1/16 German Stormtrooper

[Guest]

John - Too wet to walk the dog here today - excuses, excuses.

Gary - Thanks for that. Camp is indeed still with us - there's even a Camp Coffee Club - but as it appears to be made mostly of sugar, I'll stick with the ordinary stuff.

OK, jacket done:



I found a bit more detail on the jacket than I thought there was at first, so I'll partially take back my earlier comments about the quality of the kit. It's had two coats of Daler Rowney matt varnish, but is still quite shiny, so I'll wait for the arrival of a new bottle before giving it another coat.

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

Dainties, very nice, much appreciated, my duff knee hasn't helped the weight this year!

Camp coffee too, that's a blast from the past.

Herman is shaping up, though the gas mask is still an unusual sight when I sign into the blog.

Your faces are just so striking, not seeing one, is still quite odd.

Good party too,

Have a good day with th epaint

Regards

Steve H

[Guest]

Morning Steve

Hope the lighter fare is to your liking.

I was keen to see if my approach to the whole figure would change without the face being the focus. Not sure that it has, and I think you are instantly drawn to the mask anyway, though the result is slightly disturbing at first. I was watching a repeat of Andrew Graham-Dixon's series on German art earlier in the week and this Otto Dix image came up:



The masks here are like death heads and the effect is menacing and nightmarish. The pose of my figure negates that impression, but I hope to be able to capture some of that feeling.

[Jim R]

Morning Peter
All this talk of pies, cucumber sarnies, dainties and strange coffee - thought I was on a Heston Bloomingheck site.
Jacket looks excellent and I agree with all the others that the gas mask is a real eyecatcher.
Jim

[Guest]

Hi Jim - All this food talk just makes me fell hungry...

The main part of the figure is done now:



I attached him to the base at this stage so that the weathering could be matched up.

[Richard48]

Ooo thats a treat for the eyes Peter.Very nicely done my friend.Looking good.
Richard

[Guest]

Oh dear, sorry Richard, I've binned it.

There were a number of problems that made me fall out of love with this one. Firstly, despite four coats of matt varnish the jacket was still very shiny and the only solution would have been to strip it down and repaint it. Given the delicate nature of the plastic and the fact that the belt would probably need to be remade, I felt it wasn't really an option.

Secondly, you may have noticed that I've tried to hide the feet in the foliage. The boots were pretty badly disfigured by mould lines, and although I made new laces, my efforts weren't really up to scratch and they ended up looking terrible. I tried to swap them for somthing from the spares box, but nothing really fitted.

Thirdly, and I suppose overall, I just didn't think the sculpt was good enough, and given that the face was covered, it needed to have a lot more going for it. I also hated the weathering I'd done - didn't really work.

Not a total disaster, as I still have all of the equipment, ready to have another go at some point.

I'm going to have a go out some more busts I think.....

[SteveH]

Morning Peter

I have to agree with you about Herman, he really wasn't coming together as a conduit for your undoubted painting skills and style.

Its a good decision, and another bust will get you back on track.

Have a good day with the paints.

Regards

Steve H

[Guest]

Glad you could see it too Steve. Not wasted time though - we always live and learn.

[Steve Jones]

When you say you have binned it - do you actually throw it all away or do you keep it for spares, later projects etc??