Major Robert Rogers, 1760

[garyjd]

Cap Rangers wore various forms of headgear ranging from a highland type bonnet to jockey caps that were made from cut down tricorn hats, cloth, or leather. Rogers wears a leather cap of green dyed leather. There are newspaper and eyewitness accounts from 1753 and on that described green caps.

I started off Roger's cap by forming the crown of the with a ball of putty pushed onto the head. This was worked down to the proper height and thickness then trimmed above the ears.

What cannot be seen in the painting is the raised piece of trimmed leather that surrounds the crown. A suitable thickness of plastic strip was clamped into place. This was then placed into a coffee cup of hot water so the plastic would take the shape of the crown as this would put less stress on the glue to hold it in place. This was then glued in place and the clamp removed after it was dry.

 

[garyjd]

Profile view showing the raised piece around the crown.

 

[garyjd]

The visor for the front of the cap. This was made from plastic also. I used a thin strip of masking tape to determine the length of plastic that would be needed for the visor.

The center was marked out and then carefully rounded. The right side is done.

 

[garyjd]

The completed visor.

 

[garyjd]

A spot of glue was placed in the center of the crown and the visor put into place. Once dry the visor was clamped into placed and put into hot water again. Once dry the ends of the visor were glued. After drying the clamp was removed.

 

[garyjd]

The figure with the cap and and the lower right side of the waistcoat reworked.

 

[Voidec]

Hello,
I love your new SBS work.
It is very, very helpful for me! And I draw inspiration from it too.
I was only in WW2 figures so far. Now I know I was "blind". There are so many other "things" to do hehehe
Yes it is amazing sculpture!!!
Best wishes
~Wojtek

 

[whdamon]

SOOOOOOOOOOOO, 3 possible candidates in the 75mm range for production Heh?? Can I twist your arm Gary to push Alexander Hamilton at Yorktown leaning against the Gabbion in his Artillery Officer uniform???.

Walt Damon........soon to post my General Knox conversion, so you can see why I'd love the Hamilton

 

[fsdesimone]

Gary, you let everything air dry, right? No crockpots or anything?

Francesca

 

[garyjd]

Walt, He's a good subject, but I'm still not decided. It would have been nice to have something for someone to release at EXPO, but there's no way I could commit to getting something done at this point in time.


Francesca, Usually I let it air dry. I have experimented with letting the Aves sit in a warm oven and it seemed to handle the heat better than most putties. As of late though it has not gone well. The rough armature for this figure looked almost like the elephant man and I had to do a lot sanding to get it back to normal. Air drying is the safe way to go.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

I sanded down the front of the visor as it stuck out too far. The next sep is to make a feather and cockade for the cap.

 

[garyjd]

Wojtek, Thank you very much, I'm sorry I almost missed replying. I'm glad that you're finding this of help. I also do it in the event someone else can open my eyes to an easier way to do something.~Gary

 

[garyjd]

Feather Feathers are difficult to make in any scale. I first tried to make it by shaping a piece of putty onto the helmet. The sculpting part looked okay but the feather looked like it was glued down to the helmet. I decided to make a mold of sorts out of sculpey that copied the basic shape of the feather as it hangs over top of the helmet.

 

[garyjd]

After coating the form with enough vaseline to give it a shine I trimmed a rolled out piece of putty and applied it to the left side of the form. A second piece was applied to the other side and these two pieces were smoothed together. A flat and a pointed tool were used to detail the feather. After sitting overnight I slowly poured some water boiled on the stove on top of the form. The feather was carefully lifted off of the form. Then the feather was placed back on the form and a thin piece of brass wire was glued in place for the quill. This would also probably work where you need to do large leaves or other vegatation.

 

[garyjd]

I need to add a little putty as the wire at the base of the feather is a bit raised. After doing the cockade the cap will be complete.

 

[JCOX]

Excellent Gary! You are a master craftsman!

-jim cox

 

[garyjd]

Here is Roger's equipment. The powder horn is one posted earlier that has been sanded down flat on both ends. A second smaller section has been added for the spout. The waist cartridge box (bellybox) was made from strip styrene and the flap from a rolled out piece of Aves putty.

 

[garyjd]

Jim, Thanks a lot. You are far too kind.~Gary

 

[Jason W.]

Excellent SBS, Gary!

 

[amherbert]

Super stuff!
It's all really well done.
The feather is very well done, and that's a very clever idea for making it against the form!

Cheers
Andy