If the boot fits...

I've had a very long day. I don't have much to show for it, but I do feel kind of good about it.
I improved my portfolio slightly, added the latest Bundeswehr figure to it. You can check it out with the link on the right ---->

Says "portfolio" right there...

I also made a sort of collage from recent works to use as the title image.

Afterwards I sent out electronic mails to several different miniature companies that I'm interested in; asking if I could offer them my services. I know I'm not super pro level yet, but I think I'm in a good intermediate place and I need practice and money. If I did get some kind of gig I think I'll do a really good job.

If you know of anyone who might give us a go, you can refer them here or to my portfolio or write me a message. All my contact information is available in the portfolio link >>>

Speaking of which! There's something of another project, this time in 28mm. Not the sci fi project. Expect to see something soon. It might not be a lot at the moment but it'll be super awesome, trust me.

I then installed windows 8 and cleaned the floor. After I cleaned the floor the cat broke a jar. :|

Now I'm super tired but I did manage to get a good amount of work on a boot and a pant for the 1:35 prototype.

Four of Five German infantrymen is complete

four of five

Good news everybody! Four of five is almost totally complete. Very small things left aside from the base and cut up.

Having posed and fixed the rifle with the hands to the arms I have a little insight. The scale of the hands is a little bigger, I should have minded the scale better. The angle and pose of the left hand is too awkward to appear to be supporting the rifle. Maybe he's changing a magazine. In some angles it looks OK. I guess I could have planned it better. He looks pretty good none the less.

for the Glory of Mars

I also started another 1:35 model. This will be the definitive trooper prototype. I plan for it to be part of the most basic package of the crowd funded project; if that ever sees the light of day. You can see the basic anatomical masses already.

Just had a thought. If these guys are from Mars, shouldn't they have red camo? A strange thing to consider.

Flames of War

I'm also completing a German command and rifleman team which will give me one complete Panzergrenadier platoon. Sure are a lot of those guys in the Open Fire! box set.

Bundeswehr, Mystery dudes, and Martians

Recap:
I'm working on a set of five 1:72 Bundeswehr. Currently I'm about to add a G3 rifle to the fourth character, completing it and making progress on the fifth and final one. I'm also sculpting a mysterious other 1:72 figure (who are we kidding he's an IDF soldier, gah). I'm also in the process of setting up a crowd funded project to create, produce and sell 28mm Science Fiction Orbital Drop Troops. The work is mostly done in Green Stuff AKA Yellow Blue Kneadatite.

I've added another hand on the G3. The result is pleasing. I hope it stays that way when I attach it to the main body.

Added helmets to Five of Five and mystery guy.

Also made some sketches for the Science Fiction troopers.
The gun design is inspired by Kriss Vector and XM-29. I've also been looking at some of the classic sci fi guns like blasters, pulse rifle, starship troopers rifle and others. I'm explaining the very short barrel by some kind of magnetic acceleration magic that makes a short barrel as accurate and powerful as a long one. It might still change some but I'm kind of liking it.

Though the main idea is for people to be able to use the miniatures in their own system that they prefer I am making up a little back-story to fuel my imagination as I work. The concept, though still liquid, tells about a medium near future human society who colonized the solar system. They are attacked by intergalactic space aliens who almost completely destroy them. Earth has fallen. The aliens don't finish the job, though, for some reason. Maybe they got what they wanted and moved on or maybe they get coincidentally destroyed by another alien race. Lots of different ideas still floating around. You are welcome to post your ideas in the comments!

A tentative title I've come up with for this project is:

For the Glory of Mars.

1:35 Sci Fi Orbital Drop Troop design

I finished the design sketch sculpt for the science fiction orbital drop trooper. The scale is 1:35 putting our guy at 51-52mm tall. To recap- the armature is 1mm thick wire with basic anatomical shapes sculpted in green stuff. All the rest was done in FIMO. 

Knowing that this is a one-off and just for my personal use I didn't try for a very high level of polish. I am very happy with how he came out though. 

The helmet design was slightly improved with the addition of ear circles and a forehead plate/visor compartment. He might need additional face shielding. There's also a small interface computer box on the right hand side of the helmet. 

I baked the sculpture, primed it with some Tamyia fine primer (light grey) and painted it. Afterwards I added some basing materials and everything right there on the wood block where I sculpted it. 

I must say, seeing him standing in a sort of environment with the color and all is very enjoyable. I think the design is solid. If I ever do create a crowd funded project these pictures will come in handy to show prospective investors what the design is all about. 

Next on this project is, I suppose, coming up with 1-5 poses and kits to make and sculpting them. I do believe I'd want to have a good amount of the initial work done before launching a crowd funding project because it will generate a trust that I can get the job done (having gotten it done already) and people can get a look at what it's all about. Having the sculpts beforehand will, I hope, make people want to own the casts and send in money.

I might do another one of these figures again. I like it. 

Bundeswehr

Don't worry now that I've forgotten about our other projects. The Bundeswehr and mystery folk have been on the back burner because to work with the Green Stuff I need to have at least two uninterrupted hours which I didn't get. The FIMO I can leave and get back to until it's baked. But I'll finish them. Hopefully sooner than later.

Flames of War

I also painted this Stug.  

Write a comment if you have something to say. I'm especially interested in input on the Drop Trooper. What other names might one call such a soldier? You can follow the blog by clicking the join thing. 

Orbital Drop troop (1:35) is shaping up

This is an update regarding a design sketch in sculpture of a science fiction orbital drop troop. The scale is 1:35. It's a FIMO mix over a wire and Green Stuff armature.

Following on a lead from our trusty blog follower and fellow blogger Stargazer I tried a design inspired by the cool American M1 helmet model. I decided that it had to be a full face helmet, if we are to believe our troopers can hang out in some toxic acid atmosphere. No breathing hose though, I'm not sure I want one and I can always explain it by tech.

The armor became segmented and much lighter, to give a sense of flexibility as well as protection.

I think the riding boots are a cool touch. I was inspired by a Luke Skywalker action figure my son handed to me as I was working; I needed to make Luke and the Ghostbusters werewolf fight (Luke won because he has powers). Incidentally, I didn't progress on any of the other stuff because I was taking care of my son who's very busy improving his immune system by contracting viruses and pathogenic bacteria.

The suit is supposed to be a kind of basic kit. On it you can add the various pouches and gear. I do want them to appear like they're loaded up to get busy but I wanted to give a clear image with this sculpt of what the very basic get up looks like. They will probably all have backpacks, grenades, combat knives, tech stuff etc. etc.

Take note of the rifle shouldering plate on the figure's right hand side and that the ammo pouches are on the left. I want to sort of take this asymmetrical look as a feature. There's a real practicality to it, I think.

Another feature I'm considering is a kind of cloak because it can be used as camouflage and cloaks are awesome (re: my camping trip pictures). On the other hand, cloaks will hide a lot of the detail so I'm not entirely sold on it.

Oh, almost forgot. I prepared and primed a Stug, a German rifleman team and command team as well as six 1:72 IDF. Of the Caesar set quite a few are unusable to me because one type (there are 4 of each, I think) is kicking down a door or making a weird dance move and another is using a Cornershot system. I think there are at least another 2 sets of 1:72 modern IDF from Orion and a few higher end ones from some resin makers.

1:35 scale Science Fiction Drop Troop, sketch of.

Working on the 1:35 Drop Troop sketch. 

It's still very early in the process. I finished the armature with basic anatomy and now I'm adding FIMO (thanks for the recipe JAG!). I'm not pleased with the helmet, which reminds me of the old leather football helmets. I think I might steer a little towards the older design. Maybe go for a totally covered face. I mean, they are going to be deployed in all manner of hostile environments. It needs work all over, really. Check out how huge he is compared to a 1:72 Caesar modern IDF. 

Didn't have time for anything else today. I hope tomorrow I can get more done. 

Until next post, same mad time, same mad channel. 

Edit: also, we passed 3,000 views!
Huzzah. 

Bunderswehr, mystery guys, G3 rifle and MORE

Celebrate, dear readers, for this is our 100th blog post!

We have nearly 3,000 views and 11 dear and precious followers. I want to thank each and every one of you for being awesome.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I feel I've come a long way so far, and yet still there is a long path ahead of us. So stick around, it's sure to get interesting (I hope). I've been at it for a while and though it's easy to get discouraged I'll keep working and learning and hope that something will come of it some day. You might not know this but each "step" or session of Green Stuff sculpting is incredibly intensive and usually takes at least an hour and most time two hours. I can not be interrupted or the Green Stuff will cure so I mostly work at night when my attention won't be disturbed.

I'll try to keep in mind that some folks might just be tuning in and give out a little bit of basic info about each thing. It helps to have the right keywords pop up now and again also.

Here are some pictures of the things that I'm working on:

Five of Five is shaping up. He's a 1:72 modern German Bundeswehr infantryman. He's kneeling. When I finish the G3 rifle he gets a G36 with grenade launcher. 

Mystery dude also made a lot of progress. Some of you should be able to guess his faction by now. Also in the scale of 1:72. 

This is the armature for a sketch of an orbital drop trooper. The scale is 1:35 and BOY IS THAT HUGE. It's seriously big. I haven't filled in the armature completely yet because every time I mix the material and think "well, this is a lot of Green Stuff, it's sure to suffice" and then it doesn't because the sculpt is really really big.

G3 has also received a boost. The macro photo reveals that the surface is slightly uneven. I might take a bit of sanding paper to it. Maybe it's too small to matter. In any case, here you can see the hand is sculpted directly on the gun. The other one will be sculpted like this also, supporting the magazine. The result is already a lot better than what I've been able to achieve in the former method. 

I also did a little bit of work on the M60 Blazer, adding those rails and a bit of gear. I'll make some more gear, I don't know too much about maybe converting it some more with updated equipment. It's probably not that historically accurate but I mostly want it to look nice and sort of like a Magach 6.

The book of blog - sculpt and back again.

A lot of things to show and talk about so this blog post is divided into chapters.

Chapter 1. 

The Drop Trooper felt bulky.

I refined the clay sketch and came up with a better helmet design. It's inspired by medieval infantry and reminds of a samurai helmet or a riot control policeman's helmet. The flared nape protects the neck from debris and close quarters blows from above and behind.

It looks sort of nice but it's way too bulky. I think this trooper is unwieldy. He's designed as if he marches into the oncoming enemy fire; cumbersome like belting out fire from his rifle/cannon. I want my trooper to have a more nimble appearance. They need to look like their movements are not obstructed by their gear too much.

So I'm starting on another 3D sketch, this time it's in scale - 1 to 35. I've been wanting to do 1:35 for a while. In the picture you can see the beginning of the armature next to a Caesar 1:72 modern IDF that I recently painted. I'm heavily leaning towards working in FIMO a la JAG mix because it will allow me editability which is good for figuring stuff out.

Chapter 2.

Four of Five got his bones.

You can see him compared, again with our trusty IDF guy. Note the IDF soldier is standing on a small base thing so that's why he's a bit taller. Also, Four of Five has a slight bend to his knees, reducing his height.

Chapter 3.

G3 start.

I've begun making a G3 rifle which is for Four of Five. It's still "wet" as I write this so I'll go back after I post this blog and give it a little bit extra smoothing. The plan is to add the hands directly to the rifle instead of using them as a connecting mass to the main body.

Chapter 4.

Five of Five wears a shirt.

Added a shirt and vest base.

Chapter 5.

IDF paint.

Here are some shots of the aforementioned 1:72 IDF soldier. The manufacturer is Caesar. I painted him as a test to painting more. I think it's kind of nice. The weapon is a Cornershot platform.

Chapter 6.

Magach 6.

Finished building the ESCI 1:72 M-60 with Blazer kit. Though I wanted to be true to kit because I'm a complete beginner I will now use my sculpting powers to add a few details to make the tank look like it's in use with some gear and stuff.

Epilogue.

The Flames of War in the sunlight.

Some nicer shots of the FOW units that I posted before.

 Addendum
That's it for now, write comments if you have any. You can subscribe to the blog or my twitter to get updates when I update.