"Mine had a ramrod"

[garyjd]

Another view.

 

[garyjd]

After the putty had dried I carefully lifted the crown from the head. Be careful as often is the case the thing will suddenly let loose and shoot across the room. I then went in with a fingernail sanding stcks and slowly took down the thickness of the crown as it was way too thick to use as it was. AS you can see in these photos I took quite a bit off. One way to tell the thickness is to hold it up to the light. The thinner the piece the easier it is for light to pass through. So starting from the top and working down to the sides slowly sand away the material until you've achieved the thickness you're looking for. I hope this makes sense.

 

[garyjd]

Now the attention is turned to the brim of the hat. I take a piece of wax paper and tape it to a ceramic tile. Give the wax paper a thin coat of vaseline and place your putty on it. Roll out the putty and let it begin to cure, mine sat in the refrigerator for about 10 hours before I continued with the work.

 

[garyjd]

You then take the crown of the hat and imbed it into your rolled out putty by pressing it in. Be sure to place it in the center so you have plenty of room for the size brim you're going to need.

 

[garyjd]

Using a circle template find the diameter you want the brim to be and center it over the crown. Carefully cut out your circle by wetting the blade of you X-acto as it helps cut the putty a little easier. I then cut out sections until all the excess putty is gone.

 

[garyjd]

A hat can give a figure a lot of character in the manner it is worn, so I took some Blu Tac and placed some at the front and back of the brim to give it some curve as I want the hat to have some "attitude" of it's own. I also put some superglue in where the crown meets the brim to give it some strength. I hope to have this done by the weekend and will post pics of the hat's entire construction.

 

[Manfred]

Thanks for all additional work you do have with this sbs.

Really helpful

 

[garyjd]

Manfred, Thank you, I just wish I could be a little productive instead of "spoon feading" this stuff out.


Now I'm ready to punch out the area of putty that covers the inside of the crown. I used a sculpting tool on the first attempt and it went throught the material. The second time around I used the flat end of an X-acto handle, along with a small wooden block as my hammer. It should only require a few taps as the material is quite thin due to the step in construction where we pushed the crown down onto the material that becomes the brim.

 

[garyjd]

Here is what it should look like after the material is removed.

 

[garyjd]

Here it is placed on the figure's head. This is where the real work begins to now make these basic parts look like a real hat. Sorry for the dark photo.

 

[John Long]

It's looking terrific. Great SBS Gary. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[Patrick Kirk]

Excellent Gary...I am still amazed with your talent...can't wait to see them both come to life! Thanks for sharing

All the best, my friend

Patrick

 

[garyjd]

John & Patrick, Thanks for the kind words. I really enjoy doing this, I just need to increase my productivity.~Gary

Here is the hat after thinning down the brim along with decreasing it's diameter. I'm going to position the hat at a slight angle to give it some "Attitude". With a little more clean up I'll be able to proceed onto the crown.

 

[Jason W.]

Excellent sbs Gary!!! Thanks for sharing your tips!

 

[Guy]

Fantastic sbs Gary...........thanks

 

[garyjd]

Jason & Guy, Thanks, I do appreciate it. The efforts, no matter how big or small are all worth it in the end when folks can take something away from them or just enjoy the process.~Gary


Here is what the hat should look like when completed.

 

[garyjd]

Here is the initial application of putty on the crown. I'll probably stop at this point for the day to let it cure and go work on something else.

 

[Anders Heintz]

Awesome SBS Gary. Very informative.

 

[yeo_64]

Gary,EXCELLENT SBS on the production of the hat !! Thanks for taking the time to do it and posting the results.Much appreciated. Cheers !
Kenneth

 

[garyjd]

There's little to post on the hat today. I added the rest of the crown and made the four indentations. I feel the crown sits a bit too high and the peak is to pointy. Once the putty is cured I'll go in and make the necessary corrections. After the hat is done I'll begin an sbs on the soldier's right arm.~Gary