Ok guys , so here it is in it's finished form.This is a ranker , the simple constable on the street. Now without going too deep in the recent ' hot ' discussion of who's who and so on I would like to add my penny's worth. I believe that this is one of the best sites there is and the only reason I post photos is that I know that i can receive constructive critisism and LEARN from it. If there's something wrong with my work I want to know. Otherwise we'll lose all the sense in it. I do admit that sometimes there was work that was not up to some others' standard.And the reason I'm very wary of critisising is because I don't know how that particular person will take it. I feel that sometimes it's better to write to that person privately first if you know that ( or have doubts ) that he might not take critisism that well. it was done to me and I really appreciated it.Now ,with all that said you can all fire away :lol: :lol: :lol:

Stephen Mallia

back view

some details

and another

Hey Stephen,beautifully done.
My grand father was a Carabiniere in Italy,thanks for posting.

Roc.

Dear Slaj

A nice figure but having seen the close up shot of the figure, maybe you may want to smoothen it by dry sanding followed by wet sanding as you build up your carabiniere. I am sure with patience and lots of sanding, which most of us who sculpted do, will result in a more beautiful figure.

Hanppy sanding

Hey Stephen!

Great job on the figure, it is hard to sculpt a figure that just stands up and down like that, but you have done a great job of it. Don't really have any pointers, but I do have a question.

How do you go about sculpting the fine details? They look great and I would appreciate if you shared your technique on how you do it!

Whats the next project?

Stephen, Very nice. are you going to paint him next?~Gary

Good job,Stephen ;Looking forward to the final product.Cheers !
Kenneth :lol:

Thanks guys for the nice comments. Roc, that's some news.Being a policeman myself I feel somewhat attached , if you know what I mean.
Wong , you're right.In fact I still needed to give the figure a final polish.I usually use fine steel wool which helps in smoothing down the lot.
Anders , I would love to tell you how I go about sculpting details.why don't you pinpoint something in particular and we can go from there?
Gary , i will , eventually paint this bloke but the question is when. Sculpting commisions do take a lot of my time and honestly speaking i don't want to lose my hand at painting. i don't believe in the saying ' it's like a bike , once you learn you always know how '!!! In fact I'm a strict believer in practice makes perfect.

Stephen Mallia :lol:

Hey Stephen!

I was thinking about the emblem on the cap, and all the fine strands of putty, do you model it as a single piece or did you make each strand by it self? It looks really neat and clean.

i just started trying to sculpt and to me it looks great

ok Anders , now that you pinpointed one particular part I can go about in telling you how it's done. As with all detailing , I like to first see how I can break down the item in question. With this emblem the sculpting was done in 3 stages. The lower circular part ( or grenade ) , the flame itself and some detailing defining the top part of the grenade from where the actual flames are coming from. you have to decide which parts are on top ( so as to speak ) so you can start with those at the bottom. The thickness of the grenade dictates that I start with the flame. I have a tendency to 'design ' the part in question in pencil first. A small blob of putty was laid down and spread over the pencil marked area. For this I only use a brush and alcohol. With a fine needle I roughly mark out the details ( in this case the single flames ) and smooth them out , again , with brush and alcohol. Most of the detail sculpting is done using just brush and alcohol. You just have to remove any excess putty that is always present. With that dry i did the grenade which I suppose doesn't need that much of an explanation. Again dry and a minute blob of putty is placed between the two and given shape with the brush. After all is completely dry a slight buff with fine steel wool will polish the lot. BTW this final step was not done yet in the photo shown hence the rough appearance.
I hope that answers your question. Please don't hesitate to ask if any other query comes along

Stephen Mallia

Hey Stephen!

Thanks for breaking it down, most things become much easier once broken down into sections, much like you did. Sorry I missed it, don't know how as I read all threads here

Thanks mate!