Hat Crown

I'll be making a couple of tricorns in this fashion for the project. I use a Hornet head, minus ears, and covered with Vaseline. The reason I cut the ears off is because I don't want them to hinder my blade while prying off the cured crown.

Makin' Buttons

I think I got this idea from Joe Hudson. It's crude, it destroyed a drill bit, but it's a huge time saver. Considering the amount of buttons on each figure, it helps to have a time saving device as this. I basically taped a couple pieces of plastic card to a block of wood. With a hammer, I make a few taps on the drill bit into the lead foil. The two sheets acts a cushion when tapping out the buttons and prevents them from being driven into the block of wood. This is all trial and error. Out of three punched, I'll get one decent button.

"A Cruel Misfortune" Part 7

Here's the finished sculpture of M. Beinenbourg, Aide De Camp to Crown Prince Frederick of Hesse Cassel, whom Tallard surrendered himself to during the final stage of the Battle of Blenheim.

Left over putty...

When I ordered the base from Ken Thomas, he informed me that it would have a void on one side. No problem, I'll fix it somehow. I hate having left over putty, thats why I mix small batches at a time, so this is what I've done with the small semi-hard clumps that are not useful. The blue thing is a piece of foam board I carved to fit the shape of the void. I did this so I wouldn't have use half a tub of putty to fill it.

"A Cruel Misfortune" Part 6

Here's the finished French Marshal Tallard.

"A Cruel Misfortune" Part 5

Here I've added the "skirt" of his coat and roughly drew where I will place the pockets and "pleats". It was important to sculpt the back and front of jacket and fuse it to the skirt. This will keep the skirt firmly in place while sculpting the pleats and pockets and also for triming and sanding later.

"A Cruel Misfortune" Part 4

Here's some work on Marshal Tallard. This figure will be more or less an SBS. Thanks for following.