Flying the Flag

Firstly thanks for the feedback on the big issue, namely the with/without sculpted lace debate, in the end I went without and I think this was the right direction. Anyway, its been a long time since the last post, which is probably how things will continue from now on. The original intention of the Blog was to show how to sculpt and make miniatures, and I hope this has largely been achieved.

A few kind souls did however indicate that they would like to see the other sculpts as they are completed, and to that end I shall continue to put up some photo's as each one is finished. So without further ado, here is the next edition, a standard bearer/ensign or Sous-lieutenant as the french would say!

Opinions Sought

Bit of a dilemma with the drummer. I've basically finished the figure, however I'm not sure about how much of the lace I want to add to the sculpt, as opposed to just painting this on the final figures. At present I've added the shoulder "swallows nests" or whatever you like to call them, but not the lace running down the sleeves. I'm a bit concerned that if I do this it will make the figure a bit clunky. After all in "real life" this would not have been raised up, which it will be, at least to some extent if I add it to the sculpt. Doing this however would make it a lot easier and more consistent to paint. The nub of this dilemma is the old school vs new style figure debate, and this is a good illustration of this point in action. New style would have all this sort of thing in high relief making it easy to pick out, but it would be an artificial look and the figure could potentially look like a gorilla, though hopefully not! Old style figures either wouldn't have it, or it would be very lightly "etched" on. Not sure how to go on this one, interested in people's views, do you think I should add or not, some photos attached to get an idea of how he looks presently.

Marching in Time

Mainly Photo's this time, The first officer is now complete, and I'm making good progress on the drummer. I have to say that the drummer is quite awkward to get right, its a bit of a challenge to get everything to line up (angle of arms, drum etc) and look ok, whilst making a figure that's reasonably robust. Anyway happy enough with him so far, cuffs, hands and fine detail still to add.

Query on who I'd used for the casting of the master, it was Griffin Moulds (link opposite) who I found very prompt and helpful for an amateur like me.

Hopefully I'll get the drummer finished soon and will move on to another officer.