dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Nov 5, 2018 20:03:21 GMT
Time for me to do another little sculpting project from me :-) This time I was inspired by this video from Landvaettr's Lair (he does some very nice stuff, if you haven't visited his channel), where he does bone piles. His trick for rib cages had to sit in my head for a few days, but a plan developed ;-) A Reaper Bones mini for rough scale and some copper wire led to this: The rib cage is made with the technique from the video and then I twisted a bent over piece of the same copper wire around the back of the cage to act as the spine. It has a couple of twists above the cage and maybe three or so below. To keep the cage and the bit of wire I have for arms i place I used some solder. I have a small soldering iron, but mostly I just took a small kitchen "blowtorch" (the kind for caramelizing sugar on desserts) to the copper wire to heat it while holding the pieces in place with a small gadget (3rd hand) with a couple of clamps on adjustable arms. Once the copper was warmed up the solder beaded up nicely on it - then I used the soldering iron to just clean it up a little. Just be careful - the copper gets pretty hot if you hit it with a naked flame. The plastic rod is the beginning of a great axe, which I have sculpted a bit more on here: Then I started building up a skeleton from green stuff on top of the copper wire: Then I need to get the rest of the figure covered (I'm not sure if I'll cover the ribs or just leave the copper bare there) in green stuff and sculpt a large bull skull. If I can get that done, I should be able to get something that'll look decent when painted. Plus I guess I should also try out the bone piles as shown in the video - they do look quite nice :-)
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Post by erho on Nov 5, 2018 20:05:30 GMT
Ambitious project, I'm sure you'll do great and I look forward to more pics
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Post by guillaume on Nov 6, 2018 3:05:18 GMT
some quick tips: 1) think about the paint job ,how will you paint the interior of the rib cage once the model is finished 2)don't forget the collarbones, without them you can't attach the arms to the body realistically 3) when you do squelleton the "rule" is: bone against bone is flat ,bone against air is round ,
overall you're on a good start
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Nov 6, 2018 12:26:14 GMT
Thanks for the pointers guillaume . I think I'm leaving enough space inside the cage for what I usually do with skeletons (mostly white primer + washes - turns out quite nice and is really simple), but it's something to keep in mind - especially if I try this with smaller creatures. The collar bones and hip bones are on my road map :-) I'm using an old GW skeleton for a reference of what features to include to get it "good enough".
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Post by guillaume on Nov 6, 2018 15:05:27 GMT
good^^ anoter thing: don't forget that cooper wire is very easy to file, for exemple if you need to get a better definition of the kneecap, filing the armature a lil' can prevent you to make the leg too thick
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Nov 7, 2018 10:32:38 GMT
Thanks for the tip - I was already expecting that I'd have to file and/or carve a bit in the green stuff during the process to get the shapes I want, but you're right that the copper can also be filed into if needed. And it's nice and thick*, so it should be able to take some abuse :-)
* I think it's 1.5 mm2, so that would be approx. 1.4 mm diameter if my math is still working ;-)
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Nov 10, 2018 19:40:34 GMT
I've made a nice bit of progress :-) I decided to put some green stuff on the ribs to even them out and get the surface more uniform (some of the copper was slightly bent in ways I was not fully satisfied with). I also got my first layer down on the skull. So pics: I can see lots of places where I need to add another layer of green stuff and/or carve away some - but that's OK, I want most of the armature covered (even if some places only need very little) before I try to fix all the little details. It's still hard, but I think I'm getting better at not doing too much in one go :-)
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Nov 10, 2018 19:55:49 GMT
And while I was working on my minotaur, another creature demanded to be created as well: I hope it will end up as a passable Bone Naga. The technique was simple (but slightly hard on my fingers): I used a length of the same 1.4 mm copper wire and some thin black steel wire. Then I first just twisted the steel around the copper for about 35 turns to make the tail. Then I started to use the tip of a pen to make every other turn loop out from the copper - sticking the pen in further as I went. by alternating the tight and loose twists (there are about 45 pairs of them) I got something that looks a bit like thin ribs - and they held position well enough when I started to position the wire. On the top part I just did a few tight twists to secure it. And then I've started work on a little snake skull.
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Post by tauster on Nov 10, 2018 20:41:18 GMT
What a clever way to make snake skeletons! This spontaneously ended up on my to-do list. Not sure when, but I'll eventually try that process out.
Oh, and hats off regarding your minotaur sculpting. I wouldn't have that patience, to say nothing about sculpting skill. Can't wait to see the further WIP pics!
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Post by erho on Nov 13, 2018 14:51:29 GMT
Ambitious, and a great start!
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Post by thedungeonmattster on Nov 18, 2018 5:20:13 GMT
Omg I love this! Especially that naga! Looking forward to the finished product!
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Jan 10, 2019 21:25:01 GMT
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Jan 10, 2019 21:27:04 GMT
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Post by erho on Jan 10, 2019 22:51:11 GMT
killer work on both!
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Post by Sam on Jan 11, 2019 18:28:19 GMT
These turned out wonderful. I wish I had that much skill and patience. Kudos.
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Jan 20, 2019 12:54:23 GMT
A while back I got inspired by this piece of art from the Creature Codex by Kobold Press: The Clacking Skeleton just looks cool (even if I already have a serious amount of skeletons) :-) Seeing as I need some practice sculpting, I decided to sculpt some of the parts. The legs (over a copper wire armature): And the rib cage (just a blob of green stuff with a bit of paper clip to make it easy to mount head and legs): For the rest I had some good bitz to work from - except the tail. For that I scored a pattern into a bit of copper wire and bent it into shape: He's got some shoulder plates from bits of plastic and he may get some more scraps of armor and/or cloth or leather bands or something before I move to painting. Scale-wise I used two pieces from a GW skeleton (The old (but not really old) Vampire Counts/Tomb Kings skeletons) - the legs are almost dead-on for size (except ending i hooves instead of feet), while the chest ended up a bit more bulky. But I like the result - he looks mean :-)
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dossen
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 182
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Post by dossen on Jan 20, 2019 13:01:18 GMT
I also have couple of other sculpts coming along slowly. One's an Empty Cloak - mine might end up more of a hooded coat, but it's a fun little thing to work on: And the other is a small addition to my set of beholderkin (still working up to doing an actual living beholder mini) - a Gazer: At the moment they mostly just get worked on with bits of left over green stuff.
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