Jon,
I don't know about the other guys but I certainly don't consider myself a 'big guns', thanks anyway. : )
Carl,
Wonderful traction engine, I'm surprised you couldn't flog it to someone for production, Southeastern Finecast for instance. What's the scale anyway? Although I would like to think myself capable of pattern making for such a complicated and many part piece as your tractor I doubt I'll ever find it in me to dedicate enough time to a single project to accomplish the task, especially as long as it remains a part time endeavor and there is, still, a real job to go to.
Calvin,
This is a nice saw frame here;
http://www.ottofrei.com/store/product.php?productid=17004&cat=0&page=1 This frame is shallow in the depth from blade to frame but should make a good general purpose one for figure modeling. A deeper frame is desirable when making cuts further from the edge of a piece. Micro-Mark also carries a saw frame, but the quality and durability is less as the supporting part of the frame is made of a 'pot metal' (Zamac or something similar) casting, and the price is higher anyway.
The blade you use is dependant on the thickness of material you are cutting, or perhaps where figures are concerned the object may be to seek the thinnest blade possible. For cutting sheet material, thin material will require more teeth per inch of blade (a finer blade) while thicker material will obviously want fewer teeth per inch for efficiencies sake. The technique is not to push the blade through the material, as will a western style handsaw for cutting wood, but rather to draw the blade by pulling, usually downward while the piece rests on a bench block for support. The purpose here is to keep from breaking the blade should it bind during the cut. You'll break blades anyway, but a lot fewer if you draw the blade rather than pushing it into the cut.
Your e-bay find is exactly the thing, though it has a deeper frame than the one in my link and the price may be high or perhaps not. I couldn't really say without doing some math to find a value for the blades included.
Mike,
Don't you find mold making a more arduous and workman like task than sculpting? It really is its own art, and one I am never really that pleased to follow, doing it only from necessity. As you say knowledge of how a mold is made and how things are cast is a valuable thing for a pattern maker to know, even if he is lucky enough to never have to make any molds himself.
I think most of us are basically self taught learning techniques through reading and observation with a lot of trial and error along the way. If only there had been an internet back in the old days when I was first (first because I haven't stopped yet) trying to learn the skills of a sculptor and pattern making it would have save me a lot of the trial and error. A forum like this is a true blessing to the expert and novice alike I think, especially thinking myself somewhere between the two skill levels.
Anyone else here use Bear wire for armatures instead of bare wire, or is it just me?
Ray
