Dragon ACW Union Inf (1 Viewer)

[blaster]

Anyone seeing the title of this thread would be thinking steam punk 28mm etc. Blaster's gone off his rocker.

No such luck. I did a lot of soul searching (actually spring cleaning foisted on me by my stronger half) and arranged more stuff into neat Ziploc bags. Some of you with syllogomania disorder should try this sometime

Anyway, I had purchased this Dragon limited run 1/32 scale ACW Union infantry set many boxes ago and was cutting up the box and stuffing what I had assembled into neat Ziploc bags. I then decided to try to actually complete the assembly of one of these figures to see if it would fit into my current concept of the figure collection. Figure looked like a nice size but I decided to try to improve the figure in little ways, such as substituting a Wolf Miniature musket for the plastic musket.

 

[blaster]

I must have been sniffing the glue. I decided to assemble ALL the figures. Generally the poses are not bad. I decided to make some changes to the figures to try to relieve the "sameness" of the sculpts. Wolf Miniatures muskets were substituted for the plastic offerings. I will be adding real straps to cover up the horrible moulded on straps.

 

[Hazebrouck]

Hi Victor,

I have a couple of those kits. They aren't too bad but I agree with you about the moulding of the details- they lack definition.

Looking at 1/35 forums the keen guys tend to go around all the details with a fine blade and 'undercut' the features, which seems to work well. A Historex figure here-

http://www.armorama.com/modules.php...le=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=241862&page=1

I made one about ten years ago. I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time but he turned out like a Britains Deetail figure:smile2:

Scott

 

[blaster]

Hi Scott,

Nice looking figure. I am surprised that the plastic gun is still intact after all these years!..

I think that "overlaying" with sheet metal is easier than carving away the undercuts. Especially for these Dragon figures, the moulded straps appear to be recessed on the body. Overlaying makes the straps stand out in this case.

I note something slightly odd about these figures. They have large 1/32 bodies with small 1/32 heads and hands, a pre-Zika phenomenon.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I decided to substitute Shenandoah heads for these figures. The Shenandoah heads are better sculpted and marginally larger and fits better proportionally with the bodies. As I only have the Afro-American heads set, these figures will represent a line of 54th Massachusetts State Militia. Notice that I have to resculpt the fingers around the musket for the 2nd figure from the left.

 

[blaster]

I sculpted the necks. Also added putty to some of the elbow joints which were too rounded. I've started to knock up a suitable base using driftwood pieces.

 

[blaster]

The base.

 

[blaster]

Just to create some variation in the order of dress, for example, on the figure loading his musket, I have shortened the trouser legs to represent folded up trousers. Some putty will be added later. On the figure biting at the cartridge, the trouser legs have been tucked into the socks.

I have added metal strips to represent the cartridge straps. These were generally tucked under the waist belt to stop the cartridge box flopping around. The figures were now given a basic coat of paint before I add the metal strips for the haversacks.

 

[blaster]

I added some folded trouser cuffs to one of the figures. The haversacks and cartridge pouches were now painted black. I will be sculpting the US plate on the cartridge belt next for all the figures.

 

[sprueman]

Great work....really like the action in your modifications

 

[blaster]

Hi Sprueman,

thx for your kind comments. I really didn't do much more than delineate what is already a fine set of well-sculpted figures. It's still a WIP and I will be holding my breath...

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I took out this old unfinished project and have started to complete it. It helps that I had done a good spring cleaning of my stash and work area. So being more organised, I seem to be more productive.

Glued on the thin canteen strap made of lead strips. Resculpted some of the trousers. Then carefully added the muskets from Shenandoah miniatures. These are excellent pieces.

I fixed each figure onto a temporary wood base for painting. Added sergeant stripes to one of the figures.

 

[blaster]

Figures being painted in oils. Here is one of them.

 

[blaster]

The figures are being finalised.

I improved on the proposed base for this piece. At the same time, I also worked on another base with grass foliage added for another future project.

 

[blaster]

Foliage was added to the base. The figures were attached and glued. This piece is nearly done. Some touch up and final painting to go.

 

[blaster]

I added a little more groundwork to the base and tightened up the painting.