Arrr! Silver and Flint says I

[MarkSH]

Afternoon all,

 

This is my first post in the figure forum.  I recently had a bash at sculpting a figure based around the pilot of Airfix's 1/24 Hurricane for the recent BoB group build.

This is my effort at sculpting, I used the face and arms of the kit figure and sculpted the rest from two part epoxy putty (Apoxie Sculpt).

 

Whilst I failed to complete the whole project I did take away a desire to do more of the same type of work, and so I decided to enter another upcoming GB (Anything but injection) with a 1/10 scale 1805 Royal Marine from the Battle of Trafalgar.

 

However before I sailed into a GB completely without really knowing how to go about a full figure sculpt I thought I'd better have a bit of a practice. Over Christmas I re-watched the 1950 Disney version of Treasure Island and was inspired to have a go at Long John Silver as portrayed by Robert Newton.

 

The work thus far:

Getting a likeness in 3 dimensions is flaming difficult! this is my third attempt and I decided it would have to do otherwise I'd never progress. Hopefully the application of some paint may help the face look better.

 

I have used super sculpey original over a wire armature with tin foil and sculpey ultralight to bulk it out.

 

And of course Silver wouldn't look right without being armed to the teeth and having a parrot on his shoulder!

 

The parrot AKA Captain Flint is sculpted from an oil based clay (which I have to say I prefer to the sculpey) and has been painted with oils to get a subtle blend of colours, the parrot was painted as early as possible to allow the oils to dry...hopefully!

I scratched the cutlass, powder horn, treasure chest and one pistol, I made a mould of the pistol with Blue Stuff and then made a copy out of Apoxie Sculpt that way I can put it in the oven in Silver's hand when I bake the full figure. 

I'd be interested in thoughts and suggestions on the figure so far and the process I've used.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Mark.

 

 

 

 

[robgizlu]

Really like what you are doing - the crossed legs on the airman are particularly hard to get right.  Greeat end result

Rob

[MarkSH]

I have started adding some paint to my Long John Silver figure.

A little bit rough in places, but an enjoyable process and I'm learning a lot about the medium as I go and certainly makes for good practice.

The figure suffered one crack during baking right on the ankle of the boot. Its a good job I opted for a boot instead of the stockinged look of the film character. A bit of superglue was used to stabilise the crack but the whole thing is being handled with care now.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Model Mate]

That's looking really good! I'm new to sculpting too, and agree with just how difficult it is to get everything looking natural - you're doing really well though! I'm trerrified of hands, particularly at smaller scales - any tips?

[MarkSH]

19 minutes ago, Model Mate said:

That's looking really good! I'm new to sculpting too, and agree with just how difficult it is to get everything looking natural - you're doing really well though! I'm trerrified of hands, particularly at smaller scales - any tips?

Thanks, definitely difficult but very rewarding. With regard to hands (and feet) my life drawing lecturer always said that the most important thing is scale always draw them far smaller than you think, the larger they are the more attention they attract and I've found the the same applies to working in 3d, the good thing is you do literally have reference to hand! observation is everything but also measure and as with most things block out in rough first. All that being said it took me quite a few attempts to get where I am. The interesting thing is doing hands that are actually gripping things, that poses all kinds of different questions especially if you have used materials that cant be baked like I have!

Cheers,

Mark.

[Ted]

Those both look good, thanks for explaining the details you've learned along the way. 

 

Does the oil based clay you used on the parrot eventually harden? 

[MarkSH]

11 minutes ago, Ted said:

Those both look good, thanks for explaining the details you've learned along the way. 

 

Does the oil based clay you used on the parrot eventually harden? 

Thanks, The oil based clay is Chavant NSP (Non-sulphur plasteline) and it does not dry out but can still be painted over. The clay comes in different hardness's (soft, medium and Hard). It is quite common to see sculptors and miniaturists painting the original sculpt. Another type is Monster Clay. Both types can be heated up for instance in a microwave to make them initially more pliable (caution should be observed as they get very hot and can easily scold), I have even seen people heat them to a liquid state for casting etc. once they cool the clays revert to their inherent hardness.

Cheers,

Mark.

[RAF4EVER]

(caution should be observed as they get very hot and can easily scold)

 

How well does it SCOLD you?😄,think you mean SCALD👍