The Duke of Marlborough Tradition conversion (1 Viewer)

[blaster]

Hi All,

I was working on this figure for a couple of months now. i think that I can eventually finish this figure soon so am sharing this photo essay with you.

This was recently converted from an old standing Tradition figure, stripped of paint and cut up and mounted onto a Historex horse. Why would I go through all this trouble when I can just do a conversion from Historex parts? This process allows me to refresh my collection, refurbishing old pieces and giving them a new context while preserving some aspects of the original piece. Also with improved sculpting and painting skills, each refurbishment is an improvement on an existing piece. The refurbished piece takes up the same amount of space, and I need not spend more money on new figures. Finally, the fun of doing your own unique piece is the reason why I go throught this route.

Rgds Victor



The Tradition figure looks top heavy, with an ungainly torso on two spindly legs. I plan to strip this figure of paint and convert it to a mounted figure on horseback.


The figure was stripped of paint and I decided to alter the stance from a standing to a mounted figure.

 

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More pics

 

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More pics

I sculpted the details, hair, collar, sash, fringes on the saddle etc. I added some coattails from sheet metal and later substituted historex parts for these. So far, this looks promising.

Rgds Victor

 

[theBaron]

Great project, Vic, very ambitious! The conversion to a mounted pose went very smoothly.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Hello Victor,
allways nice to see you doing some sculpting. I like this particular period in history a lot. Your sculpting is going on very well, you have captured the period hairstyle very well. Looks as you are useing Tamiya putty,- am I right?
Great stuff and to me the favourite sculpting medium. Any plans on casting the fruits of your hard labour once he is finished?
A joy to watch and follow...
kind regards
Wolfgang

 

[blaster]

Hello Brad and Wolfgang,

Thanks for your kind comments. I have to admit to enjoying this lace period too.

I use A&B putty. Previously I had used Milliput and Kneadatite but found these to be less useful for my purposes. A&B gives about 20 min of malleability following mixing, then another 20 mins of leathery hardness useful for final tweaking to make folds in clothing, etc and then, when fully hardened, can be carved.

As to plans for casting this piece, commercial people are watching... Hello Trooper, Martin...

Seriously, I have done metal castings for my own unique pieces when I need multiple parts but a lot of my pieces are one-off.

I made some minor progress on the coattails last night, modifiying the front folds to match the uniform details.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I've added putty to the inner legs to improve the seat on this figure. Also added and part sculpted the coat collars, trimmed off the waist area. The saddle fringes are completed. It looks a little rough at this stage but the overall proportions are acceptable to me.

Rgds Victor

 

[theBaron]

Great progress, Vic!

I'm using Aves Apoxie Sculpt these days, too. I like that I can mix very small batches, and the working time is still pretty good.

I have SuperSculpey, which I like, too, except that it has to be baked to cure. So I use that, when there is no other material involved that might melt, like white metal or plastic.

Looking forward to the next installment, prost!
Brad

 

[blaster]

Hi Brad,

I use Aves sculpt sparingly (I think A&B works out cheaper for me). Aves has a waxier and thus smoother texture, great for blending. I avoid baking types of putty as I always get the temperature wrong and eventually the piece will deteriorate in a few years. I used to use Milliput but A&B is superior.

Having looked at my figure, I notice that he sits too high in relation to the horse. What I intend to do is to cut him off at the waist and trim the height.

Rgds Victor

 

[Napoleon1er]

Hi,
I am breaking my usual silence to say that while I have been reading the forum at large over this last year, I have been specifically following your projects. I avidly await your threads, as they are just so fun to follow. Thank you for that.

Having looked at my figure, I notice that he sits too high in relation to the horse. What I intend to do is to cut him off at the waist and trim the height.

As to the height, I had noticed that, but wasn't going to mention it, for fear of accidentally insulting your great work.

Last thought: in my recent memory, I cannot recall you actually converting a piece. Half the time you basically sculpt it from scratch and only use the figure as an skeleton. You really should take more credit! :salute::

Regards,
Sandor

 

[blaster]

Dear Sandor,

Thank you for following these threads and that very nice compliment. I'll post some original sculpts on a separate thread shortly.

So I halved poor old JC (John Churchill - Marlborough becomes tedious to keep on typing...) and reduced him by about half a cm. When I repositioned him, I decided to have him lean back a little to create some dynamism into this piece.

As I liked the new pose, I also decided to snip off the horse head and reposition it forward and upwards, to create a counterpoise. The saddle holsters were knocked up from plastic scraps and cut aluminium tubing. I had stuck them on the horse and then removed them to have the horse's neck repositioned.

I also went to work on the fetlocks with my new pyrogravure toy.

JC's hat is bothering me. the very angular tricorne is at odds with my references which show a round hat and brim turned up gently. I am tempted to replace this as well. Might as well go the distance.

Rgds Victor

 

[Napoleon1er]

I like the leaning pose and the head turn- I can see the look you are going for. It almost looks like a pointing pose or like he could be holding a map and telescope.... As to the tricorn, I actually don't think it looks bad (I just finished with a weekend of reenacting, so I have been looking at 'em for a while." On the other hand, "Why not?" I say go for it! If I were doing it, I would try t make an actual round hat and they fold up the brim myself, maybe using thin lead for the brim and putty for the dome and trim. Now for my criticism :rolleyes2:: I think your height problem is not with the figure. That horse may simply not be tall enough or have a long enough neck and big enough head. I don't know anything about horses or anatomy, so take that with a grain of salt ^&grin.

 

[blaster]

Hello Sandor,

Thanks for looking and commenting. The figure's height is about as compact as I think visually acceptable. The horse's head was too low initially and the problem was created mainly by the height of the saddle itself. Hence I've lowered the figure, heightened the horse's head and may consider shaving some height off the saddle itself. As for the horse's head, I had initially thought that it looked a little small but hhen I added ears to the horse head, it looked good so I will adjust accordingly. I think that the visual effect is also exacerbated by the neck and mane which has not been done yet.

The more I look at that hat when compared to my references, the more I will have to do something with it....

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

I removed the tricorne hat entirely and replaced it with a brim of copper sheet. The legs were cut off and lengthened. The right side of the cloak is being resculpted with copper sheet to hang down. The left side will accomodate a sword scabbard.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

The figure was given a basic wash of colour, just to get a feel for the composition. The horse has had cheeks added, and the left front foot has been enlarged.

 

[blaster]

Hi All,

I picked up this figure over the weekend and decided to substitute the horse's head and neck. The front quarters were also built up and the mane was added to mask the neck joint to the saddle. This change seems to produce a more majestic-looking animal. The Duke himself has had his legs shortened and his seat lowered. The back of the coat skirts were removed and rebuilt to accommodate this.

Rgds Victor

 

[blaster]

The coat skirts were trimmed back. I sculpted feathers to the hat brim. I added the pistol holsters and reposed the figure on the horse.

 

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The pistol holsters are taking shape. I finalised the feather trim on the hat and the waist coat has been added.

 

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I added some putty to bulk up the legs.

 

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Added a horse tail.