1/16 US Marine Recon, 1970

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A happy belated new year to all and what better way to usher the new year with a 1/16 scale sculpt based on the head study. There are obvious plans for a commercial release of this sculpt by Alpine Miniatures but not anytime soon due to other personal and work commitments.

With the exception of the hands and boots (done in epoxy putty), the entire figure is sculpted from a 50/50 compound of Super Sculpey and Super Sculpey Firm. There's still a long way to go before it finds its way into the rubber mold. Many details such as the canteens, grenades, K-Bar fighting knife and the tropical rucksack will needs to be fabricated and features such as the hands will need additional attention.

As mentioned, it's still a work in progress and do feel free to furnish whatever opinions of the sculpt.

cheers,

Calvin

A New Head Sculpt

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Here's a quick 1/16 scale head study realized in a compound of Super Sculpey and Super Sculpey Firm on a resin mannequin spare. A needle inserted through the ears helps gauge the symmetry as I sculpt. It's still a work-in-progress as I usually use such photos taken of the sculpt to identify mistakes and blemishes. The dots for the iris are placeholders and will be worked over before curing under a 60W lamp.
I've no idea what final form this will assume but I'm probably guessing an M-16 will be implicated ;)

Calvin

SS-Obersturmführer, Das Reich, Russia 1941

I've finally laid on the crowning touches to this protracted commission over last weekend. Hopefully I could squeeze in some time to do some sculpting before the start of fall.

Calvin

Helmet Cover Completed.

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Since the last update, I've finally made some headway in completing the helmet cover. Moving on to finishing up the rest of the figure and groundwork as I write.

Calvin

Collar Tabs and Groundwork

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I managed to get moving on the collar tabs early last week. Rather then sculpting them together with rest of the figure, I figured earlier that I could save some time on painting by sculpting the details by dying the epoxy putty with their respective colors and later homogenizing the stark appearance with a thin glaze of paint. Not only did this approach save me some time but also allowed me to attain better relief and finesse with the runes and embroidered piping.

Preliminary painting for the groundwork was also accomplished during this period in tandem with the rest of the figure so as to ensure an consistency and harmony. To echo the colors of the figure, I worked in hues of violet and blue to the shadow of the groundwork. I might have gotten carried away with the blue and now it looks too cold for my preference. Reckon I'll lay some ocher tones over to balance the temperature.

Calvin

Coming Along Slowly....

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Finding time during the past two weeks was particularly tough especially when my daughter is growing her first set of teeth. As of this week, I could only manage to get most part of the painting done for the back.

cheers,

Calvin

This week's progress.

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Managed to accomplish some refinements to the pattern on the shoulder sleeve throughout this week. Progress is slow but at least it's going somewhere :P

Calvin