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bonehead

A Fixture
Joined
Aug 26, 2004
Messages
1,559
Location
A galaxy far, far away
Since pics of this guy (unflattering ones!) are already all over the net, I figured I would post some better photos showing the finished sculpt: :whistle:

bombercrew1w.jpg
bombercrew7w.jpg
bombercrew6w.jpg
bombercrew5w.jpg
bombercrew4w.jpg
bombercrew3w.jpg
bombercrew2w.jpg


The figure represents a Luftwaffe Bomber Crewman from the Battle of Britain, 1940. It is 1/10th scale.

I did this sculpt for Young Miniatures. Young graciously sent me some samples of his stunning busts. I was very impressed with both the quality of the sculpting and casting and production values. This is really great stuff and set a very high bar for me to shoot for.

I really needed to bring my "A" game for this. It did not help that I chose a complex and challenging subject. This project really gave me some difficulties in its execution as well. I ended up redoing substantial portions of the figure, when I realized too late that I had miscalculated and basically spent more than a week sculpting bits that i had to toss and grind off to do them over. :mad: :confused:

I eventually got past all that stuff. The head is done in Sculpey Premo, with a red primer coat to check for flaws. The bulk of the figure is done in Aves apoxysculpt white. There are also lots of bits done with plastic (the pure white parts) and little bits of wire. Fine details are done in Procreate (the gray bits).

Steel helmets were sometimes worn by bomber crews when combat was expected. This helmet was a rework of one supplied by Young. The straps are all done in putty with texture added to the soft putty using cloth from and old shirt. Timing is critical for this.

Thanks go to Young for also providing some excellent reference material which augmented my own deep selection of reference material on Luftwaffe gear and uniforms. (y)
 
Very impressive Mike. (y)

The variety of textures will be a nice treat to painters. :) I really like the quality of your photos, is this your new camera?

Thank you for the rundown on the mediums used, I'm most curious to the choice of Sculpey Premo does it offer any benefits over Super Sculpey?
 
Very impressive Mike. (y)

The variety of textures will be a nice treat to painters. :) I really like the quality of your photos, is this your new camera?

Thanks!! Yes, the digital wonderland..... :confused:

Thank you for the rundown on the mediums used, I'm most curious to the choice of Sculpey Premo does it offer any benefits over Super Sculpey?

To use the technical term, in my opinion, Super Sculpey blows! Sculpey Premo offers several advantages:

1). It is opaque. Super sculpey is not and that makes it very difficult to see the surface finish. Super sculpey sculpts always came out rougher than they appeared to the eye. That sucks (another technical term).
2). The Premo is also stiffer than super sculpey which i always found too mushy.
3). Different colors of the Premo have differing degrees of hardness. This allows you to control the firmness of the soft putty to a high degree by blending different colors together to control the relative stiffness of the soft putty.
 
To use the technical term, in my opinion, Super Sculpey blows! Sculpey Premo offers several advantages:

1). It is opaque. Super sculpey is not and that makes it very difficult to see the surface finish. Super sculpey sculpts always came out rougher than they appeared to the eye. That sucks (another technical term).
2). The Premo is also stiffer than super sculpey which i always found too mushy.
3). Different colors of the Premo have differing degrees of hardness. This allows you to control the firmness of the soft putty to a high degree by blending different colors together to control the relative stiffness of the soft putty.

Thanks for the excellent info Mike, how is Premo after baking?

Is it more prone to cracking ?

Do you bake it as per the directions?

What do you use for an armature and how thick do you go on the armature?

The last head I did in Super Sculpey cracked in the thin areas over putty (Magic Sculpt) I had chalked it up to the varying cooling times of the two mediums.
 
Superb sculpting , orderd some sculpey premo to give it a try.

Top work mike and my period of interest. Yum Yum

Stu
 
Hi Mike,

sorry that the unflattering pics had to be in circulation before I could flex my muscle in doing justice to your laborious "A" game sculpt. I do hope that you like what you're seeing so far with the paintwork.

2155703920048845606S600x600Q85.jpg


For those out there reading this, I must say that this has been one of the most engaging subject I've painted in recent years. I've painted a lot of Mike's sculpts before but this is one that has me quite enthralled with the wealth of subtle detail on every square millimeter - making this truly a painter's delight. One can really sense Mike's passion for aviation history with this masterpiece and I do hope that it will be a commercial success for him produce more of such delightful offerings.

Calvin
 
Thanks for the excellent info Mike, how is Premo after baking?

Is it more prone to cracking ?

It is not as fragile as Super Sculpey when it is baked. The baked material also seems more resilient than super Sculpey. But it is equally prone to cracking during the baking and cooling process.

Do you bake it as per the directions?

I don't know what the instructions say. I bake it in my little toaster oven @ 275 degrees. Minimum time for me is about 10 minutes. This is okay for small heads. Larger pieces are baked for longer.

What do you use for an armature and how thick do you go on the armature?

No armature. Use of an armature with sculpey (any sculpey) is asking for trouble. Any material you use, other than the sculpey itself, will have different thermal properties. They will all heat, expand, cool and shrink at different rates. Because of this, cracking is inevitable.

When I use sculpey for making a head, I simply start with a big wad of the stuff, and that's it.

The last head I did in Super Sculpey cracked in the thin areas over putty (Magic Sculpt) I had chalked it up to the varying cooling times of the two mediums.

Yep! And now that you learned the hard way, I bet you won't be making that mistake again! :cool:

You can add putty to a Sculpey surface once it has been baked. But adding sculpey to a putty surface does not work. Well, unless you really like frustration...... :eek:
 
Hi Mike,

sorry that the unflattering pics had to be in circulation before I could flex my muscle in doing justice to your laborious "A" game sculpt. I do hope that you like what you're seeing so far with the paintwork.

Yes I do! Keep up the good work! :cool: :D


For those out there reading this, I must say that this has been one of the most engaging subject I've painted in recent years. I've painted a lot of Mike's sculpts before but this is one that has me quite enthralled with the wealth of subtle detail on every square millimeter - making this truly a painter's delight. One can really sense Mike's passion for aviation history with this masterpiece and I do hope that it will be a commercial success for him produce more of such delightful offerings.

Calvin

Aw shucks! :eek:

Thanks Calvin! Also, thanks to everybody else for the kind comments. I hope this kit does well for Young once it comes out......

Cheers!! :D

Mike
 
Awesome! Great to see more pics of this, thanks Mike. Didn't appreciate a lot of the details before, like the puckering on the collar (y)

The straps are all done in putty with texture added to the soft putty using cloth from and old shirt. Timing is critical for this.
Can imagine! Thanks for the detail.

Einion
 
Very nice neat figure. Never faced with the problem of cracks. Not lepite of different materials. Make one of several species. Make obtained from several types of softness. That would be softer, add vegetable oil. Do you want a solid - add the powder of chalk. Try the stuff that I use. PLASTICA www.artpaints.ru
 


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