YAF (Yet Another Figure) - Part 4 - a French Fisherman, c1910...

Here we go then!

As per Mr Mikey's request, I have as of last night embarked on this latest adventure. A French couple fishing! Here are our two volunteers, from the Presier 'standing passengers' set - you might recognise the gentleman from previous adventures in figure-bashing...



When I get round to starting the female figure she will be the subject of a separate thread. In this thread I shall concentrate on progressing the gentleman figure - he will be sitting on something yet to be decided but possibly a large fishing creel.

So with that in mind, here's where we are so far. Not much in the way of progress I admit, but it is early doors after all:



I Have the arm available that will hold the rod (insert any smutty joke of your choosing here)

I envisage this gentleman will be wearing quite formal dress (by our standards) - including one of those stiff high 'detachable' collars and a suitable tie, and a straw boater hat with a black ribbon of some kind. From pictures I have seen, the fashion for men around this time was for 'nickerbocker' type trousers, which look like they end at the knee and with stocks from the knee downwards. Mikey, you're the man in the chair with this, if you want something else then shout out - the earlier the better!

you carry on Clive, I shall enjoy watching this new challenge!!!

mikey

OK so this evening I have been trying a few 'mock-ups' with Blu-tak holding the limbs in position, and I think I have arrived at a pose that will look moderately interesting, and more importantly, believable:



One hand holding the fishing pole, the other shielding our hero's eyes from the glare of the sun, convinced as he is that something about which Herman Melville might wax lyrical, lurks just beneath the surface... OK fess up, you needed a Google search to work out what I was talking about, didn't you!

The rod is made from Milliput, by rolling a lump of it exceedingly thin, and leaving it to dry. I guess a length of thin brass wire would serve such a purpose too.

Mikey, for the 'wife', I have a vision of her holding a rod in one hand (yes, yes, very funny....) and in the other a fish what she might have just caught? You OK with that?

Last bit of progress for the night - the limbs are now drilled and pinned:



Note that the right hand is pinned with thin brass wire, on account of the hand was too small to have any larger holes drilled in it. No problem, once the Milliput has been applied to the gaps and allowed to set, it will be quite secure.

Incidentally, the arms have been donated by some anonymous German track workers

Excellent Clive. as long as shes not holding moby dick in one hand!! Looking good

Mikey

mikeyh wrote:

as long as shes not holding moby dick in one hand!!

*snigger*

Further progress tonight - gaps have been filled and some 'folds' pressed in to the Milliput. Looks like our man has been busy too!



OK I admit, I had some spare Milliput left over after filling all the gaps, so I made some fish....

He is really taking shape now Clive, i love watching the character of these figures coming out.

mikey

G scale fish...with eyes...and tails

You're mad...as a fish

More progress on our man this evening:

• Dremeled the Milliput-filled areas to remove the more obvious lumps and bumps (of which there were many!)
  
• Pared away the plastic 'trousers' moulding from the lower legs, to leave the impression of trousers ending at the knee
  
• Removed the existing collar and tie moulding
  
• Applied a stiff collar made from a strip of thin styrene sheet
  
• Applied some banding round the bottom of the knee to delineate the bottom of the knickerbockers (same styrene sheet)
  

Here's the result:

OK so whilst we were about our business with the GS on the other figure, I added some details to the bloke figure:

Added a tie
Added shoes (or at least the impression of some)
padded out the bottoms of the knickerbockers
Added the bits of jacket that I found myself cutting off during the initial surgery
Added a rather unconvincing hair-piece (actually it's meant to be proper hair with a side parting)
Added a moustache

Err he looks like he needs to pee Clive.

I like the hairstyle Clive!!

mikey

pjti wrote:

Err he looks like he needs to pee Clive.

Patrick, that's nothing compared to what my dear wife suggested he was doing!

Any road up, we have made further progress this week - not much, but then there isn't much left to do with this figure. I thought it about time we gave this fella the grey primer treatment, to see how he looked - and while I was about it, I set to making a boater-style hat out of thin styrene sheet:



I made it separately so that you could decide for yourself, Mikey, how rakish to make the angle of the brim! E.g:



I used a small amount of Milliput to hide some obvious uneven-ness in the bottom of the nickerbockers, but that will be smoothed down and painted and thereby rendered invisible.

I still need to make something like a creel big enough for him to sit on, but that can be done separately - basically this guy is ready for the paint shop!

Lucky man...I've just seen his wife.

superb Clive, these two are going to look great on the side of the river!!

Mikey

Here's yer man, painted up (not a particularly good photo, as it's too bright!):



I have constructed a basic 'creel' out of styrene sheet, but I need to work out how to give the impression of 'wickerwork'... I have an idea to make an embossing tool in a very shallow 'V' shape and press that into soft Milliput, in the manner of ordinary brickwork. I shall conduct some trials...

One thing the Hawk-Eyes amongst you will have noticed, is that before painting I added a shirt cuff (from thin styrene sheet) to his left arm, as it looked a little too much like a workman's arm as it was.

superb Clive! I think after seeing his dress he will be Monsieur Jacques BENET, the entrepreneurial owner of the papermill, enjoying a relaxing day off!

BENET-en francais- simpleton

nice work

mikey

Well, here's the creel... some bits of plasticard glued together:



OK, so I made a removable lid:



I made a small embossing tool out of scrap plasticard, to simulate the look of wickerwork when pressed into soft Milliput:



And this is the result (so far):



I think if we employ the 2ft rule (ie don't look at it too closely!) it should give the impression of a wickerwork creel...

Basic creel completed:



Still need to do a simple strap - probably out of GS for flexibility... then a lick or 2 of paint, and it's a done deal...

Hey! well impressed with the wickerwork. I was wondering how that would turn out.

mikey

Here it is, the creel thing (see what I did there?)





The strapping and the hinges were made from GS, the buckle was made from very thin copper wire.

Here it is, in use:



Having had limited success with fishing off the end of a giant garden bench, our two intrepid fisher-persons decide to try their luck at the nearby Water's Edge resort...



However, their arguing and bickering over who had caught the biggest/most fish did not go un-noticed for long...

Well done Clive. they're (almost) too good to put on the layout!!. Hope you're still taking orders, we've got another figure in mind. I'll leave it for a couple of weeks!!

mikey

mikeyh wrote:

Hope you're still taking orders, we've got another figure in mind. I'll leave it for a couple of weeks!!

Well it might take me a lot longer to do the next one, as amazingly, after 9 and a half months 'between contracts', I actually start a new job tomorrow - until end of May at least. So my weekdays will no longer be my own - but on the plus side, I'll be getting paid again! Woo hoo!!!!

I'm astonished at the increasing quality of these figures. This couple plus the accessories are truly the best yet.

Sadly I have to report a small problem though. Nuncio Grisoni here has lost his bottle!
Yes. 'Tis true he was holding a bottle of '51' Pastis and somebody has swiped it.

I will defy all sanity by hunting round the station area this week for a G scale bottle of Pastis.