Some years ago my brother started investigating our Grandfather’s war record. Thomas Merryweather served in the Royal Garrison Artillery during World War One and he was present at the Somme, amongst other events. His unit, 100 Siege Battery, was equipped with the 6 inch 26 cwt Howitzer. He had already served 14 years from a boy in the Royal Navy as a gunner when he joined up at the age of 32. He died before we were born so we never knew him. As some may have guessed his picture is my avatar.
This is 299 Siege Battery RGA in 1918- what a motley bunch they are!
My brother Dave is a professional prop-maker for the movies (he made the C3PO outfit for The Force Awakens, among many other impressive things) and he decided to create a CAD model of the howitzer with a view to 3D printing one at 1/32 scale for each of us three brothers. I pointed out that there was already one in 1/35 scale (by Resicast, I think) but he wanted to do it anyway, so 1/32 scale it is. He asked me to sculpt some crew figures, naturally including our Grandad.
Well this idea has been bouncing around for a couple of years and Dave took his time building the CAD model, so I took my time getting started on the figures, although I did the research right away, because I do like that kind of thing.
The 6” Howitzer officially had a crew of 10, but in practice this was often reduced to 6 or7.
We don’t know for sure but we believe our grandfather was no 3, on the sights. I have a composition in mind, loosely based on this picture
No 3 is on the left.
I decided to sculpt the figures from scratch with the original intention that we might market them. But since exploring that with my AFS bust I’ve gone right off that idea. There is just a faint hope that some manufacturer might be interested in them (I have discussed it with one, but then COVID happened, so who knows?), so I will not use any commercially available parts in order to avoid copyright issues, and as we want 3 sets I will optimise them for moulding anyway.
Since Dave hadn’t finished the gun itself I started on a stand-alone figure as a means of ‘getting my eye in’. I always find it takes a couple of goes to get properly into the groove and I am using a new material – Bees Putty, so I expect I will need a bit of a learning curve.
I am starting with no 8, carrying a shell, based on this picture. They are all going to be scruffy oiks….
It’s not intended to be definitive, everyone has their own way of doing things- and it’s an experiment for me anyway, but hopefully anyone who is interested in starting to sculpt will be able to pick up some useful tips.
It’s probably going to be another epic
This is 299 Siege Battery RGA in 1918- what a motley bunch they are!
My brother Dave is a professional prop-maker for the movies (he made the C3PO outfit for The Force Awakens, among many other impressive things) and he decided to create a CAD model of the howitzer with a view to 3D printing one at 1/32 scale for each of us three brothers. I pointed out that there was already one in 1/35 scale (by Resicast, I think) but he wanted to do it anyway, so 1/32 scale it is. He asked me to sculpt some crew figures, naturally including our Grandad.
Well this idea has been bouncing around for a couple of years and Dave took his time building the CAD model, so I took my time getting started on the figures, although I did the research right away, because I do like that kind of thing.
The 6” Howitzer officially had a crew of 10, but in practice this was often reduced to 6 or7.
We don’t know for sure but we believe our grandfather was no 3, on the sights. I have a composition in mind, loosely based on this picture
No 3 is on the left.
I decided to sculpt the figures from scratch with the original intention that we might market them. But since exploring that with my AFS bust I’ve gone right off that idea. There is just a faint hope that some manufacturer might be interested in them (I have discussed it with one, but then COVID happened, so who knows?), so I will not use any commercially available parts in order to avoid copyright issues, and as we want 3 sets I will optimise them for moulding anyway.
Since Dave hadn’t finished the gun itself I started on a stand-alone figure as a means of ‘getting my eye in’. I always find it takes a couple of goes to get properly into the groove and I am using a new material – Bees Putty, so I expect I will need a bit of a learning curve.
I am starting with no 8, carrying a shell, based on this picture. They are all going to be scruffy oiks….
It’s not intended to be definitive, everyone has their own way of doing things- and it’s an experiment for me anyway, but hopefully anyone who is interested in starting to sculpt will be able to pick up some useful tips.
It’s probably going to be another epic
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