Hullo all. I've been lurking here a bit, but now I have something to post. Only a little, but it's a beginning.
I've bought and had a look at some 54mm minis over the past few years, but recently Greenstuff Gav's lit a fire under me on MSN. I visited a model shop on Thursday and picked up a box of Airfix 1/32 American WW2 infantry, just to have a look at what historical 54mms look like. Compared to an Inquisitor mini (Eisenhorn, courtesy G_G) the height's okay, but the inquisitor's almost half as wide again as the troopers, and his head, hands and feet much chunkier. But like I said, fire, lit, and I want to see if I can bulk them up and convert them with some relatively simple sculpting methods - maybe not quite to the proportions of inq. minis, but close.
First step: cutting the leg and torso pieces up the middle and sticking in some 1mm plasticard spacers. Also, plasticard wedges for posing the arms, pinning a wire armature in the neck, and removing some detail - webbing and lapels, and the hands.
Trust my goofy camera to focus on the backdrop, and teach me to check the pics before moving on. ::) But the basic cuts 'n' pastes should be visible.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/24171-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP1.jpg)
Next step: filling the gaps. I used a mix of black and white milliput. Milliput's like the Incredible Hulk of sculpting putties, IMO - it's got it's problems and flaws, but it's strong. Cheap and sticks like a limpet too, compared to some other putties.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/24173-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP2.jpg)
All pics hosted at cheddarmongers.org.
The unmodified head's starting to look a bit out of proportion, which I take as a good sign. Now the basic pieces are all stuck together, it's time to have some fun.
Good start there. The head is looking a bit off-proportion (as you mentioned) and out of place (due to the haircut, IMO) but I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it. 40Kifying historical era mini's can be a challenge but it's fun to see how different folks handle it.
Great work. And, almost more importantly, great photography; plus, there're signs of skill worth watching in even the humble beginnings. Expectation of greatness: considerable.
R.
This looks interesting, at least from the perspective of seeing how it turns out. I think the proportions may well end up looking slightly odd at the end as you bulk it out in some dimensions but not others, but I'll wait and see how it ends up before I pass that judgement.
QuoteThe unmodified head's starting to look a bit out of proportion, which I take as a good sign.
For the most part, Inquisitor models are about 6 heads to the body - compared to conventional proportion of 7.5 heads to the body.
In other words, Inquisitor models have heads about 30% larger than is strictly proportionally correct.
You could find it interesting trying to modify that head up to size without it working out somewhat strange.
All in good time, Marco. :) Ta, all.
This would've been posted sooner, only after raving about the strength of milliput, I had to refix the head. 'Course, it helps to let it cure properly before you go manhandling the model to cut off more collar. ;)
On that note, it took Saturday night and most of Sunday under a desklamp to get it to cure properly the second time. Weird.
Anyways.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/24178-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP3.jpg)
I broke out the procreate here. I thought the light grey colour would help a bit, but against the lighter plastic it looks almost like brown stuff.
More centre-gap filling. Sausages over that and the webbing areas, following the general course of the existing wrinkles, then a fair bit of smoothing and blending. They don't look quite as square IRL. Honest. Also, belt buckle with ball-bearing and the, er, 'opening'. Looking at a couple of 40K cadians I think it might be too far to the side, but meh.
I didn't bother fixing the chest too much. It'll probably have a load of armour whacked over it.
Looking good
Quote from: Vermis on February 16, 2010, 01:14:07 AM
On that note, it took Saturday night and most of Sunday under a desklamp to get it to cure properly the second time. Weird.
For this (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd176/Jazz_is_for_losers/Second%20Circle/Acolyte_wip1.jpg) model I had to make a conical muzzle from milliput, the first one cracked as I was hollowing it out so I made another using a lot less resin in the mix. Since I had spare stuff I made one using a lot more resin in the mix to test it out, the one with more resin took absolutely ages to dry. Turned out to be pointless because as I was pinning the it the brass got glued into the muzzle so it ended up blocked anyway.
Looks good, but I hear ya. You can be working on something with no expectation of problems, then snap.
Superfine white, I assume?
I thought sculpting over the shoulder gaps would be a bit trickier, so I tackled them seperately. The different ways cloth can wrinkle round a shoulder in different poses gives me a headache. It wasn't as bad as expected though. I kept it simple.
I've maybe one more wrinkle to stick on the front, but where I stick it'll depend on the armour.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/24189-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP4.jpg)
Beautiful job thus far, the putty work is incredibly smooth and well blended.
Vermis, great work there. I'm interested in the finished product. Out of interest which Airfix WW2 American kit did you get?
T.
Progressing nicely, looking forward to more.
QuoteThis would've been posted sooner, only after raving about the strength of milliput, I had to refix the head. 'Course, it helps to let it cure properly before you go manhandling the model to cut off more collar.
On that note, it took Saturday night and most of Sunday under a desklamp to get it to cure properly the second time. Weird.
I find this wierd too. I almost always use a half and half mix for milliput and a 70/40 with procreate. Placed next to a radiator and it usually cures enough to add the next layer or cut within about an hour.
Quote from: Tessio Niri on February 18, 2010, 08:07:08 PM... and a 70/40 with procreate.
Because ProCreate always gives 110%. ;)
QuotePlaced next to a radiator and it usually cures enough to add the next layer or cut within about an hour.
That's about what I find - place it in a suitably warm place, and it can be set enough within an hour to start the next stage.
Ta all!
Alyster: procreate smooths easily compared to GS, but when it's cold or starts to harden, a couple of clay shapers are a great help too. ;)
Tessio: They were 'U.S. Infantry Europe 1942-45'. Probably an OOP set because the 1/32 U.S. infantry on the Airfix site look different.
On the milliput curing thing: it was fairly cold and I've had bad experiences placing the desk lamp too close to plastic bits. Also, it might've been affected by the black milliput in the mix - it seems to be a bit softer than the other types, but I don't know if that's normal, because I might've got a packet from a wonky batch, or because it's old (the grey bar [Hardener? Resin?] is fairly yellowed).
QuoteBecause ProCreate always gives 110%. Wink
Yeah I thought this was common knowledge LOL ;)
I had a look at the current Airfix 1/32 figures in a couple of model shops yesterday. They look like one-piece minis (including the base) and from what I can make out under the flat paintjobs on the box, the moulding isn't stellar. More like oversized green army men than gaming or display minis. :(
I noticed a couple of boxes of Italeri 1/32 teutonic knights and gladiators, though. Interesting...
Should have more Cadian pics up soon. I lost a couple of days finding out that milliput will not pressmould well at all, no matter how much you plead with it.
I really left this one too long. I had this first set of feet shots sitting on my hard drive since February, too.
Anyhow: bulking up the legs. The upper legs seemed like they'd get away with it, so I concentrated on the lower legs. To keep the some of the realistic cloth detail of the airfix model, I tackled it in two stages. Firstly, filling in the hollows, making them much shallower:
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25105-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP5a.jpg)
Secondly, re-establishing the ridges. I rolled out thin strings of putty and laid them over the exposed lines of plastic, then flattened and blended them with the hollows.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25107-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP5b.jpg)
Glad to see you back again since you inspired me to take a similar line with one of my minis - maybe this will spur me on to finish it off.
Excellent stuff again with some very nice attention to detail - and Im sure Im not the only one who finds the step by step approach very informative.
Nice one, thought this was another to disappear into the aether glad to see it again.
Very nice work so far, your sculpting skills are great.
Those boots are going to need some 'heroic'ing though IMO, maybe some traditional boot plating like on jaxon and dorian?
Ta all! Always happy to be of help, Flinty. And sorry for the sabbatical. Gav would be able to confirm it's one of my biggest flaws - I start something full of enthusiasm and gusto, then I drop it and wander off like I'd just been zombified. I have a feeling I could've carved out my own little miniatures empire by now, if I could beat a goldfish in a staring contest.
Next step is a quick diversion, something I missed. And still would have, if I didn't have a 40K Cadian mini to turn round and round in my hands. The pockets. Or pouches. Pushing the putty to follow the cloth folds is one thing, but sculpting two or more symmetrically-shaped and placed objects really gets me. Especially if they're on opposite sides of the mini. I had to take two passes to get this one sort-of right.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25111-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP6a.jpg)
...And then widen the hem of the jacket to properly cover them.
(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25113-1/____+Cadian+Officer+WIP6b.jpg)
Sorry for those last two blurry pics. My camera was acting weird today. Weirder than usual.
Next up: the boots. And Kresten: you're right. It's going to need some thought. Though I might be able to adapt the trouser-leg method.
Edit: something I neglected to mention. Beginning with the first trouser stage, I've been adding a little apoxie sculpt to the procreate. PC pushes and smooths well enough on it's own; but added apoxie sculpt makes it a bit softer - much easier to smush into hollows and blend into hard(ened) areas.
Your skills and fine detailing are staggeringly good, when I have spare cash I am going to invest in all the different types of modelling putty/resin/etc and have a big old play! I struggle with detailing in greenstuff and I'm a bad workman so I'm blaming my tools :P
I can't wait to see this guy finished, each snapshot is droolable quality
Great work! Can't wait to see more of this.
R.