Men At Work

[Bonehammer]

Ever had a project materialize in your head so quickly that you have the tools out before it's even finalised? Happened to me today.

This will be a figure of a sandblaster, built from scratch with my usual method - wire, foil, Milliput.

The raison d'etre of the project is the hood that our sandblaster wear, quite different from the usual models and looking deliciously steampunk. I'm keeping it a secret for now.

There's a second reason - the roll of Milliput is going off. Does it happen to you as well? The grey roll develops a tan 'bark' on it that won't mix, won't harden, and will play hell with the subsequent operations of sanding, scribing, etc. So I'm using it for the bulk of the figure, reverting to a new roll or better yet Superfine White when it comes the time to add detail.

The starting materials, plus a Dylan Dog figure that I converted from a Tamiya Virago rider and will use for proportions:

One thing good about this project, it's cheap. The wire comes from discarded calendars, the foil is likewise salvaged. Usually I do with heavier wire gauges, eg metal hangers or the green garden variety, but this one did well.

"AAAH! IT'S A WIRE MAN! THE GUN, GROUCHO, THE GUN!"

I tightened the wire with - guess what - more wire. This was a nonfunctional net cable. I have enough copper at home that it might be valuable for reselling, but don't tell the burglars.

It's The Attack of the Foil Mummies. Okay, enough with the jokes...

The first layer of Milliput with many more to follow. Don't worry about the stiff pose, I'm repositioning the arms later. The darker specks are fragments of the 'bark' I was talking about. If someone knows a way to deal with it, please let me know - as of now I can only trim it, and always remain with excess yellow putty that gets thrown away.

Okay, I'm letting that cure for now.

Ta,

Bone

[Darby]

Looks like Boris Karloff

[Bonehammer]

Might be because of the Wellingtons. We wouldn't want him to ruin his shiny leather boots...

[Bonehammer]

Finished the old Milliput while trying to figure out the major folds.

Tyvek is nonwoven and has minimal thickness and weight, meaning it does not behave like fabric. My attempt looks more like something rubberized... we'll see.