Thursday 7 January 2010

Mangling The Milliput

My experiment with creating sculpting dollies is progressing slowly. The first problem was deciding what gauge wire to use. 1/32" brass rod would seem to offer the right degree of stiffness, but might be a bit thick compared to the limbs of the dolly I am trying to create. I have some garden wire that's thinner, so I'll try making a dollies using both types of wire.

The Milliput Production Line
The photo shows the two dollies in progress. One is still attached to the paper template, the second has been detached from the paper so that its back can start being rounded out. As can be seen, I haven't followed the shape of the template as well as I might. But I am not sure how much effort I should put into that kind of detail yet: if I acheived decent proportions at this stage, all that might be wasted if it doesn't look right once the dolly is bent into the required pose. This is something I'll appreciate better once I've gotten to the later stages on this, my first attempt.
I have also shown the production line for my cuirassier's muskets. I use a single template with eight muskets so I can create multiple muskets per session: I chose eight because this quantity doesn't get too boring to do all at once. Brass rod bent to shape, rods with milliput (crudely) applied still glued to the template, some muskets needing more milliput where I've accidentally broken it off, and the finished article, is shown. I have found it easier to shape the milliput after it has set rather than be too particular when applying it: the muskets are so thin that the milliput can be filed to the correct shape very quickly.

7 comments:

Der Alte Fritz said...

Have you considered using the eBob dollies for your infantry figures? This might save you a lot of time.

Andy Mitchell said...

I thought about using eBob: but this way I can choose the exact scale of the figures (well, I could if I got it right) and also the figure is 100% mine, so it's more satisfying.

Steve-the-Wargamer said...

I am endlessly impressed with both your skill and your patience!

DC said...

Andy,
Looking good so far. You're probably doing this anyway, but...i'd advise keeping the elbows, knees and other significant joints well clear of miliput to facilitate easy animation of your dollies. As for making every carbine by hand - you're as mad as a bag of ferrets 8-) I reckon you could cast those, i've seen it done. Cheers.

The Wrist said...

WOW! This is a real skill. Not easy at all to do. Well done:)

I was looking thru earlier posts & wonder what rules you have for your gaming please?

Andy Mitchell said...

There are two sets of rules that are being used in this blog. Both are from books published 40 years ago but available as facsimiles: 'Charge!' by Brigadier Peter Young and Colonel Charles Lawford, and 'The Wargame' the Charles Grant.

The two sets use virtually identical unit organisations so are highly compatible.

The Wrist said...

Andy thanks for reply. Excellent blog. I thought u might be using this book. Yes I love it! I used to pour over it when I as a kid at the library. I have it and have loved that first battle shown in the beautiful plates, the Battle of Blasthof Heath! Wonderful book.

I'm about to paint my 2 25mm armies (French Revolution.