1:72 Bundeswehr infantry 1 of 5 complete(give or take)

Yeah, check it out. It always comes as a surprise to get to the finish line of sculpting. I really need/want to sculpt faster but I must have patience because I don't want to compromise on the quality of the result.

I think he came out rather nice. Mostly thanks to feedback and comments from internet men. I've definitely learned or re learned some lessons here. I hope the next tiny men look better for it.

Watch this space for more exciting day by day updates of the sculpting process on more tiny Germans. I still need to cut up this guy but maybe I'll let him sit around for a while. Anyways, next session it's going to be armatures and proportions and pure excitement. Write in the comments if you have questions or something else to say.

Match added for scale

The first German is almost finished.

Pew pew pew.
I'd like to redo the right hand so after it cures I'll shave most of it. After this it's the leg and then THE CUTTING! Actually, first there's basing I think. I've settled on "kidney shape".

As for the cutting itself. For the mould making process you can't have any "undercuts" or trapped negative spaces. Right now there's an undercut between the two arms + the rifle.

My plan is to chop off the right hand and take it off with the G36. I'll use a levering action to disengage the left hand from the fore grip and hopefully it'll make a clean break. I think there will be a bit of repair work and touch ups on things I couldn't quite reach. I would like to try and make some kind of socket/dowel arrangement if it won't make things too hard for me.

After that, BAM! I'm 20% finished. :)

I think I'll work on two miniatures simultaneously for the next guys. Hopefully I can work my up to working on 3 or more during each session. I'll see how I handle it with the Green Stuff. Maybe I'll mix up the epoxy successively maybe I'll do both at once. Doing it successively is probably the more sound technique but it will be more complicated to keep track of the stages of curing.

A miniature update

Helmet cover + P8 in holster.
Hey, guess what?
We're going to do some arm posing next!

Do miniatures dream of very small sheep?

Thanks to some good advice on the minisculpture.co.uk forums I've come to the inevitable realisation that the torso was severely under sized. I knocked the pouches off with a spear pointed wax carver and added material to match my proportional reference. The difference was around 1 mm for the width and 2 mm for the depth(that's a lot!). The details are a bit sharper now and I think it blends in to the previous layer rather well. 

While the material was wet I pushed the pouches back into place. I might sharpen the detail on the top flap of them because it looks a little smudgy.

I've also added the m92 helmet. The shape is a little off but I hope to remedy that when I add the helmet cover. 

I was also told that all Bundeswehr infantry were issued a p8 pistol so that will go with a quick draw holster on the front left top of the vest. 

Das boot!

Things that were added: 

Chin straps, a set of magazine pouches, a boot and a pant.

Thoughts: 

I hope the leg is proportioned well. It's looking better. Considering adding one more set of magazine pouches. I'll definitely do a couple of smaller grenade and misc. pouches.

Next steps: 

I'll get around to his right leg after I finish everything else and remove the figure from the mount so I can have all around access to it. He's going to get a helmet and some more pouches.

Question to readers: 

Comment if you have an opinion. How do you feel about bases for 1/72 or the colloquial 20mm scale miniatures. Should he come with a tab, a round base, an organic kidney or droplet like base or something else entirely? A textured base, a geometric one?

It looks quite lumpy and ill defined so up close but it's really very tiny(so it's okay because those lumps are actually atoms).

Off with his legs!

Thanks to an experienced sculptors advice I've put the knife to the guys legs to make them more better proportion wise and what not. I already like it more.

He got a nose enhancement and ears (some grain of dust stuck in his right ear there, I'll take it out when it cures). Two magazine pouches and more pocket enhancements!

Vest, jacket, pants. Nose decisions.

Our man now has his vest and jacket as well as complete pants. When  I get to the face I think that I will tend to the nose. Something's bugging me about the legs but I can't tell yet if it's just the missing volumes in other parts of the body that make it look strange or something that's really there.

After looking at the macro photographs I took for the blog and seeing things were a little less than what I want I went back in and sharpened some of the details. Some things, like the lower molle-like vest will be covered with equipment pouches so it's more conceptual at this point. I'm unhappy with the pants pockets and I'm going to re-do them.

Make a note that his shoulders look extremely thin - mostly because he's missing the arms.

Sculpting Bundeswehr 20mm/1:72 ISAF modern - continued

Got some good progress today. Dude number one has a face and a pant leg AND a boot!

I completed the G36. It's awesome. The silhouette of it is to scale but in terms of the actual individual parts it's more bulky. I think it's fine and dandy. The important part is that it looks good and I think it do. One down.

The face was like always, panic inducing and intense. I work on the Green Stuff, think to myself "yes, it looks great just a few more touches here..."; it's ruined. Sculpt in complete despair; looks good again. To be honest I have no idea how the hell it turned out as nice as it did. I'm not sure but I'll consider adding a grain of dust's worth of putty to the nose and maybe do something with the eyes. Maybe not. It's going to have a lot more going on around there, it might detract from the overall look if I mess with it more.

Once this cures it's on to leg number two and ears. Maybe start another G36 in the next session, set up another armature. It's coming along nice but I would like to pick up more speed. I don't have that much time to dedicate to sculpting but I think I can do a little better faster.

Yeah, I'm kneeling. So what?

Pew pew pew

G36 musings and progress

Coming along nicely now. First layer of Brown Stuff on the G36. I'll do a little bit of sanding on it I think, but it doesn't seem to need much. Bless their heart, Heckler & Koch, for their simple, clean design. The more I look at the G36 the more I think that it's some kind of penultimate 90's vision of a future weapon. BIG! Long as hell and with built in optics. It looks so tall on its lateral aspect and boxy. I'm very much reminded of the Starship Troopers weapons. I see some small things that I'd like to improve like the stock maybe. However I am going to be making 5 or 4 more of these so some things are going to be lessons learned and leave it at that; also, the stock will probably be mostly covered up by the arm on one side and the body on the other so it's not exactly  a "feature", is it?

Oh, and check out how the dude is coming along. The arms are proportioned but not posed. Once they're fixed in place we can pose them a bit and build up the masses in earnest. Then it's on to the face, boots, pants, vest and arms. Just a hop, skip and a jump.

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More 1 to 72 scale goodness (session 2)

I've really missed sculpting. So calming, it is. Very enjoyable. Today's progress features goopy G36. I tried to smear some Green Stuff on the various places so the Brown Stuff can have something to latch on to later as it is less sticky than GS. It's coming along rather nicely I must say. It's going to be slightly bulkier than true to scale, I can tell. I think it'll pay off, though, because it will be more "readable" and it's going to be absolutely dee-lish in that scale with the guys all proportional and what have you.

These initial stages can't really be hurried because I'm making something to work "against" and until I have that I really can't put much pressure. I think it's going to move really fast, though, when we do get there. There's 4 more dudes to go so it better. 

1:72 scale G36 V.01.02

1:72 scale modern German infantry - armature. Kneeling, shooting.

1:72 Modern German Infantry - BEGIN!

Hi guys!
Well here we go. It's 1:72 or colloquially "20mm" modern Afghanistan Bundeswehr!
These are going to be for a young German company if they like how it comes out.

In the pictures you can see the workspace, a G36 V.01.01 and a couple of blank armatures for making dudes out of. I'm working with casting in mind so it's Green Stuff / Brown Stuff all the way.

The first set is 5 guys all in shooting poses.

I hope I get around to making a couple of illustrations as well. I really need the practice some more.

ERMAHGHERD! BUNDESWEHR

I've got a little surprise coming up. Can you guess what it is and at what scale?