Netherlands Musketeer (2)

[WPS]

Netherlands Musketeer (part 5)

Hello again,

as promised last week I've taken some pics of this weeks work on the model(s).
Follow this link to see the first part.
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25665
They are a bit off focus. (I'm working on that)

The first modification I've done were the boots, I liked the idea of the visible part of the sock/hosiery as shown on the boxart.
I'm also planning to recast the boots and rework them to fit the next figure.
The leg parts are pieces taken from a verlinden mannequin figure that I've recast.
Before I get questions about this, recasting is allowed for own use only.
When using heads I only recast if I'm doing resculpting of the facial features.
(if it goes wrong I can recast again)
Recasting for the purpose of selling is not only illegal it's in my opinion showing no respect to the original sculptor and company that made it available.
So..., on with this little build.

There was (and still is) some work to do on the helmet.
I've drilled some small holes around the rim to fit the typical brass rivets.
Well...as you can see they are a bit too big so I need to redo them.

The next item I've started working on is the gun.
For this I use pearwood, it has a very fine grain and is easy to shape.
If needed it can be darkened by staining.
For the barrel I've turned a aluminium rod and milled a hexagonal end piece on it.
After all this I got hold of some pics showing a octagonal end piece so it might be that I have to do it all over again.
The second gun will be done later in a similar way but with slight differences.

This was it for now, hope to show you more next week.(with better pics)

de groeten, Willem

 

[WPS]

Part 3

so...another week and some work done.
First to be shown is the almost complete musket.(the turnable powderpan cover is still missing)
I also need to do some weathering on the wood and the brass.

The next thing to do was creating a silicone mould and to re-cast parts.

I'm going to do the re-casting again but this time using a polyurethane car filler.
This filler is easy to sand and re-shape and when just mixed it's thin enough to pour into the mould.(could damage the mould, this is why I cast the resin first)
I also used it to fill the body parts.
While filling these the filler goes into every crack, that's still in the badly fitting parts, making sanding smooth very easy.(see the arm)
I used 1.5 mm rod to pin the figure together.

Due to workpressure I probably will not be able to do a update next week.
Hope to see you soon...

Willem

 

[vergilius]

amazing work you 're doing

 

[dinovision79]

Yes, the conversion is coming along nicely! You seem to work very precisely and clean, and the gun is just like the real thing!
Thanks for sharing andlooking forward to see more!
Denes

 

[megroot]

Geweldig Willem,
Het wordt heel heel erg mooi.

Marc

 

[WPS]

update 4

Hello again,

as you can see I've started to model the 2nd figure.

The pieces I've cast last week were cut up and pinned together in the pose I had in mind.
To create the correct angles I will take on the pose myself. (in front of a mirror or by taking a picture of myself. Hurray for the digital age)
Some of the limbs will be more important than others, f.i. the shoulders, elbows, knees and the buttocks.
These parts of the body will determine the way the clothes drape around the body.
For the right angles of the arms and later on the hands I used the kits gun.
This will be replaced for one I'll create in a later stage.

I've also cast a few heads so I could choose one of them.
The one in the middle got a haircut and is now in use.
The last picture shows both figures in the setting I have in mind.
A veteran soldier giving a lesson in shooting ??

So this is it for now, see you next time (maybe next week???)

groet Willem

 

[WPS]

update 5

This week the workload at the workshop got even bigger so I didn't get to do much.
Still managed to do some work on the 2nd head and on the breeches (made a mistake with the direction of wrinkles so have to redo them).
First, the head I chose is a recast from a Verlinden mannequin.
I sanded the hear off and resculpt the nose (little bigger) and gave him a nice goatee.

I've desided the 2nd figure will be a member of a schutterij (I don't know if this word is correct, it seems to be a word taken from Dutch)
This means he'll be a civilian and will not wear a helmet but a hat.
By looking at paintings, done by the masters of that era, I've found one that represents a "schutters meal" and has several men in different clothes to choose from.
I liked the look of a very high hat with small rim, so this would be the one.
I've made it in the same way I did the helmet.
To get a bit of a oval shape on the cone I heated it with a hairdryer and puched it into shape on the head.

I also started to pre-shape the breeches using polyuretane car filler.
at the start it looks like a mess but this stuff is easily removed by sanding, carving or using a motor tool.
As said above I made a mistake by putting the wrinkles in the wrong direction.
This happens if you move to quick and don't look at your references.
Should have taken this book along earlier. ( Highly Recommended)

see you next week Willem

 

[je_touche]

Excellent SBS on one of my favorite periods. Very much looking forward to your next steps. Though I work in the smaller scales this is all very instructive.

Could you please give more details about how you did the muskets?

Are these two going to represent members of a Dutch city guard or 'Schützengilde' (don't know the Dutch word for it)? If you use the high hat with narrom rim you will have to pay attention to the details of the clothing because such hats were more typical of the early part of the period (around 1600) that later on. Trousers should be fairly baggy then etc.

 

[Dan Morton]

Excellent SBS and a couple very interesting figures! I like your muskets particularly!!

All the best,
Dan

 

[Roc]

Willem, very good step by step, I'm following this one closely.
Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work.

Cheers
Roc.

 

[Robert Jan de Wit]

Hoi Willem,

Het ziet er erg,erg goed uit.
Echt vakwerk!

groet,
Robert Jan

 

[WPS]

Gentlemen,

thanks for the kind words.
Please don't be afraid to be critical for I'm new to the art of sculpting.

je_touche,

yes the 2nd figure will be a member of a "schutterij" or in german "schützengilde".
It's nice to get comments from someone with interest and more info on this era, so please point me to any major mistakes I might make.

Dan and je_touche,

I still have to create the musket for this 2nd figure.
I'll try to take pics and give explanation along the way.

p.s. Dan, one day I hope to reach your level.

Roc,

it's nice to see that you're following this build.
I'm not one of the quickest in sculpting, so be in for a long ride.
As you might have guessed I build these at work during the lunchbreak or in the evening after overtime. (I don't have the space to do this at home)

tot ziens (see you), Willem

 

[megroot]

Willem,
Met elke foto verbaas je me steeds meer. Dit is echt fantastisch.
Het wordt heel erg mooi.
Zie ik je in Antwerpen ???

Marc

 

[WPS]

Robert-jan, bedankt voor de belangstelling (thanks for being interested)
Marc, is misschien mogelijk ik ga waarschijnlijk op de zondag.

p.s. het is misschien voor de internationale belangstelling beter dat wij in het engels communiceren of een vertaling van het gezegde bijvoegen. (staat wel zo beleefd toch ?)
translation: p.s.it might be better for the international interest that we communicate in english or insert a translation next to it. (it's looks more polite)

gegroet, Willem

 

[Tarok]

Hoi Willem,

Excellent SBS. A great example of how versatile these MiniArt figures are for conversions.
Out of interest, how different was the uniform of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) soldier from that of the soldiers of Netherlands or the Bavarian Republic for this time?

Groeten

 

[WPS]

Hoi Rudi,

to be honest I don't know at all.
It all started as a nice build but is evolving into something more.
I've done some research on the clothes the 2nd figure is wearing but nothing yet on the service man.
I do know that members of the aristocracy sometimes had a private army.
The Dutch East Indian Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or V.O.C.) were so powerfull and rich that they had a standing army as well.
Later on they were transformed into the Marines.
About the Batavian era I don't exactly know.
You have pointed out something I have to look into more.
Thank you for your interest.

Greetings (groeten) Willem.

 

[petit belge]

go to

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgabout.cfm
and type 'netherland 1600'.

The uniforms where the same.

Great work out of a period a admire!

Greatings

 

[Tarok]

Hoi Willem,
Thanks for your honest response. My interest in the VOC and Batavian period is due to their establishment of the trading posts and the eventual city of Cape Town, the place of my birth.

Vele danke Roger.

Rudi

 

[WPS]

update 5

hello there,

back at it again after some heavy labour at the workshop.
We are working on a model of a heavy lifting vessel (see pic. of me in front of the catamaran hull... it's in 1/100 scale and needs to be finished on the 3rd of april to be shipped to the Houston exhibit)

But you're here for the figures so let's see what I managed to do in those sparce moments I had left.
As I mentioned before I had to redo the trousers on the second figure after noticing that I modelled the folds in them the wrong way.
They still need some work but they are allmost the way I want them.
For the boots I'm still not sure about putting spurs on them or not.

On with the musketeer.
I've finished the lower part and sprayed primer to see if there are blamishes to take care of.
As you can see I decided to redo all of the stitchlines etc.

For the top part there is still some work to do, f.i. the arms and hands and some of the stitching on the shoulderpads.
I've used ledfoil and sewing-thread for the stitchlines(for lack of a better word).
The belt will be replaced by one made of leadfoil.

The black lines on the front and back are whippingtwine and by using superglue they get stiffened.
After this I can remove the little hairlike pieces and get a straight line as a result.
Again I hope you like the progress. (I know.. I'm slow but getting there)
For those who were asking about the making of the gun please be patient I'll do one with a step by step photo-session soon.

For now, a Happy Easter, don't eat too many eggs (have to remind myself), have fun sculpting/painting and tot ziens (see you)

Willem

 

[Bad91Fellow]

Really nice so far!

Lennart