Realistically holding weapons?

[Bonehammer]

I like to assemble the occasional figure in 1/35, however, many of these look toylike due to awkward positioned hands and arms, especially those in firing poses. Either the rifle is not aligned with the head or the hands are not holding it tight or both.

How do you solve this problem? Bending, cutting, not using that particularly figure at all? I've tried cutting and repositioning but with subpar results, I may resort to sculpting a new arm but hand are out of my league...

[Crayons]

My general approach is to fit the hands to the weapons and then make the arms work with the pose I am after.

 

To get the hands to fit, I find it a simple case and test fitting to see where if any problems exist and then slowly trim the plastic/resin from the inside of the hand until the weapon sits naturally. Any minor gaps can be fixed with putty and any fingers that are to open/closed griped can be adjusted with heat. Once the fit of the hands has been completed, I then start on the arms. If the alignment is really bad, I will sculpt a new arm. If the alignment isn't to far out, I will generally razor saw the arm into pieces and pin it back together with aluminium/copper wire, using the wire to make minor adjustments to the arms angle. Set with super glue, putty the joints and then file/sand to finish off. Make sure any sanding/filing matches the flow and folds of the fabric.

 

On other thing to keep in mind is the position of the shoulders, these need to match the expected angle of the arm, otherwise it will end up looking unnatural. For example, if figure A is throwing a grenade, the shoulder needs to be rolled back slightly to match the mechanical action of the arm, if figure B is firing a rifle, the shoulder needs to be rolled slightly forward and up.

 

Hope this helps.

[Tzulscha]

I pretty much have to alter every figgie I work with 'cause they never have the exact pose I want.

 

I usually saw the figures I want to use apart at the knees, elbows, waist or where ever I want them to bend.

You can drill holes and fix them back together with wire and then bend them to suit.

When you have the pose you like, freeze the joint with CA and fill with your favorite putty.

Try looking at yourself in a mirror holding the pose you need to get angles right.

 

Hands are a bit trickier only because they are small cuts.

Saw off at the cuffs and rotate as required. I will sometimes extend wrists and necks with a bit of scrap so I can hollow out cuffs and collars.

I try to only cut partway through fingers from the palm side and bend them around what I want them to be holding.

Sanding or scraping the palms will help them to fit to whatever they are holding.

A little glue will soften them a bit more and let them grip their weapons a bit more tightly. 

 

Some slightly different techniques than Crayons uses but basically similar.

[krow113]

There are hand sets from resin manufacturers as well. Verlinden has a few , but you generally have to modify.

Here I sectioned a thumb for a tighter fit:

[Mitch K]

I've used the "cut and shut" approach myself, cutting partway through hands, fingers, thumbs etc and gluing them in place bit by bit and filling the gaps. Some visionary manufacturers have gone down the road of casting the hand and weapon in one, and leaving you to sort out the wrist joint, which works vastly better.

[phildagreek]

It can be tricky, there are a few sets of hands out there and I have certainly tried all the methods listed above and rooting through the spares boxes looking for a particular pose of an arm, but then you need the sleeve rolled up or down and then that's a left arm and I need a right arm.......arghhhhhhhhhh!

 

It's good fun this modelling lark innit?