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