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Eehaw!!, a Donkey, a Bedouin and a Snake vignette

rtfoe

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Hi All,
...the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end... either way I have to finish this build. It all started way back in 2018 when I had an idea for an Africa Korp dio and then it stalled so I had another brilliant idea, I thought at the time to separate the donkey, Bedouin and add a snake to a vignette. My fingers started to itch so I guess my mojo got fired up which brings us to this thread...instead of continuing where I left off and the fact that most of the modifying and scratching both the figures are in minute size in the old postings, I will start from the beginning and pick out just parts where these two individuals are featured. Please bare with me as I sift through and gradually plonk the build piece by piece.

Here goes...
We will start with the Bedouin whereby the base figure came from the Dragon Fallschirmjager. Donkey as pack mules for the Bedouin was sourced from the same kit.
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The figure was assembled and pose tweaked to get the most extreme twist to the body and head as I wanted the Bedouin to really look like he was to pull the donkey.
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As for the Bedouin I scraped off as much of his clothing and cap. Then I used Magic Sculpt and worked on his headgear which was basically a turban that continued to wrap around his face and around the neck. It's basically a protection from the sun and sand but now has become the custom of his religious beliefs.
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At this scale and close up my sculpting is very rough...I proceeded to up my optivisor lens to work on it further.
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Only his top half above the belt has been sculpted...I thought of giving him a soft sleeveless vest next. Below is the back of his turban showing the flow of his muslin fabric like material down his shoulder.
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I shaved off his lower pants and boots and carved his feet and calves. I will make leather sandals for him to wear. I think I ought to knock his feet down to a size 7 or he'll look like a Hobbit.
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Hope you guys remember where I left off as this was new then. More later.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
I remember it well. It was superb then and it's superb now. Sculpting at that scale takes patience and skill.
 
I remember this richard , fantastic work , and how you managed to carve his feet and legs is amazing
 
Thread owner
I remember it well. It was superb then and it's superb now. Sculpting at that scale takes patience and skill.

Thanks Jim, you've always been following this build with equal patience as well. This could be the first finish of this year for me.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Count me in Wabble.Hoping to do some figures soon.
Richard

Hi Richard, good to have you here. You'll see how I transform my figures warts and all to fit the composition that I have in my head and for it to stand apart from others. My painting is so so. You'll need exceptional painting skills for commercial figures to stand out from the competition and that's why I modify my figures heavily.
Looking to see some of your figures.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
I remember this richard , fantastic work , and how you managed to carve his feet and legs is amazing

Thanks Tony, I guess carving polystyrene props for backdrops and window displays must have helped by just scaling down the carving strokes. For a barefoot soldier there isn't much choice unless I swap limbs with a Roman Legion which I don't have.
If you look closely he doesn't have all his 10 digits.😅

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Hi,
Continuation of the Bedouin...I made some progress with the Bedouin by adding putty to his lower half and roughly shaping it before it cures. I would then add more folds with a burr and powered drill.
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Obviously needs thinning down...
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I need to re-direct the folds around this area...
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After this I will be adding a sleeveless vest and working in straps around his ankles for his sandals before cutting out soles from plastic strip. Don't know if I should work in the dagger that these tribesmen carry on their belt... we'll see.
I've tidied up the folds with the burr and sanding curve files. The major area that was changed was the front...
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More next...
 

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Thread owner
I crafted the vest in three parts...the right half, back and left half. It is still curing as I type. I teased the front halves as if blown by the wind. This was done when the putty got slightly harder so it stayed in shape.

I made stitched sections with the end of a blade and used the same to do the gap at the shoulder cut outs.

I will clean up the edges when cured as any touching now would alter the look of the vest.

Pockets will be added and at this point I pushed in the folds with my toothpick. He may need leggings for his pants.
Later I cleaned up the vest and took off much of his butt...

More later...

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Well, I'm glad you're back in the driving 'seat' mate!
Steve

Hi Steve, I don't know what's under my seat but it sure is driving me with some weird mojo.

Just a little tease as of what stage I'm at...

The figures are just placed flat for now. Some improvements were done to the donkey/mule, long pants added to the Bedouin and the snake has a rough head. The base is almost there and have already printed my placard. You will notice this time that there is nothing to support the figures but just the desert so I will have to up my painting with lighting effects and shadows.
Well back to the early WIP...

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Hi,
I have moved on to covering the feet. With the extra putty I made sandal straps and eventually even the soles which I was going to do with plastic strip. They're square at the moment but when cured I will snip them into shape and sand them down.

I waited until the putty stiffened a little before shaping them around the ankle and feet.

Now he won't burn his feet...
The sandal soles have been trimmed so now my Bedouin homey has semi-covered feet.

I've added a dagger and beefed up his belt with a bulge and buckle. Might raise detail on the dagger hilt and scabbard later. The extra left over putty was used to make the straps on the rolled stowage.
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Surrounding him are items I made with the extra stuff and putty I had lying around. I'll show you later how i carved the urn.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
For some reason or other my posts doesn't show up in the new topics section even with the new title...hhmmm.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Looking good Richard. Great details especially at this scale

Thanks Jim, 1/35th scale is rather a nice scale to work with. You can get away with a lot of less detailing. Anything larger means more detailing.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Great progress.

Thank you Paul. These are old WIP's which I'm replacing with larger images so it looks very fast. I mentioned in my previous post as snails overtake me on the highway of building.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
Thread owner
Hi, some last few details on the Bedouin before we move onto the donkey...

I've beefed up the dagger with putty and scribbed detail. Needs cleaning up.
N53.jpg
A Bedouin isn't one unless he carries one of their iconic weapons...the North African or Arabian heavily inlaid Snaphaunce Lock Jezail musket. These things were handmade and usually two are never alike. Which means I don't have to worry about being accurate.
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I started with carving out a Mauser rifle...
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These rifles were very long at about 54 inches in length. So somewhere along the barrel I have to add an extension of 2 cm. Also the butt needs a bit more work.
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I didn't need to show the extension as the rifle was going to be wrapped in a blanket I made with thin Magic Sculpt. Extra left over of the putty went to the butt and flintlock...
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I wasn't satisfied with the Jezails butt stock so I mixed a tiny bead of Magic Sculpt and shaped a larger butt...
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Once the putty cured on the butt stock I refined it by sanding and shaping it smooth.

Now we can move onto the donkey.

Cheers,
Wabble
 
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