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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Modelling -> 1/6 scratch bust - Lt Col Sir George McCrae 16th Royal Scots - Somme
Post Info TOPIC: 1/6 scratch bust - Lt Col Sir George McCrae 16th Royal Scots - Somme
cfraser


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1/6 scratch bust - Lt Col Sir George McCrae 16th Royal Scots - Somme
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Here is my portrait bust of Sir George McCrae, Lt. Col. commanding 16th Royal Scots or 2nd Edinburgh City Pals aka McCrae's Battalion aka Scottish Sportsmen's Battalion aka Lothian Regiment. The battalions C Company comprised 16 playing members of the Heart of Midlothian Football Club - including entire first team squad - plus support staff and a quota of supporters. Can you imagine any of todays professional footballers joining the infantry en masse to defend their country today?

In common with many other Pals battalions, 16th Royal Scots was decimated on the first day of the Somme in their attack on Contalmaison. On the 1st of July, over 250 from the battalion were killed, although men from the battalion did reach Contalmaison around 10.30 a.m., thus making the deepest penetration into German lines by any British battalion that day. The Germans however forced them back, and the remnants of the battalion were cut off for three days before relief arrived. After this, Sir George McCrae declared "I was never prouder of my lads than on that day".

A very distinctive memorial was erected in 2004, made from stone brought from Scotland and constructed by Scottish craftsmen see http://www.likeyoudo.org.uk/gwmc/. The bronze panels on the memorial were carved in Kirkwall and they include various wonderfully intricate carvings depicting trench scenes and the soldiers of the battalion. As noted above, the battalion had a strong association with Hearts Football Club, with players from the club being among the first to join up when the battalion was formed. Other professionals from Raith Rovers and Falkirk followed suit. Many supporters of Hearts also joined up, as did fans of Hibernian, the other main Edinburgh football club. But it was Hearts that the battalion is most closely associated with, and a smaller plaque on the memorial is in memory of the 'players, ticket-holders and supporters of Heart of Midlothian Football Club' who advanced on Contalmaison on the 1st of July 1916. The memorial has become somewhat of a place of pilgrimage for football fans visiting the Somme.

There is an inspriing BBC doc on the battalion here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VQMM2rmTWc and a great tribute song by Craig Herbertson here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cil_g6p_jPY

Painted in acrylics. Will post more as I complete him.


Colin



-- Edited by cfraser on Friday 14th of December 2012 05:18:10 PM



-- Edited by cfraser on Friday 14th of December 2012 06:18:17 PM

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Rectalgia


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Marvellous work Colin, and evidently a labour of love with this one.

The badges and medals of the Royal Scots - http://www.northeastmedals.co.uk/british_regiment/royal_scots.htm

Not sure why your live link to the BBC documentary was "crossing" with the tribute song on YouTube (some sort of "referrer" thing I guess, all whitefella magic to me) - but copy and paste of the URL, as you presently have it, certainly works. Or this link should work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2VQMM2rmTWc.

Steve

p.s. and while we're mulling over McCrae's Battalion - The Flowers of the Forest from http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandssongs/secondary/genericcontent_tcm4572881.asp



-- Edited by Rectalgia on Saturday 15th of December 2012 05:37:18 AM

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cfraser


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Thanks for the nice comments Steve and thanks for correcting the link. I have no idea what went wrong with that. I found both song and documentary truly inspiring. McCrae's biographer saw the piece and is kindly sending me a signed copy of his biography. Can't wait to finish him.

Cheers

Colin

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CrashandBern


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Beautiful work Colin, figure sculptors and painter have my utmost respect... it's one thing to scratch build something from flat sheet but sculpting is a black art as far as I'm concerned!



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cfraser


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Thanks for the comment. Sculpting is far easier than scratchbuilding architectural or vehice models in my view. To me, that aspect of the hobby is completely unforgiving as one needs to worry about angles, thicknesses, dimensions etc. A small inaccuracy can make the finished result look "wrong." Sculpting a bust is very forgiving and many of the flaws in the sculpt can be corrected with paint alone. I guess it comes down to what one is used to.

Cheers

Colin



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CrashandBern


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Well it's nice to know that there are black arts on both sides of the fence smile



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cfraser


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Essentially done.

Colin



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MK1 Nut


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Hi Colin, very nice work. Is that Fimo clay you've used?

I've tried Fimo Puppen a few times and get on with it really well, but always keen to find out what others are using... especially when the results are this good.

Helen x 



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CrashandBern


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Beautiful 



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cfraser


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MK1 Nut wrote:

Hi Colin, very nice work. Is that Fimo clay you've used?

I've tried Fimo Puppen a few times and get on with it really well, but always keen to find out what others are using... especially when the results are this good.

Helen x 

 hi Helen - the bust is entirely done in a different polymer clay - super sculpey. I find  FIMO too firm for my needs. Suoer sculpey can be worked with rubber tipped clay shaperrs or even with a paint brush if dilutant is brushed on. Thanks

Colin



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MK1 Nut


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Thank you, Colin and Michael,

It looks like I am going to have to send off for some super sculpey, so for now while I wait, I will try some glycerine and see how I get on with a softer clay.

Up to now I have only made caricatures of friends and my poor fairy sculpture, still not finished. To stir myself back into life I seem to have volunteered to sculpt a figure for the Group Build, so any advice like this is very welcomed. 

Helen x



-- Edited by MK1 Nut on Wednesday 19th of December 2012 09:12:45 PM

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Michael Taylor


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Fimo can be made more malleable with the addition of a very small quantity of glycerine, (available in little bottles from the baking section of supermarkets).Small cropped bristle brushes work well to add texture, with very soft nylon brushes to blend the stippling.

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cfraser


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Helen - if it helps you can see some in progress shots here - http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/sir-g-mccrae-heart-of-midlothian-somme-1916.52220/

good luck

Colin

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cfraser


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As CrachandBern says, very impressive Helen. I do the face first so I have support. The putty is quite soft and if you try to shape one part it can push another part out of shape. Concentrating on the face allows for symmetry (hopefully). After the face is done its quite easy to add the mass of the back of the head, the jaw line, ears and neck.

Good luck with your build.

Colin



-- Edited by cfraser on Friday 21st of December 2012 01:00:55 AM

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MK1 Nut


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Thanks Colin, I have often seen people sculpt tthe face before the rest of the head, now I know why. It makes use of polymer clay's abilty to be baked several times. This is going to be of great use to me as ponder my Group Build model.

This is how I built up my last model. Apologies for showing something none military. :) Although actually I should be more ashamed of not finishing her yet. no

Helen x



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CrashandBern


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Very impressive Helen as I've already said sculpting and figure painting are black arts to me... I never fail to be totally awestruck looking at a figure someone has created. 



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MK1 Nut


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Thanks guys,

I must say Colin that your post has given me hope of moving on to doing a sculpture that is a likness of someone. Up to know it has filled me with dredd. I had a look at the link... very useful. The videos were very touching to. Although Navy, my Dad was Edinburgh born and served as a gunner in one of the 8" turrets on HMS Berwick... they all went through a lot for us. When not working I care for him, he's 90 now and I love the grumpy sod dearly. On hearing he was 'finally' going to get a Convoy medal, he said "What do I want that for" :)

Helen x



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mike_m


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Hi Helen

Just came across your post and thought you might like to see the model I built of HMS Berwick a while back http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/gallery/cruisers/mmberwick/mmberwick.htm

Cheers

Mike

 



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cfraser


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Awesome - couldn't do that in a 100 years of trying!

Colin



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MK1 Nut


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Hi Mike,
Wow! Seen it before , but it still impresses me. Didn't realise that was one of yours. Really nice work.
My Dad was on her between 1939/41, then went ashore for a bit before ending up on landingcraft. Apparently they sailed a load of them around to the Med late in the war. Lost about six of them in the Bay of Biscay.  
She was grey by the time he joined her, but they slowly added and changed her camo as and when they went into port. I have a white metal model of her I've been promising to paint for the last five... ish years. :/
Hel x
mike_m wrote:

Hi Helen

Just came across your post and thought you might like to see the model I built of HMS Berwick a while back http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/gallery/cruisers/mmberwick/mmberwick.htm

Cheers

Mike

 

 



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MK1 Nut


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Hi Colin, Just wanted to thank you for your post... gave me a bit of a kick to have a go myself.

Helen x



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