I have to admit I'm not much of a hockey fan, but would brass wire work for the goal's netting a lot of craft stores carry it in varying gauges.~Gary

And weave it into the necessary shape myself you mean? Probably a lot of work, although I could drape it anyway I want then.

Any fishermen on here? I thought perhaps they might use something small scale like that.

Okay, I think this is going to be one of those step-by-step sections where you actually need the words to explain what is going on. I hope it's clear!
The pictures aren't the best either because of the way the metal reflects the light. Oh well.

So here's what I used: lead foil and 30 gauge stainless steel fishing wire. The good thing about fishing wire is it's not really maleable, so it will stay in whatever shape I bend it despite constant handling.

1) I used needle-nose pliers to bend the wire into a buckle. Looks easy, but it wasn't. VERY hard to get each buckle (I need 6 of them) exactly the same shape. I made a jig with the intention of pulling a thinner, softer wire (like copper) across, but I didn't have great success.

2) A piece of straight wire to make the "tongue buckle" (that's the little spoke that holds your belt at a certain notch). I bent it slightly at the end to keep it falling from falling through the notch later on.

3) A small piece of lead foil with a tiny hole punched into it.



I pushed the "tongue buckle" through the hole and secured it with a drop of superglue. Then I placed the buckle itself next to that, and finally placed the edge of the foil over the whole thing and glued that down:

Back



Front



The other end of the belt - I cut the end into a point and pushed some evenly spaced holes into it:



Because of the previously mentioned curved part of the "tongue buckle" I can actually move it a bit (it's delicate so not *too* much) to push the other half of the belt through and insert it through the buckle. Basically it functions like a real belt would:



I added a little fastener of lead foil to hold the tapered end down.
NOTE: I screwed up a bit here - I meant to make it extend a little further than it currently does. It'll look more realistic and 3D if it's not fastened so flush to the strap below it. I'll correct it on the next one I do... I look at this one as practice anyway:



And here it is against the figure's leg. I would now just need to cut it to size before I glued it down:



Francesca

Francesca, Fantastic sbs. I know thr frustration that goes with making a buckle that way. The upside is that it's easier to do the larger the scale gets. Great job.~Gary

Great stuff Francesca! Thanks so much for sharing, I've learned so much from this thread alone! (Now if I could just put it into practice!) :lol: You and Gary are my heros! (Where's the awh-shucks-blushing-appreciation smiley when you need it.)

-jim cox

Francesca,

This is a fantastic SBS. He's turning out great!

I wonder if cheesecloth might work for the goal? It might be a bit small, but it might be worth checking into.

Barry

The woman is a genius!

Francesca............Impressive to say the least. I can't wait to see the next installment

Walt Damon

Thanks there everybody. I know how much I love seeing other people's SBS projects, so I'm glad this one has been informative.

Barry: I had thought of cheesecloth as a possiblity. I haven't used it in a while, but if I remember correctly the holes aren't always evenly spaced? But I definitely will check it out next time I'm at the supermarket. Thanks! Someone also suggested fishnet stockings dipped in glue to hold the shape which might work well.

Lou: I don't know about that, but thanks bro.

I'm going to try to finish the rest of the buckles tonight, as well as those on the helmet.

One thing I've noticed btw is that when I use superglue (which I have to for the buckles) my nose gets all stuffy. I don't know if I'm having an allergic reaction to it, or if this is normal, but it's annoying as hell. I'd use 5 min. epoxy if I could, but then the damn things would take forever to make!

Francesca

Francesca,

You're probably right about cheesecloth being a bit too irregular. The stockings might work well though.

Barry

Okay, a little more work on the helmet. Nothing too exciting, but I did learn a little lesson.

I hand-drilled all the vent holes in the helmet. I was *very* nervous about this because I'm in constant fear that something I do is going to break the helmet (I really should have molded it and cast a resin copy to work on, but that would add several days and I really want to finish). Anyway, you can see I drilled in the wrong spot in the third photo which is why there's white putty surrounding the hole. I just filled it back in, let it dry and redrilled:



I added the foil strips for the buckles. I had to etch slots into the helmet because these straps are actually supposed to be going through the mask and around the back of the helmet (which is a more form-fitting aparatus):



Here are the buckles for these little straps. All they are is styrene cut slightly larger than the width of the strap with a bit of putty on top. When it the putty dried I shaved the edges down a bit so it actually looks like the strap is going through the buckle:

Big thanks to Alan Ball for recommending I do it this way - it's very easy and looks good!



I glued the buckles down and then quickly realized that it didn't look right because the center of the lead foil was still under there - the strap didn't look as if it were rising up through through a buckle and coming back down... it just looked like the styrene "buckle" was simply resting upon it. So, I cut away the center of the foil and replaced the buckle, but it was a tad messy because I had used 5 minute epoxy to glue the straps down and it was still wet. Smeared glue all over and had to clean it off the helmet.

And here's where I had my little revelation - if I had just used Duro here instead of lead foil, I could have easily cut away the offending area. And I wouldn't have had to etch slots in the helmet earlier either - I could have just sanded it at an angle to look like it was going through it. I probably could have gotten the whole thing done in 10 minutes. Instead, it took 45 minutes to do it, undo-it, and re-do it with all the cutting and glue and tweezers.



It was as if I was so focused on using the foil because I'd used it yesterday for the leg straps (where it worked well) that I was completely one track and not thinking. Once I had finished all this it was obvious what I should have done, but not at the time. Oh well! Live and learn.

Oh, here's how the helmet attaches. It's just done with a simple key:





The head looks all mishaped on the top like Mr. Potatohead and makes me laugh everytime I look at it. Same goes for the jaw - it doesn't quite fit the expression but I left it intentionally wide because I want the helmet to rest against it securely. Once the helmet is on, you can't tell anyway.

Francesca

This is trully Awesome!!!

ER

Im loving this thread as well!

Keep up the super work, it is very refreshing to see how you make these things as Im trying to get back into sculpting again, and everytime I look at this thread I get more and more pumped.

You definately have some unique and brilliant ideas, keep it up!

Francesca, The sbs on the helmet has just got to be the best one I've seen on this site, it's really just awesome. Pieces do not need to be just historical to be informative. there are so many techniques here that can be used for all periods and subjects. Super job!

One question how did you do the image with the three views of the helmet? I have a feature on my camera that allows me to have two images on one picture.~Gary

Gary: That's actually not a camera feature that made the three pictures like that (wish it were!). I took three separate pictures, used PhotoEditor to crop them to approximately the same size, and then cut and pasted those three into a new single picture that I re-cropped again like a triptych. Was quite easy.

Anders: What do you think you will sculpt when you start again?

Francesca

All this is really neat , I love the helmet. For goal mesh maybe you could try using this nylon sort of material. I'm not sure what it's called but you find it lining baskets or gift bags or occasionally in floral displays. If anybody knows what I'm talking about please try to explain it better. It wouldn't drape as well as you might like but the you should be able to find a sheet with holes the right size. You could also look for window screen as another possibility. Good luck, great project.

It's getting there...

I attached the cage to the mask. Took a bit of finagling since I hadn't been as careful about the edges as I should have been when I used the wax underneath. In other words, the cage was slightly larger than it should have been. I ended up twisting it slightly to make it fit. It's noticeable in the picture, but not so much in person.



I hit it with a few quick coats of primer to see any areas that need filling or sanding. There are a few that I will take care of when it dries completely. I did the same for the figure.

BTW, I shifted the light slightly between taking the two pictures but it makes such a big difference in the colors that show up!

Francesca

Francesca, that is really an excellent job of sculpting and engineering.

Ethan: I looked at some window screen pieces but they're too stiff. I don't know the basket liners you're referring to - all I keep picturing is the shredded bright green plastic that you put in your Easter basket. :lol:

Francesca