Wing Commander Skalski - 200mm bust

[DaveCox]

Hi guys,

This is my rendition of Mirage's 200mm resin bust of Wing Commander Stanislaw Skalski. He scored the first Allied air victory of WW2, escaped from Poland, flew in combat in North Africa, Italy and then in the skies over Normandy. Finishing with 21 victories, he actually flew from an advanced airfield only about 5 miles from where I live.

Painted as usual in oils, there are some areas of this bust that would have been better cast as seperate pieces as it's hard to get a brush in! Other than that it's sharply cast and well detailed. I just hope that my painting has done justice to a brave man!

BTW - I took a while to work out why he appeared to have extra areas of shadow on his cheeks - it's where the oxygen mask fitted!

 

[DaveCox]

Another view:

 

[DaveCox]

And another:

 

[DaveCox]

And the last!

 

[arthur]

Dave,
Nice job on Skalski's bust
Great looking leather on the helmet too.
Cheers,
A.

 

[Sambaman]

Dave, he looks nice. I'm with Arthur, the leather on the helmet looks great!

Jay H.
OKC

 

[DaveCox]

Thanks guys,

Funnily enough the helmet was one of the easiest parts! It was undercoated in Vallejo acrylics, I believe it was US Field Drab. This is actually a tan shade. I then coated it in thinned Burnt Umber, left it for about an hour and then wiped off most of the paint with the corner of a facial tissue.

 

[MAB]

Hi Dave
Nice Job
Not to know if it is the light but seems a little pale .

MAB

 

[DaveCox]

Originally posted by MAB@Apr 18 2006, 07:00 PM
Hi Dave
Nice Job
Not to know if it is the light but seems a little pale .

MAB

I think it's the light. I tried to use natural light only, and it was quite strong. If I darken the pics anymore then they lose detail.

 

[MAB]

Haaa I have understood.........You can modify with Photoshop.

however the much beautiful helmet in Leather.

MAB

 

[Jacek Spychalski]

Hi Dave .

Thanks for your choice .
Sorry for casting in only two parts ,and Your trouble with painting.
Im a sculptor , and this is my foul
Thanks again for your nice work with this our Hero bust and for your opinion .

All the best

Jacek

 

[DaveCox]

Jacek,

So long as you plan your painting well, it isn't too much of a problem being only two pieces. The hardest part is painting the shirt/jacket collars. The helmet has tp be painted in two parts - the lower edges and front lower corners, then glue the head in place; and then paint the rest of the helmet. I can see that to cast it in more pieces would make it hard to get the detail in these parts.

Glad you like my work.

 

[stev1eran]

Nice, interesting piece Dave,
good work
Steve

 

[Christos]

Very nice Dave!
Chris

 

[DaveCox]

Thanks for the compliments, Steve & Chris.

 

[Mongo Mel]

Hi Dave,
(This is mostly a repeat of what I had to say on ArmoramA )
Nice job on a nice bust. In fact, I've just started the clean up on mine
I understand what you mean about some of the areas being hard to reach with a paint brush. I had the same thoughts when I looked at mine. But I give them full credit for the excellent casting job they did on a complex piece. I'm just glad they cast the head seperately
Also, I agree that you did a good job on the leather flying cap. I need to do some research on line for info on that and the face mask. I was told by a guy in my club that the face mask was cloth and not rubber when I mentioned the color on the box art.

Here's how I was planning to paint the head.
I've added some Aves Apoxy to the ends of the straps on the body to fill the gaps between them and the flying helmet. To keep it from sticking to the head, I coated the joint area with hand cream. I've used this in the past to smooth 2 part epoxies and it works very nicely. So I thought it might be a good barrier to prevent sticking and it worked well. I just made sure to remove the head before the Apoxy set up. So now I believe that I can paint the entire face & helmet and the entire body while the parts are seperate and there won't be a noticeable gap .

I was glad to see that you posted here too as Jacek (the sculptor) frequents this site. As I hoped, Jacek saw this thread and commented.

Thanks for sharing,
Craig

 

[Major_Goose]

Dave hi ,despite the fact that busts are not my everyday vup of tea works like Craig's have made me into liking them . You have done a good work on this one, and your progress in painting is evident , as well as your ascending speed !!
You paint a lot and that pays off

Keep Safe and keep these brushes wet !

 

[DaveCox]

Thanks for the kind words Costas - I'm nearly as fast as you!
I'm actually on leave from work at the moment which means I get plenty of painting time!