From pants to overalls

The main gist of this post is a little progress on my entry in Forgotten Heroes 2020. With model in hand, and a couple pics off the internet, i looked over the fig and decided what had to be done.

The hat was too weird, and he was wearing overalls with suspenders versus coveralls. First order of business was cutting and carving. I carved off the front pockets and the top edge of the overalls, plus the suspenders on the back. I did some shaping/smoothing with a tapered dremel bit, then smoothed it more with needle files and sanding sticks. I left if for a couple days and when i came back to it i had another session with files and sanders.  The pic below is before the second session. You can still see the top of the overalls under the collar. I also cut off the toolbox and opened his hand to hold a rifle. A Lee-Enfield MkIV, to be exact. Luckily I have a box of warlord British infantry that has plenty of spares.

Once everything was off, it was time to add detail back.

I have a love-hate relationship with green stuff. I have made fur cloaks, replacement animal tails, and even covered seams.  I added the flop to Jake’s flight cap in the 2018 FH challenge. I turned a couple iron golem models into vaguely ogreish models. But i struggle o use it well. After a conversation with Roger over at Rantings about sculpting wit hgreen stuff, i realized i have the same tools he does. A couple messages back and forth and i was ready to try again.

The cap was easiest. A little blob an top and with a shaper i pushed it around, and por fin, smooth green stuff!  Happy day!  The a couple thin Sausages^TM along the front to build up the open collar. Using the same shaper i smoothed and shaped the gs into a long opening like in the pic from last week.  Once i was satisfied i checked it against the pic and realized there is a triangular flap on the right side. I added a tiny ball of gs and shaped that into a triangle. I had my phone propped up next to my cutting amt and kept referring to the source. I remembered Jez asked about the beard, so a little more gs and i picked and prodded it into a bit of beard. Longer than the pics i have, but hey, he hasn’t shaved this week. Exaggerated detail helps it pop, right? I ended up with this:

And a closer look at the cap

The little guy is resting after yesterday’s manhandling. They don’t like manhandling see, I learned that from Night at the Museum. Jedediah hated it.

I’ll wash and paint him this week, just in time to add my humble offering to the pile of awesomeness that is Forgotten Heroes.

Besides Corky, I’ve been at my Empire models as well. I’ve finished 9 militia, a cannon and crew, an 8-man detachment of handgunners and nearly completed 6 more militia. I primed 8 more spears for my big Middenheim block and hope to have those knocked out as well. Some quick pics below.

I also started a terrain piece. After watching a video where Bard’s Craft built an old windmill, I’ve wanted to make my own. With the Big V shutting everything down though, I couldn’t get the core I wanted for the base. Now that Michigan is somewhat open I got the box I wanted and started work. I’ll do another article later about this model, but here are a couple pics.

I like making terrain more than i like painting, so i have to be careful not to burn al my free time in terrain builds. But I’m happy so far on this on.

 

That’s it for this week. I’ll see you next week with a complete Corky!

BG out