20th Georgia Infantry, Gettysburg 1863

[Djoubri M]

Wonderufl work Mr Dombrowski !!!

 

[garyjd]

Thanks Dijoubrim.

Here I finished off the hat with the exception of the ribbon that goes around the base of the crown of the hat. the cuffed trouser legs are also complete and the waistbelt has been roughed in.

 

[garyjd]

close up of hat and waistbelt.

 

[garyjd]

The waistbelt has been sanded down a bit more for scale, and the first pieces of what will become the soldier's frock coat have been started. Typically I'll use A & B putty for the skirts of coats, but my remaing A & B had seen better days so I used Aves. One of Aves weakest qualities is it's too rubbery when rolled out in sheets and does not maintain ripples and large folds while curing like A & B does. I back-filled the underside of the skirts to keep the Aves from billowing out. I placed a desk lamp directly in fron of the area(s) I wanted to cure, rotating the figure so both sides would cure. This is something new I've been playing with and works well. After I was satisfied the putty had cured I remove the sculpey "back-fill" from under the skirts.

I then sanded down all along the edges to make the skirts a more scale thickness.

 

[garyjd]

After thinning out the skirts and adding tharea of the coat that blended into the bottom of the belt I decided to start adding the top half of the coat. The coat will be buttoned at the top, leaving the shirt exposed.

 

[garyjd]

Here is the entire figure so far. I'll post a better picture with the next update.

 

[fsdesimone]

Gary, the heat didn't make the Sculpey difficult to remove? I guess it's not hot enough to cure it.

 

[garyjd]

Originally posted by fsdesimone@Jun 30 2005, 11:59 AM
Gary, the heat didn't make the Sculpey difficult to remove? I guess it's not hot enough to cure it.

Francesca, My desk lamp has a 60 watt bulb. After an hour or more in front of the lamp I was able to pull most of the sculpey out intact. It did not cure at all as I think the bulb was warm enough to cure the Aves but not bake the sculpey.~Gary

 

[Guy]

awesome work Gary..........Look forward to your next step.

 

[Ernest]

Amazing Gary I enjoy the progress of your sbs...
keep the great modeling
ER

 

[garyjd]

Guy & Ernest, Thanks to the both of you. I do appreciate it.

I will be updating the figure one more time today. I have the majority of the frock roughed in. After the putty has cured I'll go in and refine things as I did more today than I sometimes do in a week or more.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

I have roughly the back half of the frock tails to do. I pushed in some sculpey into the space that will need to be back-filled with putty once the tail sections are in place.

 

[garyjd]

Here are the tail sections in place and the sculpey back-fill material removed. This time it took a little more effort to clean it out as it was more firmly in place than before. Before sanding everything smooth I superglue all the areas where the new material meets those previously worked on. I then use fine sandpaper and steelwool to level the material out.

 

[garyjd]

Another thing I really dislike about Aves is it's ability to pick up every particle and speck of dust. fuzz and other "things" that may be floating in the air. No matter how clean the top of my desk is, the figure becomes a magnet picking up all of what little there is left.

Anyway here is the back and front of the coat after back-filling is complete along with what little in the way of folds need to be done to the back of the figure.

 

[garyjd]

A full length view from the left side.

 

[Roy]

Nice one Gary...I can't wait to see how the jacket works out, buttoned at the top.
I really love the way the added weight (albeit only a little added weight) of the turned up trousers pulls the creases gently down from the knee...really adds to the stance of the figure and looks so very natural.
Looking great.

All the best.

Roy.

 

[garyjd]

Roy, Thanks my friend. A lot of miniaturists should use a period resource that seems largely overlooked, photographs. During the course of the war hundreds of thousands if not a million or more photos were taken, both in the field and in studios. Photos of "hardcore" reenactors are also a valuable source for getting the look of those soldiers. Thanks for noticing the little extras, I try to add what I can if/when possible. More later.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

Since the figure represents a soldier/unit that fought at Gettysburg, it may be fitting to note that today is the 142nd Anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. I recently got back into reenacting after being out of it for so long. It would have been neat to experience the events that take place during the weekend, but my work schedule does not allow it (this year anyway). My son however is down there right now with the 145th Pa Vol. Infantry.

...the kid is gonna have fun.

 

[Jason W.]

Gary,

He's looking fantastic so far! Love the "pork pie".

I'm sure Justin is having a blast down there. Wish I could be with him too!
Maybe next year?

Jason

 

[garyjd]

A couple more pictures. I attached the hat to the head with epoxy and blocked in some of the left arm. My "1/32" Dragon Union Infantry kits arrived in today's mail and pictured is the rifle I will use once cleaned up. Though it's a larger scale than what my figure is, it still works.