88th New York Volunteers, 1863

[garyjd]

You might notice the groove I filed into the head to mark the position of the base of the cap.

 

[Lou Masses]

Cool. Thanks for this. I would like to do some conversions and this is realy helpful.

 

[Robin]

Looking good Gary, I am looking forward to seeing this one progress as with all you do.

Robin

 

[Jason W.]

Originally posted by garyjd@Mar 12 2004, 01:33 PM
I glued the visor in place and "flipped" it up as this was something the guys commonly did.

Looks GREAT Gary!

Yes, this practice was VERY common. It's too bad that other commercial figure sculptors don't have your "eye" for researching the little things like this.

I have a alot more pics, of this type, if anybody is interested.

 

[y_wong]

Hey Gary, great work. I am looking forward to more of your stuffs.

regards

 

[Joe Hudson]

Hey Gary,

Great work. I have always found hats to be a problem. I have a question, it sound dumb but how do you cut out the circle/top of the hat? The reason is it looks so perfectly round and I have had trouble in this area.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[garyjd]

Forage cap Construction

I cut the visor and top of the crown from strip plastic stock. I sand/file the back side of the visor until it fits against the forehead. You may have some filling in to do but it's minimal. For the flat round top of the crown you'll ned the items in the picture.

A circle template
X-acto knife
strip sheet plastic
sandpaper
marker or pencil

Determine the diameter of the top and using the template draw it on the plastic. Then cut around the circle drawn by "chopping around the circle in a diagonal fashion. Leave some of the circle attached to the strip your working from, this gets removed and cleaned up last. Lastly take your sandpaper an clean up you disk taking all the rough angle portions away from where you removed the plastic. Before attaching the disk to the putty that is the foundation for the body of the cap "score" the backside of the disk, this gives it some texture or "tooth" to better grip the putty.

 

[garyjd]

Below are two pictures showing the circle on a piece of strip stock and an in progress picture as it's getting cut out.

 

[garyjd]

Here is the forage cap with putty added that will form the body of the cap. It's not a great picture but at least gives you an idea of what is going on. At this stage I'm just concerned with the "basic" shape of the cap. The folds will be worked in as the putty starts to cure.

 

[garyjd]

Here is the cap after the first round of folds are added. I will go in again after the putty is cured even more to make the main fold appear sharper and deeper.

 

[garyjd]

Here is a view from the front. I try to compare my stuff to period photos to make sure the uniforms and equipment have the same look.

 

[garyjd]

Since everything was going so good I decided to start the trousers. I applied the putty (Magicsculpt & A&B mix) to the leg being mindful to keep in mind the areas where the trousers would be baggy and where they would lay on the surfaces of the leg. Here's where I'm at now. I think I loosely replicated the look of the folds in Troiani's painting.

 

[garyjd]

Here is the back view.

 

[garyjd]

Another front view.

 

[Joe Hudson]

Gary,

Looking really good and thanks sooooo much for the information!

Joe

 

[LCoote]

Gary, no problem with this one, the drapery on the trousers is excellent I love it.

 

[Jason W.]

Looking AWESOME Gary!!! The forage cap looks great and the trousers as well. Can't wait to see how you do the "pumpkin slinger". Are you converting or scratching one?

 

[garyjd]

Joe, Thanks a lot. I'm glad the info was of help.

Leigh, Thanks my friend I needed an escape from the tanker, at least until I collect my thoughts on resuming him.

Jason, Thanks, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at. I'm thinking of converting a Shenandoah rifle although I'm tempted to scratchbuild one so it's closer to the real thing. These things are too easy to get hooked on.~Gary

 

[yeo_64]

Gary,your SBS on the forage cap is a real lifesaver I'll definitely save that and try out your technique for my next ACW figure project.BTW,GREAT job on the figure so far !Keep up the good work and post more,please.Cheers.
Kenneth
(Don Troiani is certainly the best source of inspiration for any ACW figure projects,IMHO.)

 

[garyjd]

I decided to add a little tuft of hair sticking out from under his forage cap to help add a little character.