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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Modelling -> Smoking Soldier Diorama
Post Info TOPIC: Smoking Soldier Diorama
MK1 Nut


Hero

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Smoking Soldier Diorama
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Hi Folks,

Well pushing my plans to one side for a while and getting my hands dirty for a change. No I'm not mud wrestling! I am instead getting my Fimo sculpting clay out and creating a diorama.

Normally I make One Off figurines, poking a little fun at the friend or family who are to be the recipient. This diorama will also of an element of humour, although for the first time it will be a scale model.

The germ of this idea came from a few posts on here about supply tanks... now I have often been accused of having Gallows Humour, and the site of a tank loaded to the max with explosives of every type imaginable, made me instantly think of a soldier sitting on top having a craft smoke.

So that is what I am going to build, a 1/16 scale soldier sitting ontop a segment of a supply tank. :)

This the first few sketches. Excuse my scribbles, it's not my strong point and I didn't want to keep trying to draw what I could see in my head as it would leave me less to explore when sculpting.

Helen x

 



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MK1 Nut


Hero

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This is the first few test faces in Fimo clay. Each one I do is getting smaller as I try and teach myself the art of a scale face instead of the caricature type I have done up to now.

the one I am doing at the moment is 10mm wide by 15mm hight, this should give me a scale head of 'about' 1/16 scale.

When I am happy with the face I will put it to one side while I build up the explosives load for the tank.

I must admit that I owe the technique of making the face first to this post of a 1/6 bust of Lt Col Sir George McCrae

Hel x

 



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Rob


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Looks good to me - did you have any particular type of shells in mind? As far as i'm aware artillery shells would only have been carried by the Gun Carriers, and 6 pounders carried inside, or in crates if not inside for whatever reason. Can help with photos/dimensions of shells, ammunition boxes etc, would a box of grenades or mortar bombs also do? Very prototypical too, there's plenty of photos of men surrounded by shells etc with a tab on. Can also help with images of cigarette and match boxes if you want to get that detailed!

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MK1 Nut


Hero

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Right, last bit for the moment..

For those of you who don't know, I am playing around with a 3D Printer that my Brother has kindly let me test my patience on.  3D printing.

I am using this technique to save myself time and so I can add an electrical element to the sculpt at a later date (No I'm not telling you 'what' just yet!). I say save me time... it took a days worth of computer work, if you add all the hour here, hour there, night time work. Then it took about four hours to print. Well actually that's not true... the print kept failing so I printed it in three parts in the end.

This print failure turned out to be a good thing in the end, it made me rethink and design the base with a hatch in the bottom for those electrics I'm not telling you about!  :)

Helen x

 



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MK1 Nut


Hero

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Hi Rob, the more information the better, it would be nice to get this first scale model as correct as I can. Of course humour will mean a little flexing of the facts. :)

 



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Rob


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Hi Helen, if you PM me your e-mail address i'll send over some photos of relevant shells, boxes etc that are hopefully of use

Best regards, Rob

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TinCanTadpole


Legend

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My guesses on the electrics are either: a glowing cigarette, perhaps by LED and fibre optic; or, a smoke generator like the ones you get in RC tanks. Whatever it is, it should add extra interest to what already sounds (and looks) very good.

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MRG


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Hi Helen,

Great idea!  You sculpted the face yourself? Wow!

I am looking forward seeing the further stages!

 

Best regards

 

Martin



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MK1 Nut


Hero

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Thanks Martin, they're only practice ones and as such not very tidy, but it helps me ready myself for the tiny 1/16 scale final one. How do people sculpt figures in braille scale? confuse

Having a move around at the moment, so everything has ground to a halt. Good news is that I will have a better sculpting space when I'm finished some time this coming week.

Helen x



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Pzkpfw-e


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I know that GW makes there's as 3-ups in the first place, then they're reduced in size.

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MK1 Nut


Hero

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Hi, 

This project unfortunately stalled soon after my last post... admittedly there has been a big tank model taking up my sparetime. :)

Anyhow, had a request from a friend for some crew for his fishing boat, this I agreed to as it sounded a quick project away from tank building and I hoped might get me back figure sculpting once more. The idea originally was to convert some Navy figures he had, they're a bit small but near enough. Only problem was converting them would take more work than making them from scratch... so out came the Fimo clay.

My technique for modelling figures is a bit odd, but it works for me. First I make a wire stick man out of Ali armature wire, and start with a bit of clay chest and backside to hold it all in shape. Then I put a thin layer of clay over the whole frame to  get the pose I want... the figure then goes in the Oven to bake the Fimo hard.

Now I have a clay stick man I can add more soft clay to and sculpt. 

I tend to sculpt the body first, then after baking again I do head and hands.

The clay stick man stage I did last night, today I sculpted the caption with his pipe and cup of tea, didn't quite finish the other figure who is doing all the work. :)

Working on these figure has given me kick I needed to get on with my soldier diorama... so with luck there will be some photos here soon.

For now a few pics of the fishermen build. 

Helen x

 



-- Edited by MK1 Nut on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 11:47:32 PM

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