Builder's Railroad Project: in the Beginning...

[Ken_NJ]

I'll definitely be watching how you go about the figures. I have a 1:24 fishing boat I scratch built. I need about 20-30 figures to add to the realism. I have other fishing boats the same scale in the pipeline I'll also need figures for. So 1:24th is also 1/2 inch to the foot which makes a 6 foot person 3 inches. I'll need assorted figures, standing, sitting, kids, guys etc.

Here are some larger half figures I made for a larger scale model I have. For the armature I used 12 gauge Romex roughed up. I think I coated it with some other Sculpey product before I put the Super Sculpey on.

https://forums.offshoreelectrics.com...800#post627800

[Builder 2010]

NH: Front Window Painted and Figures on-going saga

Ken, had to register in the Offshore Electric forum in order to see your images. Using wood, while it did the job seemed like a bit of overkill. The finished products are very convincing and nicely done.

After just doing a tiny sanding job on the primer, I air brushed the window assembly and the banner boards. It took three coats with force drying in between to get the color solid. I un-masked it and then cut the other banner out. I applied the PSA to the boards and after drying, attached the banners to it. The banners required a tiny bit of trimming in their width to settle in flat. I again stuck all this stuff up to the building and took another picture. I also primed and painted a 3/32" piece of brass tubing that will be the ceiling support in the front corner of the room. It too appears in Hopper's painting.

You can see something that I hadn't realized when I glued the window into the groove. Due to the 1/8" thickness of the Plexiglass the bare wood in the groove is now showing. If (and it's a big if) I thought about this effect, I could have painted the groove before installing the window. That's bad. What's good is just how transparent the Plexi is. It will really show the interior perfectly. I wonder if I could flow some thinned green paint into the groove….?



While this was all drying I got back to my figures. I removed the standard Sculpey and re-wrapped the black iron armature with the Super Sculpey which is a stiffer blend. It still looks poorly and the arms are too short, but I fired it and added some upper torso bulk. Meanwhile, I decided to try a different wire for the armature. I have this 0.010" brass wire netting that comes from the top of a bottle of Spanish Rioja wine. It's great detailing wire!

Here's the raw wire.



The wire is twisted together to make a net pattern. I proceeded to cut off a section and twist the remaining wires together in groups of two using two hemostats to hold and twist the wire.



I then turned this into a new armature.



Using the new armature I made a new figure. I left the extremities quite long and will trim them when I fully understand how long they should be. Both of these figures are baked at this point. I will use the standard Sculpey for the detail layers since it's easier to work. You can already see that I'm rowing up the learning curve. Since I have four figures to make I'll have a lot of practice. I think there's an Artista figure for the counter man.

[Builder 2010]

NH: Figures and Exterior Steps

Short session today. We went to see the new movie about the capture of Adolf Eichmann. With the rise of far Right movements in Europe and here, people should see this movie to understand what true evil looks like. The rhetoric is repeating itself and the outcomes could also.

I started figure number 3. This is going to be Hopper's wife so I decided to actually model her body first and then add clothing later. I figured if I could get the bare (no pun intended) contours correct, then adding clothes would be less difficult. Meanwhile, I also added the arms and upper torso of the man's body. I'm concerned that it's already too thick and I haven't detailed any clothing yet. I think the female body is almost the right dimensions. It will probably take five or six of these trials before I get it right. With the figures baked and hardened I can go back with a sanding wheel to reduce any areas that are overly thick without distorting the rest of the clay. That's the beauty of baking the clay in steps so you can fix previous work and not worry about it.



While they were baking I started working on the two sets of exterior steps. They both have to be set off the building by the width of those end window boxes.

The outer contours are 0.040" sheet styrene. I want it to eventually look like poured concrete so the steps and side pieces will be glued and finished so it appears solid. I think I'm going to open up the space underneath the steps. This will increase the number of cross pieces that will have to be cut and installed, but it will make it more interesting and not so monolithic. I have some some laser-cut hairpin railings that I may use or I'll have to find some other PE or laser cut products out there.



I ordered some 30 gauge magnet wire to build some small LED exterior lights. I want a light over the entry door (the one on the right side) and a couple shining up on the banners. I can use the tiny surface mount LEDs and wired with magnet wire, they should make up nicely and not clunky. I show this later when the wire is delivered.

It's been a productive week, so everyone have a great weekend and enjoyable and stress free Labor Day!

[Builder 2010]

NH: Saturday Figure Session

Saturday session. US Open is on and my wife has sympathy on me. I can watch tennis, but if there's something else more interesting, I'd rather do that.

I spent another hour fussing with those %_@*U% figures. The Sculpey does not like sticking to itself as much as I'd like it to. The wires keep protruding and I mess up as much as I sculpt in handling it. But I will persist. I would really like to see the man who run Artista do this so I could understand more of how to work in the small scales.



The magnet wire arrived today by Amazon from two different sources. I'm going to experiment in making some very small LED fixtures with it. Red is positive and green will be negative.



Lastly, I'm still noodling the design for the steps. Instead of making them a solid block of concrete, I might go with this. There, of course, will be a railing. Another possibility would be to make the solid step, but use the stone sheet that I used for the foundation wall. That would had some interest and be easier to build. The new design would involve a lot of cutting and fitting.

[Builder 2010]

Figure Scuplting

I've started thinking more seriously about making these figures and did some more research.

One thing I learned was add the clay with the arms and legs straight AND don't put any on the joint areas. After hardening that, you can bend the joints to the positions you want and add the clay to the joints. That was a real problem I was having since folding the clay around the pre-shaped joints just wasn't working. Furthermore, I really have to manage the clay thickness. The women is wearing a dress with short, tight sleeves so I have to model the arms as slender and feminine as I can from the get go. Modeling the Fedoras will also be a challenge in O'Scale. The man (Hopper) has a very pronounced and sharp nose, whereas the women's is much more subtle. That cigarette will be very, very small… and she's holding, what appears to be, a pack of matches after probably just giving him a light.



So what I did yesterday just doesn't cut it. Another thing I learned was to actually build the torso and pelvic shapes out of something firm (like brass). I may actually solder the armatures together so they're tough and won't deform unless I want them to.

I then watched more videos and downloaded a bunch of figure drawing guides to get the proportions right so I stop winging it.

I actually had two terms of life drawing at Michigan State when I was still an industrial design major (3rd semester Freshman and 1st semester Sophomore years). I was the only man in a class of all women drawing nude women. Needless to say it was a bit "strange". All the horny guys on my floor in Bryan Hall would want to see my latest sketches. They all imagined it was some kind of "sexual" experience. It wasn't!! Quite the opposite. I was very self-conscious of the situation.

The 1st semester class was good with the prof wanting us to try and actually capture what the person looked like, but the 2nd semester's guy wanted more abstraction. He kept telling me to "loosen up and let go". I hated it, especially since I was heading for a career to draw photo-realistic cars (or at least that was the plan at the time.) In fact, my entire "fine arts" training those first two years were frustrating since I wanted realism, and art at the time was abstract with Jackson Pollack leading the way.

I will keep at it until it works. At this point in my modeling skills, I firmly believe I can do anything given enough time and practice.

[Ken_NJ]

I did something similar. I found a drawing online of a figure in a standing position. From that I carved the torso from wood so they were proportioned correctly. Knowing I would form a life jacket around the torso. One of the figures, the driver is actually female and has accutuated chest area, but nobody would know or see this. The arms were formed with Romex and thin wire was soldered around the Romex to give the clay something to hold on to. Without this soldered wire the clay had a tendency to slip. And the arms can be moved up and down as they rotate in the shoulder. Not something you need to do. I also applied a liquid Sculpey product to the bare wire so the clay Sculpey would adhere better.

[Builder 2010]

There's a liquid Sculpey product???

[Ken_NJ]

And I used Sculpey glaze as a top coat to prevent whatever paint I used to damage or melt Sculpey. I read enamel paint on Sculpey will leave the surface staying tacky and never dry. I put 2-3 coats of glaze on and did not have a problem at all with enamal.

https://www.sculpey.com/specialty/89...liquid-sculpey

https://www.sculpey.com/mediums/113-sculpey-glaze

Reading:
http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=140876

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/questio...9112757AAfAym5

[Builder 2010]

Ken, I've ordered the Liquid Sculpey, the Sculpey Bond and Sculpey Matte Glaze. All three things will be very useful. I had sculpey things break and didn't know how to put them back together. Now I can with the Bond. Besides my figure work, I'm sure that Grandson #2's going to have a least one more project requiring. He's just entered high school so I suspect that the craft projects will start to dwindle.

[Gun Grape]

Lastly, I'm still noodling the design for the steps. Instead of making them a solid block of concrete, I might go with this. There, of course, will be a railing. Another possibility would be to make the solid step, but use the stone sheet that I used for the foundation wall. That would had some interest and be easier to build. The new design would involve a lot of cutting and fitting.

[ATTACH]46724[/ATTACH]

I would use the stone sheet and tie it into the foundation. Then it looks like part of the building plan, not something that was added later.

In your 50ish theme, would there have been railing?

[Builder 2010]

Another holiday workday while Tennis was still on. Using my armature diagram, I soldered one together (the male version) and added some clay. I noted the hinge points with a Sharpie for the elbows, knees, wrists and ankles.



I used PE brass to make the pelvic/thorax pieces, continued using the twisted wine bottle brass wire and a piece of phosphor bronze 0.021" rod for the spine/neck. I wasn't sure if the wine bottle brass was solderable since it could have been lacquered to prevent oxidation, but it soldered just fine. My first attempt at adding the clay was to add some cylindrical pieces of Sculpey slid up the arms up to the shoulder, and then a second piece up to the elbow. I then tried to add the torso pieces and completely screwed up the arm clay. And then armature broke at the spine/pelvic joint.

I redesigned the joint a little bit by flattening the phosphor bronze piece to give more surface area for the joint, and I put a little hitch in it so it would drop over the leg wire that was flat on the pelvic piece. This made it much stronger. Then I didn't do anything with the extremities, but instead worked only on the torso, leaving a small gap at the pelvis/torso joint so I could bend the spine a bit if I need to for correct positioning. I fired this part since it was very delicate and I kept deforming it when holding it. I eventually grabbed the neck rod with a hemostat and was able to work on both clay lumps without wrecking either one.



I think I may finally be on the right track. I cut brass pieces for one more male figure, and then I'll attempt a female. There are four figures in total so I'll have more practice.

I noticed something interesting when staring at the Night Hawks enlargement. The man with the hawk face is wearing a very hip, dark blue shirt. The painting was done in 1941. I had no idea that bright colored dress shirts were hip in that era. I remember when the bright dress shirt colors came out in the 70s and 80s. Who knew they were being resurrected.

[Ken_NJ]

I think you are trying to go right to molding the figures with clothing? What I would do is apply the clay and massage it close to a flat torso and make it nice and smooth. Use tools, like sculpting blades, exacto knife, or whatever floats your boat to shape the lay of the land for clothing. Play with it with the tools to get it how you like it. On the arms on my figures I used a toothpick to create the creases in the body suit arms to make it look rinkled. I also use a pick for the creases.

Your figures are going to be tucked away inside the building so they only need to look good to a point. You might want to make other figures that might be out in the open. So practice makes perfect.

I would have to try this, for the heads, make the round lump for it, them use an exacto knife to remove and sculpt the feature. Use the pick as well. Now I’m going to have to give this a go on my 2-3/4 inch figures for my boat.

[Builder 2010]

Good suggestions! No… I'm actually trying to make them nude and then add clothing. Regarding the women: her bodice and sleeves are almost skin tight so it probably won't be a new layer, just some minor texturing. For the man: the suit, etc. will be a separate layer. I like the idea about making some casual people for practice.

[Builder 2010]

NH: Figures Bloody Figures!

Happy Tuesday. Rethinking making them nude and then adding clothing as you'll see in this post.

Making figures is slowly going to drive me nuts. At this small scale, the slightest deviation (larger) when applying the clay immediately turns the figure into the Incredible Hulk. Then, there's the problem with the sculpey not sticking to itself after it cured and you're applying more clay to join the moving parts, and all the joints separate. I had to use CA to hold it all together. Then there's the problem with the head… need I go on?



I then started adding some clothing, but since the figure was already sort of bulked up when I added the clothing layer it even got bigger. He looks like he's wearing a hazmat suit. I added a lapel on the jacket and tie between the open sides. In the picture Hopper shows the man's jacket unbuttoned.



I would love Mr. Artista to teach me how to do this is 1:48. Everything I'm looking at on the Web is in much larger sizes. Much of the problem I think I'm having is simply trying to do this in O'scale. I looked through the entire Artista catalog and the only one I found that would work was the ice cream vendor since he has the same kind of hat as the counter man. Non of the seated figures were dressed correctly. I could look at them again and maybe modify the figures rather than starting from scratch. I'm going to take a break and wait until the Sculpey liquid products arrive. I've bought Sculpey Bond which specifically is used to glue together Sculpey and then bake it. I've also bought Sculpey liquid polymer clay again to give me some more options. I've at least go the armature part figured out.

[Builder 2010]

NH: Outside Steps Start

I using Ken's idea to carry on with the stone foundation and one of my followers on the other forum where I capture all thi offered some O'scale people kits to me that I can kit bash to maybe make some Night Hawks folks and I'm taking him up on the offer. Kit bashing should be easier than scratch-building these little guys.

Had very little time in the shop today, but used it wisely. Another readers suggested using the foundation stone to tie the steps into the building's theme, so I started that process today.

I laminated the stone to one of the profile pieces using "normal" Testor's tube cement and then made a corner piece that was the scale 3 feet of the step width (3/4") and adding the 5/16" protrusion of the window box giving 1-1/16" width. I then subtracted 0.040" (one styrene thickness) from this and cut the piece. I then allows the stone laminate to stick out one thickness so the edges would me perfectly in the corner. I didn't allow for this when skinning the building proper and was not happy with the material thickness visible at the edges (live and learn). I glued the inner profile piece to this end piece at the 3/4" mark, and put 1/8" square styrene corner blocks to square it up and give it some substance. I also added some of the same material cross-wise at the step end to square that end up. I added one more small piece of styrene to square up the mating to the building.



And before I go one step further I better trace the profile onto the steps that are going on the left side. There is a slight difference in the dimensions from the right side so I will custom measure that length and not depend on the length of this one. I have my Duplicutter set for the height. Speaking of height, it is set to accept a 0.040" slab on top to meet the door height. The top slab should be thicker, more like 6 scale inches. Not sure how that would work.