Ahab

Here's the finished "Ahab". All painted with acrylics. I added a scar to his head, per Gregory Peck's character in the 1950's movie "Moby Dick". Which, by the way, I watched a dozen time while working on this model!

I labeled the cask "SAIL MAKER", again, picked up from the movie. Just what that means, I have no idea.

I gave the hatch a chipped paint look. I think it helps make the whale design hinge pop.

I have one more item to add as soon as I figure out how to build it. Right now, I'm going to take a break and start on a project, which will no doubt take all summer to complete.

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Whale oil cask SBS, Pt. 2

At MFCA, I picked up this neat base from Ken Thomas. The engraved swirl pattern fits the subject, giving it a whirlpool look.

The rest of the SBS, is again, pretty self-explanatory.

I did re-do the hat. The previous one didn't look right to me.

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Whale oil cask SBS, Pt.1

Well, I never thought I would start a post with the title "Whale oil cask SBS"!

I started by making a "casting" of the barrel by simply adding a small amount of resin to a small plastic drinking cup. The cup had just the right shape for a barrel top. The rest is self-explanatory.

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Heave away me Johnny, heave away

I found some neat pics of whale oil casks sitting on their side. How they're secured, I'm not sure. I do notice rope around one.

I had an idea of a cask "wedgie" with the lid toward the viewer. Perhaps a 1/4 of it shown. I'm inspired by a scene from the 1957 movie 'Moby Dick', which shows a cask being hoisted to the ship and on the lid says "Sail Maker, Pequod". It would be neat to see this painted all weathered and worn.

I'm going to play with this idea for a bit.

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"Call me Ishmael"

Here's one of my summer projects. It's YS Masterpieces version of Ahab from the book "Moby Dick".

Will a mast help frame this figure? I originally had a pencil which looked a little skinny to be a mast, then I dug around and found this brass tubing which, has some girth to it and makes it look more convincing.

Whats neat about adding a mast is the things you can add to it. For one, the Spanish ounce (worth $16 US I believe) nailed to it. This was the prize for the first mariner to spot Moby Dick. I also thought of small carvings mariner may have done during some down time on deck.

How about the staggered barrels? Is there too much verticality going on here?

I don't like the hat, so thats being replaced.

I'm open to any suggestions as I'm anxious to get started on this project.

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Vase SBS

Here's a little sbs on the vase. I started out by digging through my spares for an appropriate "bowl" for the vase. I believe this piece is from Historex. I carved off the orginal handles and glued to a round plastic pole. The pole was a Tamiya telegraph or phone pole. It had just the right thickness to be an armature for putty work.

Once glued, I worked putty around the pole to give to give it a vase form. Once cured, I carefully carved and sanded to shape. The handles are brass rod I bent to shape and glued to sides.

I didn't use any picture reference for the vase. I just built what I thought would look convincing. It must have worked, because no one has come up and said "this isn't early 20th century, southern Bolivian, rural, creek bottom mud pottery!"

Butch & Sundance Redux

Before MFCA, I was given some advice from a wise veteran of the show scene. And he gave me some suggestions on how to help frame this vignette.
I was a bit reluctant at first, because I didn't want to crowd the scene with too much "stuff". I thought about it for a day or so and decided it wouldn't hurt to add a hat or something. Instead, I added all the elements he suggested would look good. Well, it worked out better than I thought!

The hat is scratchbuilt as is the pack sitting on the barrel. I spent a while on the vase. I needed something thin enough to fit on Sundance's left and not to look like he just knocked it over while running by. The exploding vase was fairly simple. I took a small sharp strip of clear plastic and used it as a armature for the epoxy "water". I then added the pottery shards.

Austrian Officer, 1800

I made it! And I'm burned out. I'm not touching a brush for a few weeks or so. After a couple all nighters, I get tired just looking at a bottle of paint!

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French Infantry Carabinier, 1796

Here's the painted Frenchman. I gave him a striped vest to add more color. I'm pretty satisfied on how he turned out.

I'll add pics of the Austrian soon. Thanks for following.

Austrian Officer, 1800 & French Carabinier, 1796

I just primed these two but here is the "raw" version. I like the expression on the Austrian, as it really fits the pose. Both heads are from Historex.

The pistol on the officer is my first totally scratch built firearm. Just bent brass rod and putty body.
It turned out better than I thought and am satisfied.

The reference for both figures is Osprey's "Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy". I wanted to do something different with the officer and give him a "on campaign" look. All the illustrations of Austrian officers, be him a company or field offcer, all looked smart without any burden other than his sword and or pistol holster. I find this hard to believe. While, I know there was a class system and officers tended to seperate themselves from the lowley ranks, they where still soldiers and shared the same privations on the march like the men the lead. This means carrying their own gear and such. I doubt highly the company grade officers had a special wagon for their bed-roll/ knapsack. For this figure I chose a bed-roll style arrangement with his greatcoat folded in the same manner as the men's. I found an illustration of an Austrian artilleryman with a similiar set up. The cane attached to his greatcoat roll is something I thought would be a practical place for it. All officers and even NCO's carried these "sticks". It was really just a symbol of rank and was carried on campaign.

Some coats of Austrian officers had no turnbacks. To save money and yet look smart, some coats were made without this embelishment.

The French carabinier was a fun sculpt. Much more character than his Austrian adversary. I really liked how the bi-corn hat turned out. From what I read, the men turned their hats in this fashion so as not to interfere with the loading motion. I added a pipe to add to that character.

Now, for the next two weeks, I'm going to be a painting fool!!

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New Stuff

I'm working overtime on these two fellows to have them finished in time for MFCA...I hope. The projects are not being rushed, because it will show, I'm just spending lots of hours on them.

The Austrian armature was built already when he designed to be part of a vigentte I planned several months ago. That plan fell through and now he will be a stand alone.

The other figure will be a French carabinier during Napoleon's campaign in Italy. He will be ragged fellow in a action/firing pose.

These two projects are about 80% finished and I should have pics soon of the pre-primed pieces.

Thanks for following.