Mark: Yes, the pin through the skate is strong enough, but only because I cast the skate around it. It would have never have worked if I tried to drill through the blade, so I made sure the wire was embedded right from the beginning.

For the Gilbert figure I used a long length of wire that would become his whole leg. I had to test a few times before I got it right. Here was an early test run:



I did it differently on the Stevens figure - he's pinned through the stick (which I again poured around the wire) which I then attached to the hands with more tiny pins and 5 minute epoxy:



Just make sure that the pin is long enough and it will probably be okay during transport. Or what you outlined with a metal blade might work as well. Give it a shot. I'd be curious to see how you do it. And I'd love to see any figures you sculpt too.

On the stick: I used dry transfers as a guide for the letters which I then painted over. I absolutely hate painting letters (I did some on the Verlinden FDNY bust's arm patch and it took so long and was so frustrating that I was ready to destroy the figure by the end of it). As it turns out, dry transfers while a great guide, do not equal great results with oil paint, so I ended up having to hand paint parts anyway. I'm happy that many of the older players' sticks don't have all those words written on them!

Francesca

Lou: Heh heh. Yeah, I've had my mind on a fight scene for quite a while now. Might be a nice way to segue back into the martial subjects...

Terry: I was just looking at some pictures of Lemieux yesterday. Actually, it was in an issue of The Hockey News that was basically filled with questions like "Who is the best defenseman ever?" "The best dynasty..." "The most talented player..." "Was Gelinas' goal good or not?" I guess they don't have much to write about with season a bust right now.

Pete: While the ice wasn't that difficult, it took several tries before I got it right. First I took a base with a depressed center, filled it in with some putty, and painted the ice/lines with acrylics. When that was dry I went back and poured thin (no thicker than 1/16") layers of acrylic gel medium over it until I reached the top of the base. If you pour it too thickly it will ripple and pucker as it dries. When it was completely dry I rubbed it with sandpaper to give it the cloudy look and scratched it heavily with an x-acto.

Francesca

Thanks Francesca
I'll try your method for pinning the figure! I know if I did a decent job I was going to cast a few copies so I might have to go back to the metal blade method unless I can dream up something else! Love the detail with the laces! Nice to know there is someone else out there doing sports figures as well!
Cheers
Mark
P.S. Lettering is my nightmare as well, I may just try and get someone to print up some stick decals for me!

I've been having problems with the drapery of the goalie's sweater lately, so I took a break from it for the time being and decided to focus on some fine detail work.

The Catching Glove



It still needs a lot of sanding and fine tuning, but the correct basic shape is there.
The webbing provided a big challenge. I tried thinly rolled putty and lead wire, but finally decided the easiest thing to do was to weave it with plain ole thread (after I drilled lots of tiny holes!). When it was all in place, I applied some superglue to the threads to hold the shape:



The Blocker



I started the actual glove part first, and then formed the blocker itself with three thin layers of putty draped over an elmer's glue bottle to form the curvature. It doesn't have the correct dimensions yet (it's too short) but I'm waiting to finish the goalie's arm before I lengthen it.

Here they are on the figure for a temporary mock-up:





I've left the forearms bare while I reform the pose a bit. Eventually, I'll lock them into place and finish the jersey.
The folds in the back are coming along okay, but the front are all wrong so I've begun carving them away to redo it.

Comments welcome.

Francesca

Outstanding sculpting and engineering !

Awesome work Francesca

Great job Francesca. Very nice detail work.

-jim cox

No comments

EXCELLENT......

Francesca,

I'm not at all into hockey, but I learned a lot from your posts. Thanks for sharing your techniques .

Mike

It seems you really like hokey...
No comments on your sculpts, you seem to come from another planet...
With you artistic talent, have you ever thought to do something about football ? Not american, but soccer, you know "calcio". Your ability could drive crazy a lot of people, at least here (in Italy)...

... Well, if I may do a suggestion here - Fabio Cannavaro. :lol:
What a character. He could be a commander on some battlefield long ago ...

Luca and Johan: I have thought about some calciotori. My cousins in Genova told me that I have to cheer for Juventus so maybe Cannavaro is a good choice! I think a small vignette would be especially good for soccer.

I like hockey a lot, but right now it is on strike. :angry:
If they would ever come to an agreement I would switch my logo from Yankee baseball to Rangers hockey!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I realize I didn't post anything too fancy here since eveything is still so in-progress and kind of a mess. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this goalie up soon.

Francesca,

Here's a pic. and biography of the man :

http://biografieonline.it/biografia.htm?Bi...bio%20Cannavaro


I hope this warrior of the calcio may inspire you .

Best wishes,

Johan

I finally got around to updating this. This equipment is taking forever to finish.

Catching Glove



The stitching was done with thread (which I had coated with carpenter's glue to prevent flyaways). I drilled holes, ran it through, and then filled the gaps with putty. I could have just used Duro, but I was too lazy to roll out all those little pieces and put them in one by one (like on the blocker).

Blocker



I etched in the pattern on the back of the pad, but it's slightly obscured in the photo by my first bad attempt (which was later refilled with putty and sanded smooth - the white marks won't be visible once it's primed).

Stick



I started the goalie's stick from strip styrene. It's composed of 3 parts, the joins are still visible. It stills needs the tape, the knob on the handle, and some final shaping.

The Figure



Goalie sweaters are rather roomy around the sleeves and I tried to convey that. However, I'm a little unsure about how it's falling near the hem of the catching glove side. I was trying to make it look like it's being pulled because of the raised arm, but I think I made it a little too narrow:





I'm sculpting the head separately since I need to be able to form the mask around it easily.

Comments welcome.

Damn girl, that is awesome! I don't think you could have selected a more interesting or animated pose. The work on the gloves really came off nicely (I remember a conversation about how to do the cords).

Can't wait to see it in person.

Wow!

You really nailed it this time!!

I think the taper on the sleeves look great, as well as the rest of the shirt. The folds and drapery looks great!

The gloves are perfect, very neatly done and looks like the real deal!

Looking forward to see it come together and with some paint on it. Did you ever decide what goalie it will be?

Fantastic work Francesca! Love the details. Thanks for sharing how you achieve them.

-jim cox

Too cool!!

The shirt looks great. Lots of movement there!
And your blocker and trapper look superb.

Andy

Lovely !