Some of his work seems to suffer a kind of anatomical issues, but now I understand it is just a matter of vision, I think it depends on each one style. It is not a repeated issue on each of his figures, as this bust clearly shows. In my opinion it is simply perfect, it is no so easy to find a such clean and elegant style.

Well, here some shots of the master before drowning it into the silicone







a view of its parts



and now the trip..., take a look at this expression



at the hair/fur



and at those microscopicals details (notice that the ruler is in mm)





Hope to show you something more about the moulds as soon as possible. That head is a real casting challenge, just consider the number of the undercuts and projections, without speaking about that plume...

This is AWESOME!
A real masterpiece!

You know, I had one heck of a time hunting one these beauties down. I was finaly able to get one in a trade quite recently. Just before we saw your sneak preview actually Luca. I'm glad to see this piece re-released. It really is a masterpiece. Latorre is really on his game with this one! Luca, I'm sure your casting will do it justice!

Jay H.
OKC

What can i say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AWESOME EXCELLENT GREAT FANTASTIC, there are no words to describe it, eventhough tit is not my era i would definetly buy one asap!!!!!!!!

thanks Calvin for sharing it with us!!!!

What can I say I too..., I think that when the passion about that hobby is the main reason, one cannot remains indifferent with those kind of sculpts.
Shame, at least for me, that Raul seems more interested in the fantasy subject rather than those kind of busts.
Seriously, I am a bit scared about the casting result, I must start with that mould, that piece is seeing me from the shelf asking for it...

Wow, that is a gem.
Latorre is a master, no matter what his critics say.
I even like his fantasy stuff. It is hard to get here in the US.
(I've had Yarry the Halfling on order for weeks and there is no sign of him yet.)

Luca, I know you can do a good job casting this piece. When your heart and soul is in it,
you will not fail. A little prayer will help too.
I can't wait to see this piece back on the market.
Keep up the good work.
G9

Hi, all,

It really is a masterpiece.

I had the chance to paint one a few years ago and had lots of fun doing so!

So its allways nice to see that great sculpts get not lost!



Her is my version, all done in oils,

Eddy.

Thanks to all for the encouragement I am just fighting with that gray resin for another subject...

Hey Eddy nice one ! It will be a good idea posting here your renditions, let see if the next time I will go to the Manuel home I can take a shot of his painted copy, I think is the one painted by Raul.

Sorry, Luca, just got carried away when I saw the casting again.

One of the nicest busts I have ever got my hands on.

So, sorry again for my version here.

Eddy

No, no, Eddy, read again my reply, I was just saying the opposite, that is, it seems to me a very good idea to post the pictures of your rendition here as you did.
I only painted a very few number of figures until now, so I cannot post my own rendition because I never painted that bust, this is the reason for which I would like to post soon the one owned by Manuel, is the only one I saw.

Really, I like you painting, and if I can advice something is just about the background, it does not make justice of your piece.

Oeps, I misunderstood! My mistake!
Thank You for the good reply, and I will take notice for the advice
to take a good background.
I have noticed that Jean Paul Dana has given an easy way do get a good
background on another PF-posting so I will take his advice to, because I'm
not a great master with computers.
Thanks again for the advice, my friend, and keep up the good work!
I'm sure whatever You will try to achive, it will just end up great!

Eddy.

Luca, Thank you for posting pictures of the master sculpture. So much can be learned just by looking at it.~Gary

That it is so true Gary, I really love that hobby and I noticed that the more you advance, the more you will learn simply by looking at other people work.
It is just a matter of vision, learning and improving allows you to see the same thing under a different light, noticing details and shades you were unable to distinguish in the past (at least for me).

Well, here some shots of the very first casting set. It is just a test I made to inform Manuel about how the casting will look. It was a challenge for me, but "volere e' potere", so I tryed until I got a decent result.



As well as for painters and sculptors, I have my preferred caster too, the one I take as reference, so for the head of that piece I have used a one cut mould with some vents (using pressure instead of vacuum requires them).











About the head, you can only notice the seam line on a portion of the collar, but not the seam line by itself, just the difference of colours, all pieces will be cleaned (and fixed if required) as usual.

The torso and the backpack have been casted using a two valve mould, placing the separation on the bottom, so no mould lines on them.





And here a shot of the full piece





The only modifications I made to the original master were the pin holes on the head and torso to allows the right joint between them and the basement.

The pictures I took are not so good, a bit burned, the resin has a more (light gray) satured colour.

I think that the whole casting will be ready in a week, Manuel (that is, Elite Miniaturas) will package it as soon I finish.

I have always wanted to paint one of these......maybe now when Elite brings them back out I will get the chance.

I gotta get me one of these

Dave

Me too,

waiting for my local dealer to let me buy this amazing sculpt.

Marc

Hello again guys, there are some good news. I just finished the first casting test for the next Elite reissue (before going for the whole set) and the result does not seems so bad.

The original sculpture (another masterpiece by Raul Latorre) was not in so good conditions, requiring a little additional time to restore it.





Now I know that most of painters really hates wasting time in cleaning, assembling and puttying, so I decided to change the original composition of the piece. It was composed of 4 parts (head, torso and left/right hair), requiring and additional time to putty all the joints. I glued it all in only one piece, so what you will get is ready to be painted.

This is a preview of the new casting (bust + pedestal)





and these are some close-ups to give you an idea about what I mean when I say that the piece is ready to be painted (no seam lines, no bubbles, etc.)









and a top/botton view





I think I will be able to finish the new casting very soon, that way Elite will put it again on the market within the end of this month.

Last but not least, these other two are the following on the wait list

Calvin,

That is a really nice job, too bad the one that I had from Elite was such a piece of garbage and they did not even bother to help me with the bad casting. I spent about 2 weeks trying to correct the bad casting. Here is what I had to work with and it is nice to see that you have done such a nice job.

Joe

bottom pic