I’m currently working on the the Little Big Horn, Sioux Chief (Fer miniature) and would appreciate any tips or tricks on the how I might achieve the headdress tails (strings), featured on the box art, thanks

If the feathers are straight, then sculpt them on a flat surface, such as glass or ceramic tiles. After baking the material (if it is polymer clay) or after hardening (if it is epoxy putty), separate the resulting product, turn it over and make a feather texture on its reverse side.

If the feathers are curved, then after separating them from the base on which they were sculpted, you will have to bend them slightly as you need.

If the feathers are strongly curved, then you will probably have to first mold a curved base for sculpting them, after which, covering it with a separating layer, blind the feathers on this base.

Hello, simplest thing I have used and worked very well was some of my wifes red sewing thread cut to length. I have recently just finished the Andrea Wind of War figure doing this and it looks great. No pictures taken yet.
I also have this bust your doing, its a nice sculpt, what you have done so far looks good.
Michael
https://paintedheroes.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the help, I will have to raid my wife’s needlework box, cheers.

Any tips on the best way to attach the thread/wires to the resin feather ends and whether there are any new materials/tools it would be good to get hold of? The feathers in the kit are so tiny I’m frightened of breaking them.

Sorry for the newbie questions but relatively new to the hobby and still learning. I didn’t even realise that people sculpted their own figures, until I recently found and joined PF

Hi Mark,

Welcome to PF.
Back in 2016 I purchased some electrical wire (from Antics) to add some hair strands to my Nuts Planet 'Mother of Dragons'.
The wire comes in five very fine strands within the insulation. They can be used individually or twisted together for increased width.

Just click on the thumbnail for a larger view.

It's handy since, being wire, it can be bent to whatever shape you require.

The following is just a suggestion which may or may not be suitable to you.

Looking at your Native American I notice that the ends of the feathers appear to have some tufts at the ends from which the 'tails' protrude.
My approach to this would be to mix some epoxy putty and apply tiny balls to the feather ends.
Then, while still soft, I'd push one (or two) wire strands into it to create a hole. I wouldn't leave them in since I don't trust the putty to create a suitable bond.
Once the putty is hard, I'd firstly reinforce the feather ends with a dab of CA glue; after which, I'd fix the wires (with CA glue) into the ready made holes. When the glue is set, the wires could be bent to shape and cut as required.
I'd suggest a trial on some waste plastic or resin to look for any potential problems before attempting any work on the bust.

I've looked at the Antics website and found the wires I'm talking about HERE (I wasn't aware that there were so many colours of insulation). The price has gone up by £1 from when I bought it; but that was 7 years ago.

Good luck with your project.

Cheers,
Andrew

Thanks Andrew, that’s great advice, Will definitely give that a go.
Love your GOT busts too, they look great.

I made the Pegaso Lakota Chief Warrior 90 mm. That figure had also tail strings.
I made them from copper wire and milliput.
Make small balls from Milliput and put a piece of copper wire in it.
Let it dry.
Glue it on the feathers and paint them
Easy and Harmless



Not the best picture but you see what you can make.

Marc

Thanks Marc,
I’m looking forward to doing some experimenting this weekend now, to see what works best, and try to get the scaling right, before thinking about the order of construction, painting and the arrangement.

I just used PVA glue to attach then PVA glue with some red in it to finish off.
Michael

https://paintedheroes.blogspot.com/