The Pros from Dover-Part 4

Here's some closer pics of Steuben and Rochambeau. I chose heads that I felt were close in resemblance to their character. For Steuben I picked a head from MIG that had mature features. And for Rochambeau, a piece from Historex, that had a austere, mature, and commanding look.

Painting for Steuben is finished, I just need to add the telescope to his hands and sculpt thumbs. Lauzun is alomost finished, I need to add his saber and saberattache. The horse is about 40% complete and the groundwork has its base coats.

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The Pros from Dover-Part 3

From what I've read, there is only one known period image of the Duc de Lauzun, it's a profile engraving done sometime during his life. There are several artist interpretations of what he may have looked like during his time spent in America. Of the images I have seen of him, half depict him with a moustache. Why? I'm thinking this was the fashion for French cavalry units at the time and thus the artist depicts him in such manner. I've featured a couple artist renditions of the Duc. The one the collector really liked and myself, is Bill Horan's figure. My version will be slightly different.

As for the figure, I used the upper torso of a Historex hussar dolman piece. The Pelisse is also from Historex. I had to do a minor conversion with this piece as it did not lay like I wanted and was not very form fitting. I cut it in half to make it lay right, filled in the gaps w/ putty and added fur to the edge as the exisiting one was not very detailed. Even though I had to do a little cutting and carving, these two pieces saved me a lot of time.

More later. Thanks for following.

The Pros from Dover-Part 2

Here's the finished sculpt. I will post closer pics of each figure later.

As for the base, the amount of putty used to cover it was much smaller than I had planned. I applied the putty in sections, starting with the back, working my way to the sides, top and foreground, adding debris and texturing with a rough stone as I went.

The gabions are from Armand Bayardi. He makes really neat model accessories. Very detailed and are wonderful additions to a vigentte/dio.
I used three whole gabions and one half. I could have used four half's but using "whole" pieces adds a little more depth.

More later. Thanks for following.

The Pros from Dover-Part 1

Well it's been two months since my last post. Thanks to all who have been visiting.

My current project is a commission piece depicting some of the well known commanding officers of the Rebel Army at the siege of Yorktown, Virginia in October of 1781.

Though none are American, they all played important roles during the Revolution.

Those that will be depicted are as follows-Marquis de LaFayette, Friedrich von Steuben the Comte de Rochambeau and the Duc de Lauzun.

I had to do some digging throug my spare heads for appropriate features that I feel resemble the characters.

Composition, composition, composition. I, like all modelers, will always struggle with this when putting together multiple figures and such. I have the vision, but it takes a life of it's own when the pieces are actually being set to base.

The collector who commissioned this piece wanted three officers on foot, standing on a fortification, with one mounted riding up to the trio. I, at first, had the horse parallel to the trio with the gabions surrounding the horse. This didn't work. When I put the mounted figure on horse he took up too much space and looked like the center piece of the vignette. I didn't want that. So I hacked off the far left gabion and chipped away alot of the wood. This will allow the horse and rider to be positioned at an angle and allow the foot figures some spot light. The dead space on the base I added a spent cannon ball and a clump of sod. I feel this composition looks much better and tells a better story.

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.

Thanks for following.

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.

Thanks for following.

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!"