JamesOLeary
Master at Arms
I just finished a figure that is my first fully sculpted figure. It is of a Soldier in Vietnam popping open a beer using a church key can opener. He is wearing the 2d Pattern Jungle Fatigues with epaulets, waist tabs, and a gas flap which you can see near the top of the collar where the watch is going through a button hole and the corresponding button on the other side. There are dog tags in the jungle boots. I used a mannequin from Helo Miniatures for the chest and pelvis with a copper wire armature for the legs, spine, and arms, Magic Sculpt to flesh out the wire armature, another type of putty that I have had for almost 20 years that came in 35mm film cannisters for the head and boots, and the Magic Sculpt for the uniform details.
I decided to use the other putty as it hardens faster than Magic Sculpt and is easier for me to carve details into. For the head, and I wish I took pictures of the process, I mixed the putty from the film cannisters and placed it onto a toothpick to make the neck and then a ball for the head. The head on this figure is the 8th attempt at this process. I placed several Hornet heads on my bench to use as guides for various facial features and this is what I came up with. Some parts of the face are smooth and were shaped with rubber color shapers. Some parts are carved after the putty cured. You can tell that I did the nose and ears after I laid in the eyes and mouth as they are slightly lighter in color than the rest of the head. I did have a place for a nose when I put in the eyes and mouth, but it did not turn out like I wanted so I put putty over it and redid it. The ears are not perfect, but I think they are close enough. The bald head was a bit misshaped in the back from my finger pressing against it while trying to place the eyes and mouth. I fixed that by using Magic Sculpt for the hair. It took me a whole week to sculpt this head. Although I have now been able to sculpt a decent looking head, I do not know how many more I will make in the future as they do take a long time for me to make until I come up with a method that works for me that is less time consuming. Anyway, I am pretty happy to have sculpted a head of my own as I have been trying from time to time for the past 20 years with them not turning out very well.
To get the pose, I had my wife take pictures of me in uniform in this pose from different angles. Unfortunately, her Parkinson's caused most of the photos to be blurry, but they were good enough for me to copy the placement of the folds and to get the anatomy down. The Scale card that came with the Halo Miniatures mannequin helped with the placement of the knees, elbows, ankles, and wrists on the wire armature. Basically, this figure is of me opening a beer.
This is what the completed figure looks like.
I decided to use the other putty as it hardens faster than Magic Sculpt and is easier for me to carve details into. For the head, and I wish I took pictures of the process, I mixed the putty from the film cannisters and placed it onto a toothpick to make the neck and then a ball for the head. The head on this figure is the 8th attempt at this process. I placed several Hornet heads on my bench to use as guides for various facial features and this is what I came up with. Some parts of the face are smooth and were shaped with rubber color shapers. Some parts are carved after the putty cured. You can tell that I did the nose and ears after I laid in the eyes and mouth as they are slightly lighter in color than the rest of the head. I did have a place for a nose when I put in the eyes and mouth, but it did not turn out like I wanted so I put putty over it and redid it. The ears are not perfect, but I think they are close enough. The bald head was a bit misshaped in the back from my finger pressing against it while trying to place the eyes and mouth. I fixed that by using Magic Sculpt for the hair. It took me a whole week to sculpt this head. Although I have now been able to sculpt a decent looking head, I do not know how many more I will make in the future as they do take a long time for me to make until I come up with a method that works for me that is less time consuming. Anyway, I am pretty happy to have sculpted a head of my own as I have been trying from time to time for the past 20 years with them not turning out very well.
To get the pose, I had my wife take pictures of me in uniform in this pose from different angles. Unfortunately, her Parkinson's caused most of the photos to be blurry, but they were good enough for me to copy the placement of the folds and to get the anatomy down. The Scale card that came with the Halo Miniatures mannequin helped with the placement of the knees, elbows, ankles, and wrists on the wire armature. Basically, this figure is of me opening a beer.
This is what the completed figure looks like.
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