White Ape of Barsoom--Update (3)

The fairing and blending and fine detailing of the hair continues. Fairing of the right half of the face/scalp is all but done; and both ears have been sculpted in their new apical location.

The forearms have been tentatively fitted, but yet to be permanently attached. As the club would prove to be major annoyance, if not outright hindrance, during painting, I have removed it proximal to the gripping hands, and hollowed the latter. I will rebuild an attachment peg, probably reinforced with wire.

Movin' right along. . .

UPDATE - 16.08.11. . . The forearms have been fitted. This required some rearrangement of the coiffure, but all for the better. The club has been pegged and fitted.

Getting close. . .

UPDATE - 17.08.11. . . The forearms have been permanently attached. . . Let the finishing begin!

White Ape of Barsoom--Update (2)

The "unruly shock of wiry hair" is all-but-done and permanently attached.

Re: the latter. The coiffure is being done in three stages: stage 1 was done is SSFine ; stage 2 was done in MS. The "wig", if you will, was then permanently attached; which brings us to stage 3: fairing and blending and fine detailing.

Baba Yaga - Converting SM's Nibaba

The other day I was discussing what-we-do with my lady, and she brought-up the topic of Baba Yaga and why a figure had not been done of this archetype of Eastern European folklore. She then pondered why Smart Max had deviated so drastically from her usual depiction in their release of Nibaba.

Why indeed? I'm in no position to account for the enigmatic design; however, what I can do is make Baba Yaga from Nibaba!

The figure was designed and sculpted by the very talented Allan Carrasco. The kit is comprised of 8 pieces + base, superbly cast in the grey-green PUR preferred by Smart Max. I will use 6 of the eight pieces in this conversion project, discarding the base and the oaken "legs" of Nibaba.

To date, the figure portion of the project calls for the sculpting of the lower half of Baba Yaga (pelvic girdle and thighs roughed-in); making a mortar (now cast; hollowing and detailing to come) and pestle, and silver birch broom; and resculpting the right hand.

More to follow. . . !

UPDATE - 28.08.11. . . The lower half of BY is now completely roughed in: all that remains to be done is "lock" the pose and "putty"-out the soles of the feet; but that will have to wait until the mortar is completed.

While the right hand will be resculpted, after mulling the matter over, I am not sure if will be a resculpt or an extensive modification: I might simply modify the limb to take the form of a natural silver birch broom. . . A deviation from the canon that might work quite nicely. . .

White Ape of Barsoom--Update

Well, the Rubicon has been crossed. . .

The Barsoomian White Ape has been tentatively fitted to the core element of the groundwork.

By way of prologue, the setting of this piece has occupied my thoughts for quite some time. Not only that, but how to go about it!? After much deliberation, and not a few mock-ups, I finally decided on Pegasus' Gothic Rubble #2, which I got for a VERY good price. I will be using the left half of the section on the left in the image. The overall effect is damn near perfect!

Back to the bench!!!

White Ape of Barsoom--Graphic Interlude

Just a "sneak-peek" to give you an idea of where the project is going. . .



By way of notes, the lower left canine is broken off by design. Aside from the upper forearms (w/ club!) the unruly, wiry shock of hair has yet to be added.

Movin' right along. . .

Tars Tarkas -- Prepwork (2): The Harness

As I mentioned in the introduction to, and the review of, this bust, the Barsoomian war harness is virtually the only article of clothing worn by a Martian warrior, regardless of "race".

I will be the first to admit that I have yet to conceptualize the "small" picture of a Thark war harness. I know what it looks like (what I want it to look like) from "afar", but the details are very vague--at best. Part of the problem is a dependence on the source material, in spite of the dearth of details as provided by ERB.

I have just concluded roughing-in the right shoulder strap of the harness. A design I keep coming back to is a pared-down, open- backed version of a kataginu, in leather of course. Aside from liking the esthetics of the look, it will add depth and an added dimension to the bust.

More to follow. . .

Red Skull #3--Prepwork, Phase 1 completed

The arms have been fitted and await the fine tuning/finishing. Very pleased and a significant improvement on the overall dynamics of the figure. Not quite out of the woods yet, but the heavy undergrowth is thinning-out noticeably!

And the "crotch seam" has been filled and faired. This effectively concludes Phase 1 of the prepwork--all that remains to be done is the general clean-up, which as I mentioned in the review, is minimal.

Phase 2, the namesake, will commence shortly. . .

Tars Tarkas -- Prepwork (1a)

Just a quick one to bring the readership up-to-date. . .

Reduction of the harness has begun in earnest. . . I figure I'm about half-way there. Next step will be to reduce it to its scale thickness while beginning to work-in the stress-work in the leather and the tension drapery.

More to follow. . .

Red Skull #3--Into the breach. . .

It was a short lived honeymoon; but to look on the bright side, at least there was one!

I stand by my original review. Having said that, there is a world of difference between good castings and good fit! The castings are undeniably exquisite. The fit? Not so much. And save for a shrinkage differential between the torso and the arms, there is no apparent distortion.

Today, I removed the sword's scabbard mount, and assembled the legs, and the torso to the same. I now have a headless and armless figure before me. There is a significant gap (~1mm) along the entire mid-seam of the breeches, front to back. Yes, this could have been addressed by reducing the respective contact surfaces, but that would have compromised the fit of the torso.

The torso's fit to the legs unit was less than precise in the absence of a "key". Still, not a bad join with but a minimal fill along the back of the waist, below the belt. The main problem, as alluded to above, will be with the arms. These simply do not fit well, with the torso shrink- ing more than the limbs, and the right arm shrinking more than the left. I have yet to see a build-up that tackles this glaring issue, much less make mention of it.

I have yet to decide on how to approach this. Unfortunately, due to some poor judgement on the design of the hands, I can not remove the hands, hollow-out the sleeves, and model wrist stumps. Since the back of the right hand will be inaccessible to paint once the arm is mounted, the grief is compounded. . .

On the plus side, the separately cast cap fits the head like a glove! PERFECT!!

More to follow. . .

UPDATE - 04.08.11. . . After countless dry-fittings, burnishing contact surfaces, trimming mounting keys. . . you name it!. . . I decided that the only way to effectively take care of the "arm pro- blem" is to tackle it "old school". In other words, carefully fitting first one arm (I elected to start with the left as it would take two sessions at most), and then the next. I should be done with the left arm tonight; hopefully I'll be done with the right arm over the weekend. The right arm is a little more involved, as the sleeve will have to be substantially shimmed. . . as will the tunic upon which it rests.

Ah. . . the joys of figure painting!

Red Skull #3--Andrea's Reinhard Heydrich

I started my first full-figure rendition of the Red Skull just three weeks-shy of a year ago. Now, I have an ip bust and full-figure on the bench, soon to be joined by what will be my last dance with Herr Johann. . .

I have just received Andrea Miniatures' 90mm rendition of Reinhard Heydrich in 1937. You can well imagine my trepidation regarding this acquisition--especially given my past experiences with this manufacturer, and my experience with this project's immediate precursor. BUT. . . the uniform and pose are exactly what I was seeking, and the price was right. Nothing ventured. . . nothing gained.

This figure was released in June, 2007, the first in the manufacturer's 90mm "The Third Reich -- Rise & Fall" series. Admittedly, a strange choice for a series, to say nothing of a premiere subject! Regardless, Andrea has released some real gems in this series, and if my sample of Heydrich is any indication of what a miniaturist can expect, then they will not feel at all short-changed!

On the whole, this is an EXCELLENT kit! The castings (8 pcs. + base) are a throwback (comeback?) to happier times: Andrea at its best! On a historical note, I don't believe that the boxart, or any number of the build-ups on the Web, do justice to the portraiture of Heydrich. It is actually quite good! The detail is crisp throughout, most notably on the sword, which I will regrettably not include in my conversion.

As to the project, fairly straight OOB! Some slight mods to the left leg to delete the belting associated with the sword; tweaking of decorations, etc.; and - of course - remodelling the head and adding the cigarette holder.

I will start clean-up (VERY little to be done) and assembly in short order, but this is a Fall project.

Stay tuned!

Tars Tarkas -- Prepwork (1)

The more I handle and study this figure, the more I like it!

To date, I have done two things:

• Lowered the height of the pedestal. Whether by coincidence or design, Andrew thoughtfully marked-off three tiers at the business end of the pedestal. This is a rather large bust, and being solid-cast resin, relatively heavy. Handling weight is not a concern; "display weight" is: the figure could be somewhat top-heavy. So I simply cut off the first "tier", thus lowering the figure on its pedestal. I might go for second reduction once the mods are completed.
• I have roughed-in the front main section of the Thark war harness. I haven't finished the design of the harness yet, but I needed something more palpable than a 2-d'al sketch to work out the details. So the roughly-shaped MS harness is now curing on the figure: once completely cured, I will sketch out the areas to be reduced and then pop-it off the figure. The harness will be constructed in at least four pieces.

And that is it for now. More to follow. . .

FOLLOW-UP . . . With the harness section cured, I pegged it to the figure in situ using 1/16" brass tubing. The harness was then popped off the bust, and placed in the oven to "hard cure". I then counter-sunk the exposed ends of the tubing, checked the fit, and started marking off the areas to be reduced. So far, so great!

White Ape of Barsoom--Prepwork: Phase (2)

The right hand has been pegged (to serve double-duty as the figure's mounting peg) and positioned, though not "locked"; and our subject is now sporting a new set of much more impressive canines.

So much for the latest, already-announced "news". What is most noteworthy is that I am in the finishing phases of the musculature! This has really been a relatively painless--and yes, enjoyable!-- process. Given my current workload, I am guess-timating that this piece will be all-but-ready for priming in about 4 weeks!

I'll see if I can throw some images up in the next week or so. . .

Movin' right along!

Notable Acquisitions July 2011

KITS
Smart Max kit of Mister Honk (Allan Carrasco, 1/35th scale)

REFERENCES
Captain America: The Art of Captain America - The First Avenger