Jean Vingeanne - Intermezzo: The Gun

As some of you might have gathered from the postings to-date, the gun is arguably the most pro- blematic aspect of this kit. I am completely on-board with the fact that this is an alien trapped sometime at the turn of the 19th c.; but unless his weapon is some sort of field-issue for alien SR teams made to appear like an Earth weapon, then we are faced with serious problems. Before listing the perceived issues, I would point out that this problem arose in the design of the model, not in the source illustration.

In no particular order. . .

• The length of the gun. While Watt's gun is admittedly over-sized, it is still plausible. The hyper-exaggerated length of the kit weapon is problematic in any number of ways:
  • implausible
  • distracting
  • potential production issues
  • etc.
• The lock. This is where everything goes wonky: 
• The lock is on the left side of the gun. To quote Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny: "Oh yeah. . . you blend!"
• At first glance, it appears to be a some sort of flintlock--but with no flint, no jaws, no pan. The original design is more suggestive of an early caplock, but little if any of this was translated in the 3d rendering.
• The lock appears top be bolted to a sheet of . . . sheet of what???--; not inset in the stock itself.

• In the interest of complete candor, the barrel is obviously hemispherical. Hopefully, enough diversionary details and paint can camouflage this "eyesore"; but there was/is no way I was/am going to rebuild the entire gun!

I will hopefully be able to "illustrate" the corrective work done to bring this firearm "down to Earth"!

Jean Vingeanne - Prep & Assembly (4)

The forthcoming release of the latest Assassin's Creed game (Unity--no, I'm not a gamer; but I love the artwork!) got me thinking once again of ol' Jean Vingeanne. . . 

And today I began assembly on the gun! The only piece left to permanently attach is the assem- bled two pieces of the main barrel to the lock/stock section. UPDATE 10.08.2014 - DONE! This concludes the "pre-prep" on the gun: the work can now begin in earnest!! 

I also noticed a few areas on the torso that will require additional putty-work, but these are more at design tweaks than any real changes and/or enhancements.

At this time, I can't say if this piece will work its way into the Fall lineup, but. . . Stay tuned!

Jean Vingeanne - Prep & Assembly (3)

Make that approximately 1/3 of the kit! Which of course means that the legs have been filled and [nearly] finished.

I have begun final assembly of the great coat, and the right half of the coat is now done. While there might be a little bit of cleaning remaining - primarily on the right sleeve, the sleeve and lapel have been permanently attached and filled!

I have also found out why Michael elected to attach the lapels after permanently attaching the pants to the trunk: it is an uncomfortably tight fit! And I don't even have of the obstruction of the left lapel to deal with yet! This will be examined at greater length in the days to come, and I am nearly certain of a satisfactory solution. Worse comes to worse, I have one attached, and the left lapel will be an after-the-fact add-on.

There are now but two remaining pieces to be attached before final pre-prime finishing can begin: the left arm and lapel. Stay tuned!

FOLLOW-UP 08.06.2013. . . The lapel situation has been resolved! Actually, save for some care- ful, measured reduction of some assembly and mold seams, as well as tweaking the added shims, there was nothing to be done! I will have to be quite careful in how I join the left lapel to the coat, but once in place, it should not be an issue. WHEW!

And as a sidebar note, the prepwork on the gun fittings is all-but-done! Once the barrel sections have been cleaned, assembly can begin!!

UPDATE 09.06.2013. . . The left lapel is now permanently attached and filled. Once the left arm is attached and filled, final pre-prime finishing can begin.

Jean Vingeanne - Prep & Assembly (2)

As of this writing, I have now assembled 25% of the kit: the five pieces comprising the Legs unit subassembly; and the collar to the coat.

As I might have mentioned earlier, the trailing edges of pieces (e.g., the gartered ends of the culottes; the tongues of the shoes) are rather thick. Though these would not detract significantly if left as is, I decided to reduce the trailing edges to a more in-scale thickness. Depending on how far it is taken, this may require a bit of filling of the exposed join seam (e.g., ankle seam where it joins to the shoe). Well worth it, afaic.

Before closing, I would like to mention that I used gel CA glue to attach the stockinged shins to the culottes. As there is some play in the join, especially after reducing the thickness of ends of the culottes, I decided on the gel to afford me extended work time to ensure a natural fit with no drip to contend with. 

NEXT: I will complete cleaning and finishing the Legs unit before moving on to the Great Coat subassembly.

Stay tuned!

Jean Vingeanne - The Sub-assemblies

What prompted this posting was reading Michael's comments on the iM Facebook page re: his buildup of Freaky Gothic:

. . . I need to do the pants first because they need to be inserted into the coat before attaching the long collar parts, and it's easier to paint this way.

To each his own--and let me be the first to say that one's AvP (assembly vs. painting, not Alien vs. Predator! ) depends much on the quality of one's casting. 

Michael may be able to attach the lapels after the pants are attached, but I certainly couldn't (casting flaw) -- nor would I want to! Unless you have a perfect, seamless--did I say PERFECT?-- fit, why would you want to risk marring the painted surface. . . or at best getting it dirty with resin-dust, etc.? And the pants will be in the way of the inside of the greatcoat tails!

My AvP strategy for this kit is as follows (in painting order):

1. Great coat unit  (including both forearms)
2. Legs unit
3. Head
4. R Gauntlet
5. L Gauntlet
6. Gun
7. Groundwork

Needless to say, I am anxious to see what Michael does with his. . . 

Jean Vingeanne - Prep & Assembly (1-C)

I am happy to report another busy day. . . Had to squeeze 'em in while the getting was good, 'cause the rest of the week looks pretty dismal, what with month-end, etc.

The day was once again spent with the Rhino, and my favorite Martian of the moment. Not much to report on the former, more at touching-up and cleaning-up before moving on to the next phase. And I did put out feelers for the display base. . .

Re: the latter, most of the prep putty-work is now completed. I built-up several areas that were paper-thin--literally: these will not be seen (mostly), and it was primarily done for peace of mind during painting and mounting. Once safely in a display cabinet, it would not have been an issue; but, they were so thin that even a glancing blow could have disastrous consequences. In short, better safe than sorry.

As a brief aside, I regularly hold cast pieces up to my worklight before commencing the Prep phase to make sure that the piece is sufficiently dense throughout. If it is, just a few seconds lost. If it isn't, this is the time to do something about it! 

And, finally, the right arm is shimmed and located. As I indicated, this concludes most of the fitting putty work on this piece. All that remains to be done is final assembly of the subassemblies and finishing, and the one or two scratchbuilt items I have planned. . . 

Until next time. . .

Monday wrap-up. . .

A productive day. . .

Jean Vingeanne

• Left arm shimmed and located
• Prepwork begun on forearms and gauntlets

The Rhino

• Face all-but-done save for eyes
• Work continued on groundwork

Sunday night wrap-up. . .

Progress continued to be made well into the night. . .

Jean Vingeanne

• Scaphocephalic head shape roughed-in.

The Rhino

• Secondary horn completed in situ
• Feet completed
• Left hooves added
• Groundwork tapped to accept foot pegs

iM's "Freaky Gothic" - Prep & Assembly (1-B)

I have added cross-belts across the chest, and have fitted the left lapel to ensure a seamless fit. Once that is cured, I will continue working my way down the lapel tweaking the fit with MS shims until it is just right.

Some of you might be wondering why I decided to add cross-belts to such a well-"landscaped" and relatively small area. The cross-belts are a characteristic piece of equipment of the character I am depicting, and they just so happen to fit rather nicely in period military dress.

Hint: the subject's name is Jean Vingeanne. . . Going forward, the post title will bear this name.  

That's it for now. More to follow soon. . . 

iM's "Freaky Gothic" - Prep & Assembly (1-A)

The right lapel, the more difficult of the two, is now fitted and I'm through about 90% of the clean-up of the same.

I am real curious to see how others (especially the gk'ers) will approach this item. The fit of my particular sample left something to be desired. I had to shim two major sections with MS and recreate a more suitable transition between the lapel and the pants. Obviously, nothing that we don't do in some fashion on virtually every figure that lands on our benches; but this is definitely not a "shake and bake" figure. On the plus side, it is now a seamless fit.

The next major area to be shimmed is the left arm: the fit is just not right. Once this is done, most of the major assembly prepwork will be completed, and I can begin to focus on clean-up and assembling subassemblies. 

As I mentioned earlier, the beautifully-cast bicorne will not be used; instead, I plan to replace it with a bonnet rouge. This will not only introduce some colour, but it will "suggest" something alien.

That's it for now. More to follow soon. . . 

iM's "Freaky Gothic" - Prep & Assembly (1)

I REALLY DO LIKE THIS KIT!!!

As I mentioned in my review, there certainly are issues that must be dealt with; but, they are no worse. . . check that, they are significantly easier to deal with than some of my more recent experiences. In fact, it is ironic that some of my recent travails have provided an excellent preparation for some of the testier areas of the current project.

To date, I have assembled about 10% of the kit: R leg and shoe; and collar to the coat. These are virtually no-fill assemblies provided you don't rush it and adequately prepare the mating surfaces.

I have also begun to plot out my personal take on this kit. As I indicated earlier, the bicorne, the pipe, and the pistol will not be part of my rendition. I have also shortened, based on Calum's original concept art, what I will refer to throughout as the "wall gun". The way the gun was engineered, it lends itself quite readily to this type of modification: while I ultimately decided against it, I briefly entertained converting it to a carbine!

Speaking of the gun, the only real disappointment of this kit is in the lock mechanism! At first glance, it appears to be a some sort of flintlock; but the original design is more suggestive of an early caplock. Regardless, as the devil is in the details, most of the work on this project will revolve around the gun.

All in all, a good start! Back to the bench. . .

iM's "Freaky Gothic" (1/8th scale)

Michael was kind enough to let me know that my order of this highly-anticipated kit shipped on Monday and I am delighted to announce that it is now in my hands (issue 23/50, Edn 1)!!!

The subject was Inspired and based on original concept art (2005) by Calum Alexander Watt, and was 3D-sculpted by David Richardson, the man responsible for DWC's Judge Dredd."Freaky Gothic" was apparently Mr. Watt's title for this piece, and "he was some sort of alien trapped sometime in the 1800's." Well, if I might indulge my historical leanings, I would narrow it down to the half century between 1790 and 1840. But I digress. . .

Presentation is top notch! While the box itself is of a lighter weight than we might expect, this is absolutely not an issue provided the shipping box is sturdy enough--and mine certainly was! Moving on to the contents, Michael's packaging is exemplary! The contents are carefully bagged and wrapped in bubble-wrap, and the pipe is taped to a sturdy cardboard backer to avoid the inevitability of Mr. Murphy.

The kit is comprised of 25 for-the-most-part exquisitely cast pieces, including the base: you can see the kit breakdown here. Note: the breakdown only shows 24 pieces; this is the extra piece...


While the kit virtually builds itself (the engineering and production design is inspired! FYI--the height from soles to eyes is 8.5"/~215mm), my issue falls significantly short of being hassle-free. Firstly, there are at least four instances of problematic mold shift--one of them straight down the shorter barrel section of the "wall gun". Nothing that a little patience and careful planning / execution won't readily correct, but it will certainly challenge the skills of less-experienced figure modellers.

There is also a problem with incomplete fills along the thinner sections of the lapels, the knee closures of the culottes, etc. While there are a myriad of ways to address the issues, care must be taken not to exacerbate the problem by breaking through the paper-thin backing that is there. It might be problematic for a less-experienced--or heavy-handed!--miniaturist.

Before closing, I can honestly deem this kit "HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!" The concept and design are brilliant; and the casting, save for the noted exceptions, is excellent. But I would say that a slightly above-average level of modelling experience will come in quite handy if confronted with the unexpected.

And finally. . . Finishing options run the gamut!! I am quite anxious to see everyone's take on this ET!!! In the meantime, I have a pretty good idea of what I am going to do. . .

Stay tuned. . . 'cause this figure is now right next to Frank on the bench, and, along with Frank, is slated for completion for early next year!! And just to stoke your curiosity, the magnificently cast(!) bicorne, the pipe, and the pistol will not be part of my rendition. . .