WWI German Band in Palestine (3 Viewers)

[Wolfgang_UK]

Now with the basic masters cast in resin I will start working on it tonight. I keep you posted and would be grateful for any comments along the way of changing this casting into a german bandsman in Palestine.
regards
Wolfgang

 

[PolarBear]

Wolfgang and all of you guys

Thank you for making this such an interesting and informative thread.

The whole subject of German 19th and early 20th C colonialism is a fascinating one. I have 2 figures from Wilson Edward representing German and native troops in New Guinea during WWI.

Today I discovered that the Austrian Army was also in Palestine in 1916.

Pictures:

1. Austrian Officers in the Desert Palestine 1915

2. Austrian Soldiers marching up Mount Zion in Jerusalem in 1916

3. Wilson Edward vignette of German and native soldier in New Guinea WWI

 

[PolarBear]

American Nurses working for the Ottoman Turks in WWI Palestine

The American Colony Nurses

In April 1917 , the American Colony volunteered to administer six Turkish military hospitals in Jerusalem. This offer helped to save the Colony's members from being deported after the United States joined the Allies. Izzet Pasha, the last Turkish military governor of Jerusalem, provided the nursing corps with all necessary assistance, including night passes to move freely throughout the city.

Palestine was a real international crossroads during WWI

 

[theBaron]

Now with the basic masters cast in resin I will start working on it tonight. I keep you posted and would be grateful for any comments along the way of changing this casting into a german bandsman in Palestine.
regards
Wolfgang

Servus, Wolfgang!

Your mannequins look excellent! To your question about the mods to make, I think at the least, you'd need to remove the patch pockets and replace the Knobelbecher with shoes and puttees, unless depicting a band in full dress.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Martin Tabony]

That's how I'd always read it, but I'm ready to be corrected!^&grin Jager regiments used trodeln.

Martin

That should read "Jager regiments used green trodln"

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Servus, Wolfgang!

Your mannequins look excellent! To your question about the mods to make, I think at the least, you'd need to remove the patch pockets and replace the Knobelbecher with shoes and puttees, unless depicting a band in full dress.

Prost!
Brad

Guten Tag Brad!

Just spent all of last evening removing anything that did not look like a german Bandsman in Palistine . Much more difficult than I thought it would be.
Getting the legs stripped of the boots looking equal on both left and right was a challenge. Will have to do more sanding and refineing tonight.
When that is done I will start adding puttees and start on reworking all four pockets. Counting the buttons on the pictured uniforms I realised that they all have to be redone as well since there are 6 in a row - not 5 like in the master figure. The shoulder boards need to be refined with buttons added there as well. When thaht is done I will have to add the bayonet plus the trodels. The shoes have to be reworked as well. Than I have to start working on the head - after what I have done so far "catching the right shape" I think it is almost worth an new thread.
I will post a picture or two once I have reached a new "design-stage".
Thank you for your interest
Best regards
Wolfgang

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Hello,
I spent the last couple of days working on the molds for the instruments. It proofed to be much more difficult than I thaught. Did a few test-castings on the first molds I finished. There are three more almost done and another two that need a bit more work. The master figure has received new pockets so far and the tunic was reworked to catch that 1914-look. The shoulder boards got two new bottons and the legs where carved and sanded to shape in order to receive the puttees tonight (hopefully). Work on the head/tropical helmet continued as well but with little progess so far - as I wrote earlier a dificult job to do and almost worth a thread on it's own.
regards
Wolfgang

 

[theBaron]

More excellent work, Wolfgang! You work pretty quickly.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Nothing to exciting to show yet. The moldmaking for the instruments has slowed me down. I had to re-design almost all molds and now I am far away from having them all casted . The new buttons on the uniform gave me some troubles also. I decided to use some turned miniature bolts I bought a while ago. Trouble is that they are made of a rather solid copper the shafts are about an cenitmeter long so I have to shorten these. While I was on it I felt it to be much more convineiant to have them casted in resin as well for better handling. Just finished the mold for these and I hope to get them casted tomorrow.
As I wrote casting the instruments has proofed to be a more delicate task than I thought. Attached picture shows a casting done in the first new mold.
regards
Wolfgang

P.S.
In the background you can see the finished mold for the bases containing 10 pcs in all.

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Hi,
still busy on the figures. Did a lot of trial and error testing concerning the resin- casting of parts.
Added the puttees from tinfoil (not to happy yet ) and some extra folds and shoe details out of miliput. They need cureing and I hope I will get the basic figure (ex. head) done over the weekend.
I guess I will have to get it resin casted first as well and than refine the resinmaster further - this is much easier than working on a figure composited out of various materials that might be hard to work on and most certainly can fool the eyes missing out on detail etc.
Hope to deliver more pics of some progress over the weekend - still got to do the moulds for the instruments etc.
Hope to still keep you interested
regards
Wolfgang

P.S.
Attached pics are reference to my previous posting concerning the making of "convincing" uniform buttons.
Needless to say but they can be done in vairous sizes - just need a good master and they will all be equal
Even at small scales you will notice the difference to free hand "sculpted" buttons.

 

[Hazebrouck]

Hi Wolfgang,

Still watching your project with interest. I was curious as to how you would add/sculpt the puttees to the figures. I hadn't thought of tin foil. Would fine modellers masking tape like Tamiya make cut into a thin strip and wrapped around the legs be suitable to make puttees? Particularly as you use it as a mould.

Clever way of making buttons. Your figure looks larger than 54mm, is that right?

Regards,

Scott

 

[theBaron]

Interesting approach to the buttons, Wolfgang! I would have tried sculpting them on, instead, by making little dots of putty, but that's a pretty fiddly way.

Hi Wolfgang,

Still watching your project with interest. I was curious as to how you would add/sculpt the puttees to the figures. I hadn't thought of tin foil. Would fine modellers masking tape like Tamiya make cut into a thin strip and wrapped around the legs be suitable to make puttees? Particularly as you use it as a mould.

Clever way of making buttons. Your figure looks larger than 54mm, is that right?

Regards,

Scott

Scott, I think you're on to something. Tamiya tape, or its more affordable alternative, 3m blue painter's tape, might work pretty well. It's about the right thickness, in scale. It would be easy enough to cut, too. You use something that is the desired width or thickness, like a thin piece of basswood or balsa (maybe a ruler?) and tape new No. 11 blades on either side. That would give a consistent width to the strips of tape.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Hello,
got tied up with another comission, now I am well behind schedule. I almost finished the master bandsman and did a few pre-production castings of instruments and bases. The bandman will be cleaned up further and than cast as it is. From the casting I will go back to refineing the details and the surface. Attaching the buttons was a funny task - not ideal after a day at work. Found out that the space between buttons was wrong so I had to close drillholes with miliput and start all over again. Lost my temper on doing so and continued useing superglue. Not a brilliant idea but I guess I can clean up the mess on the next casting much easier than working on layers of superglue and miliput.
regars
Wolfgang

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

Those did not load up with my previous message.

 

[Napoleon1er]

I just stumbled into this thread! These are awesome pieces! Have you considered molding all the complete figures when you are done, and making more of them? You really put a lot of work into these!
-Sandor

 

[Iron Duke]

Simply wonderful, is it based on a photo?

 

[theBaron]

Great progress, Wolfgang!

I hear ya about having to redo the details like that. Don't you hate when that happens?

Prost!
Brad

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

sorry messed this answer up and try again

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

At the moment there is little progress I am afraid. Yes I would like a band just like on the historical picture - the subject is simply to good to ignore. Actually I do like working around existing figurines, one of the challenges here is to make them look as if Elastolin had made them.
Sometimes converting can be more troublesome and time intensive than start to sculpt from scratch. But then if you mangage to get it right it is really rewarding.

I am not happy with the master so far and will start again on it this weekend. The job and the lack of RTV rubber have prevented further progress. Hope to receive my supply order soon.
At least I managed to squeeze in these huge (did you notice?) prussian corcades for my next custom decal print order. Corcades are quite difficult to paint in a neat and clean way but they are such an important feature for the overall appearance of this subject. A bit of a lazy-guys attitude I got to admit but if the decals turn out as I wish - they will look real sharp on those tropical helmets.

As a side-show I will do a bandsman for a "Waffen-SS" divisional music platoon as well. So far nobody I know of has ever produced bands on this subject. But there is still a lot work ahead.
Thank you for your interest and I will keep on posting.....

regards
Wolfgang

 

[johnnybach]

Good luck with the new project - whilst "awaiting stores" - I have added a smallish contribution to your research - johnnybach
(Source; German Uniforms of the Third Reich 1933-1945, by Brian Turner - Illustrated by Pierre Turner.(1988) Blandford Press).