Well, I finally finished the sculpting. It's not perfect by a long shot, but I'm happy with it considering it's my first sculpt.

On to the painting...

Barry

Barry well done.You'll see that with practice you'll get better and better

Stephen Mallia

Barry, Very nice. The only thing I would have done is fewer folds on the turban and having the lines of each fold run not as far around the turban as they do. This is being a bit nit picky and is no real big deal. The visor and crest look good. Now paint em up!~Gary

great piece of work.

Thanks guys!

Gary - I know what you mean about the turban. I wasn't all that happy with it when I finished it. I decided that I'd rather get on to the next one instead of working this one to death.

Barry

Thanks Gray. Yes, it is entirely scratchbuilt. The single epaulette on the left shoulder signifies his rank as a lieutenant. Captains would have one on the right and colonels would have two. I put a plain shoulder strap on his right shoulder as shown in the drawings I have.

Barry

Great to see you finish this piece Barry! I agree with the others that you have done a great job, especially for your first! Looking forward to see you paint it up! Whats the next sculpting project?

Barry, I agree move on. I spot my mistakes when I move at a pace that is faster than what I'm used to. I can't wait to see the next one, again great job.~Gary

Barry, that's a great piece of work for your first sculpt, I"ll look forward to seeing your next one for sure.

Superb first sculpt

If all the beginners could be so bright .......and so modest Very well.
B.

Barry, Now that is one good looking bust! Excellent job!!! I can't wait to see it painted up. I wish, I wish someone would do a bust of a Continental Dragoon. Man, they are colorful. Super job scuplting him. Look forward to seeing him in person one day.

Happy Trails, Terry Martin

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!

Anders - I think I might try a 54mm sculpt next. I'm better at painting in that scale. I might stick with the 18th century. Maybe a British 17th light dragoon?

Terry - I'd love to see the same person who did Verlinden's Tarleton bust do a CLD. I'll have to make it to the Atlanta show one day.

Barry

Excellent job Barry.

Do you have a SBS on this, or any hints?

I'm not near sculpting yet, but I've started replacing lots of plastic on a figure I'm building now to get better fall to clothing and better fit to the back of a horse. My problem now is blending the new stuff with the existing figure.

Your bust looks great, and is inspiring to folks like me who are just starting to move beyond stock figures.

Cheers
Andy

For a first bust Barry you have done amazingly well. Good job.

Barry, If you need uniform/equipment info let me know.~Gary

Thanks Andy.

About the best I can offer as an SBS is the series of photos I have posted already. I didn't take any other pictures. Sorry.

As far as sculpting hints, I'm probably not the best one to ask. I would say, however, to just grab some sculpey and start sculpting. I sculpted the head in a few spur of the moment sessions. I think I would have been better off if I'd planned it out a bit more and kept more drawings in front of me showing facial proportions. I was more meticulous about the sculpting of the uniform. I found some photos of reenactors wearing similar uniforms to try to see how the creases looked and how the items drape on the body. I also looked at paintings and well sculpted figures to see how others interpreted the uniforms. The basic method I used to sculpt the uniform items, such as the lapels, was to put some putty of the approximate shape on the figure then manipulate it and trim it to the final shape when it was semi-hardened. This is all stuff I learned from looking at others articles and posts here and in books. I have learned a lot about how to work with putty from this site, especially Gary's posts.

I think you mentioned elsewhere that the figure you are working on is an Airfix figure? I have worked quite a bit with Historex figures which need a lot of re-shaping and putty work to look right. I like good old Miliput for reshaping these because I can feather into the plastic with a wet brush better than other putties. A&B works well for this also.

I still have a lot to learn, but maybe I should post an SBS for my next one.

Hope this helps,
Barry

Thanks Bob!

Gary - Thanks for the offer, I might just take you up on that. One of my dream projects is a vignette with a 3rd CLD about to visit some serious destruction upon a 17th LD at the battle of Cowpens as in one of Troiani's painting of the battle in the book "Soldiers in America". Maybe I'll practice with a single foot figure first!

I do have another uniform question about the 3rd CLDs. I read in Steffen's book that one report from the time stated that the 3rd wore red turbans instead of blue. I have seen a couple of illustrations that show this, but I don't know if they are based on this single report. That sure would look nice. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Barry

Barry, I have only seen the blue turbans. If there is a report and it's documented I'm curious as to what percentage of the regiment may have had them.~Gary

Hi Barry

Thanks. Yes, it's the Airfix LifeGuard I'm working on, and I made new coat tails for him that fit over the saddle and the rolled greatcoat better than the plastic items. The problem is that I didn't feather the milliput into the plastic as you've suggested!! So you've helped. I'm trying to do this after the fact, and I'm almost there. I believe you'll have good tips for a beginner given that you are a new sculptor. So far that's correct for me.

Cheers
Andy