Greetings Chaps,

Here's a bust I completed a couple of weeks ago, from Wind Mark Models.

I have to say, I was pretty upset about the fact that 2 pieces of the kit were missing; one of them being a major component of the bust (one of the bandana tails and a chunk of hair at the back of the model). Also, when cutting the plinth to size, the resin stank of something nasty and the residue left a jovial tingling sensation on my fingertips. I'm quite certain I wasn't having a stroke so thank you Wind Mark Models! Lovely!

T'was my first experience with a bust and I sincerely hope that the majority of the offerings out there leave most modelers with better experiences. Please let me know if this is the case.

Other than that, I thought the resemblance to Mr Depp was pretty good...till I started painting it. Hell, its a fictitious character so I figure no one loses.

Ranting aside, the missing bit was re-sculpted, model was painted in acrylics and I picked a lighter colour for the pattern on the bandana so that it'd stand out.

You know the drill, critique always appreciated, never taken the wrong way.

Enjoy!

Here's the Box Art for individuals as ignorant of the brand as I was



Here come the big and nasty shots showing all the tiny flaws. No mercy!









Cheers
Dickson

Excellent painting Dickson.

G'day Dickson,

Fantastic effort on your first bust. The quality of the bust itself looks a bit rough to me (particularly compared to the standards produced by Young Miniatures & Pili Pilli in smaller scales), however I think you've done a great job achieving a very good likeness.

The bad smell and the tingling sensation in the fingers suggests to me you might have had a mild allergic reaction to the resin, which may not have cured properly.

Either way,you've done a fantastic job mate. Well done.

looks good
maybe you good add some wear and tear to the leather, also a bit darker shading of the cloths would improve some

I agree with Vergilius. Wear and tear on the leather and clothing would improve this a lot. Clothing also needs to be a lot darker and everything toned down a lot.

You did a fine job.
Maybe the light washed out the colors, but it looks a little flat to me also. Therefore i recommend that you do more shading and hightlighting.

Marc

Very nice and vibrant - good individual style shown. Nice to see soemthing a little different.

Colin

Hi Dickson,
I too bought this kit but have not started painting it yet. It also had the major piece missing at the back of the head, which I'll need to sculpt. All in all its a nice kit and you have done a great job on it.
The pictures dont do it justice as the kit is quite small ( smaller than Young miniatures busts ) so you have put heaps of detail into it, esspecially the bandana.
Nice one,
Ben

Dickson,
Great job and nice colours.
Cheers
John

Hi guys, thanks for the feedback.

Tony, I suspected as much and hope I have better luck next time.

Vergilius, JS79, Marc, I appreciate the critique. There are a lot more nuances when scaling up for bust painting than I anticipated and I'll keep more of that in mind in the future. Thanks again!

Ben, good luck with the missing piece. Its not hard to pull off, just annoying. Still, it should be a bit of fun!

Cheers
Dickson

G'day Dickson

Just on the issue of allergic sensitivity to resin, I suggest you try wearing latex gloves when handling raw resin. Not only does it prevent you getting skin oils on the surface of your figure, it may also prevent you from suffering a more severe reaction.

I have a severe allergy to epoxy resin, such as the kind used in Magic Sculpt and Milliput. These types of allergic reactions tend to get worse over time as you develop a progressive sensitivity to the chemicals, so be careful.

I been thinking about this bust and some things to do with it:

1. Have you thought about adding some light stubble on the face around the neck, cheeks, chin etc? Jack wasn't so "clean cut" and a always looked a little ruff!

2. On the subject on the bandana - Jack wore a different bandana in each of the three films ranging from an almost pink to a very dark red depending on how long he had been out in the sun. The sun obviously having a bleaching effect on the material.

All in all I do like the bust, I just thought I'd add some points that you may have been unaware of. Can't wait until POTC4.

Tony,
thanks for the heads up, I was aware of your situation in one of your earlier posts and was taking that into account. My body doesn't seem to have any issues with 2 part putties (at the moment and God willing, I never will) so I reckon it might just be the particular resin the bust was cast in. Regardless, I appreciate your advice and will most likely exercise what you preach in the future. Better to be safe than sorry!

Pete,
you raise a pretty good point. My sorry excuse is that I lost motivation the moment I started putting this together. The "coolness" and excitement of the subject wore off pretty damn quickly when the quality of the bust reared its ugly head. Having said that, I certainly hope that you (being an obviously keen fan of the subject) won't raise a posse to come lynch me! I also just stuck with a "safe" red for the bandana but used lighter colours for the visible patterns on it. All that aside, I'm glad you like it (which makes more than 3 people now) and I'm definitely taking all this feedback with me on my next bust execution.

Thanks fellas!

P.S. POTC4? Love the films myself but I think its either gonna end up in production limbo or kill the charm of the characters we love so well. Fingers crossed!

Dude, the Jack Sparrow is very well painted. It think your face painting is your best element!

cheers,
suds