El Cid Bust Progress No. 1

[Mongo Mel]

Hi,
I've made some progress on this bust and thought I share it and ask for your thoughts. It's an OOP bust of El Cid, produced by the now defunct Fort Duquesne Miniatures.

I figure the head scarf would to be silk so I mixed this color from Prussian Blue and Naples Yellow with just a little bit of silver printers ink added in. No shadows or highlights added yet.
I'm planning on changing the color of the cape to a darker, more earthy yellow color. I think this should compliment the head scarf nicely.

As always, I'd appreciate hearing what you folks think of it so far. Especially and constructive criticisms you have for me.
Thanks,
Craig

 

[Mongo Mel]

Another view....

 

[Mongo Mel]

And a close up of the face...

 

[Bluesking]

Craig

I like what I see, keep it comin' big guy.

 

[Jim Patrick]

How did you do that chainmail?! That is friggin awesome!

Patiently waitin',
Jim Patrick

 

[Tarok]

Originally posted by Jim Patrick@Jun 17 2005, 07:18 AM
How did you do that chainmail?! That is friggin awesome!

Patiently waitin',
Jim Patrick

Ditto from me, Craig... hopefully I'll be able to emulate...

Rudi

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments.

Jim, the secret to doing good chainmail is......

ready.....

Buy an Augie Rodreguiz bust that has chainmail that looks like it was cast from the real thing :lol:

The sculpting of this thing is amazing. All I did was to paint it with Mars Black...let that dry ...then mix up a gunmetal color from Mars Black and silver printers inks. I brushed this over the tops of the links fairly heavily. I just was careful leave the black showing in the deepest areas. Then I added another, much lighter lighter coat of the same mix with more printers ink so that it was silver looking. So far, that's all I've done to it. I may add a wash of Brown Madder Alizerin to it to give it a slightly rusty/dirty look.
Hope that helps.
Craig

 

[megroot]

Craig,

I think that i'm gonna play chess. What a great job you did. This chainmail is the closest sculpting that i ever seen from the real.
You did a great job. And as i said before, that face WOWW

Marc

 

[Brad S]

Craig

That is awesome. I really like that bust and would like to get my hands on one. Your skin is looking real good and the color choices for the scarf and head I also like. The Chainmail - totally cool.

Brad Spelts

 

[Rob Brown]

like I said on armorama, looks great. love the chain mail.
Rob

 

[Guy]

Awesome Craig........Augie sure knows how to sculpt chainmail...........and you sure know how to paint it. Excellent work.

 

[bosko b]

Nice work Craig,

I like the color you have chosen for the head scarf it will help the face to stand out, darker cape sounds good to. Hope to see progres soon


Regards,

Luka

 

[Roc]

Craig, I echo what every body else said, I particularly like the way you painted the inside of the mouth,especially the teeth.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Roc.

 

[rej]

Craig.........Fantastic Painting............. :lol:

As has been said, Augie's sculpting of the mail ( it is called so btw, "mail") is out of this world..........in that scale he could do the real thing actually, semi circles of wire embedded in MS............

Keep it up,

Ray

 

[Augie]

Thank you, gentlemen, for your effusive kindness. But major kudos to Craig for bringing this commemorative sculpture, sculpted in celebration of the 900th anniversary of Don Rodrigo's passing into legendary immortality, to life.

Much of the credit needs to go to Jim Johnston, and his patent virtuosity with molds and resin. Creating something like this is relatively easy. Reproducing it? Well, that's a horse of quite a different "hue". To the best of my knowledge, there wasn't anything like El Cid and The Bruce prior to my 1/4 scale renditions; and there hasn't been anything like them since.

The mail, as Ray noted, is only the dorsal section of the hauberk. In this scale, one could easily "weave" a miniature hauberk--one wouldn't have to cut any more links as only one "C" can be had from any one "ring"--but the problem would be: how do you reproduce a loosely inter-"woven", 3-d'al object?

My solution was to incorporate a solid backing around which the rubber would not flow. This meant first making thousands of rings from coiled wire (in this case I used copper; for The Bruce, I upped it up a notch and used mild steel), flattening them slightly using a jeweler's hammer, and then clipping an arc off of each ring to get my "C". After that, it was just a matter of laying down a thin layer of epoxy putty to the thickness of the gambeson, and inserting each link, one by one, row by row. I usually worked 1-1.5 sq. ins. at a time.

By this time, you have long ceased to question your sanity, as there is obvioulsy none to be had. :lol: By this time as well, the tips of your fingers are raw hamburger, and it's hard to focus. And then you see what is before you, and you immediately start wondering what can you do next, and how can you improve on the technique and the end result. . .

Augie
El Passo Honroso

 

[quang]

Much more than the manufacturing techniques of the mail (and the gory details: hamburger fingers :lol: ,...), it's the sculpt of the face that impresses me most.

Rarely have I seen such a perfectly rendered expression. Furthermore, in terms of composition, it's interesting to note that the dynamic lines (wrinkles, direction of hair on mustache and beard,...) converge to the open mouth making it the focal point of the bust.

Whether it was planned by Augie or a sheer stroke of luck (there's no such thing as PURE luck IMO ), the result is astounding as can be seen on the photos.



Q.

 

[Augie]

Too, TOO kind.

Planned execution enhanced beyond reasonable expectations by sheer luck! The lines of the helmet, the shape of the nasal, the drapery of the ventail. . . everything was designed to funnel the viewer's attention to the focal point of the bust.

Many thanks!

A~

 

[quang]

Hello Augie,

As the open mouth is the focal point, I'd suppose that the grinding/crushing surfaces of the respective teeth have been appropriately differenciated.

We, anoraks, wouldn't settle for less! :lol: :lol: :lol:

All the best,

Q..

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi folks,
I've been busy for a couple of days and missed seeing these additional postings.
Augie, thanks for the kind words. I love painting busts and this is quickly turning into one of my favorites. Heck, even my wife likes too! :lol:
Jim Johnston used to live here in Pittsburgh and I got to see his production process first hand. It was impressive to say the least. He really turned out a high quality product.
Since you've posted here, I'd like to ask you a question. With such a great face hidden behind the nose guard ( ? ), I've opted not to use it and I patched the mounting hole for it. How unforgivable was this?
Thanks,
Craig

 

[Augie]

Again, thank you; and thanks to your lady wife as well!

It is eminently forgivable. In fact, the nasal is somewhat optional. While the face was sculpted with a nasal in mind, it can certainly stand "alone". And nasals were not de rigeur at this time or for this type of helmet.

So. . . "modeller's choice"!

ENJOY!!! And again, THANKS!

A~
EL PASSO HONROSO