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2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles (British Columbia Regiment) ?The Shoveller? Single figure in 120mm or 1/15th scale Somewhat based on the same illustration as the Three Tommies. This figure was intended originally as a fourth for the vignette below, but was removed at the request of the collector that commissioned the piece. Roger and I thought it would be interesting to finish him since there are no other figures of soldiers on any WWI front doing what they did a lot of - DIGGING! Sculptor: same as always! The head, helmet and shovel is from David Parkins. Uniform markings are for the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, 1918. ? M1902 khaki field service tunic ? M1902 khaki field service trousers ? M1902 khaki putties and hobnailed blackened ?ammunition? boots This figure is for Roger Newsome and will receive his superb talents soon! One more post to show you the last photo. All the best, Dan

And the last one. All the best, Dan

I've made some revisions to this and cleaned it up a bit. It's now ready to be shipped to Roger Newsome, my collaborating painter friend in Yorkshire. One more shot in the next post. All the best, Dan

Snoopy, Your comments really warm my heart, friend. Very seriously. I strive for realism and historical accuracy and research all my projects carefully. For some of my past projects, I'm grateful for the kind and very generous help of the Royal Navy and Marines museum curators, folks on the Great War Forum and Military Horse Forum, and other sources too numerous to mention. In detailing all the uniforms, weapons and equipment being worn by the figures, I'm following the lead of two very experienced and marvelous professional sculptors, Jon Smith and Steve Warrilow, each of whom do something similar with figure kits they sell. My next project is a single figure Canadian 2nd Mounted Rifles, 3rd Division soldier who is just digging - the "shoveller". The PBI spent a lot of time digging. I've never seen a figure that just showed a WWI soldier doing that. He was originally a fourth figure on this vignette, but I removed him at the request of my patron. Originally the Tommies project was going to be quite a bit larger, but I prefer the smaller, more-focused version. The "shoveller" is coming along nicely and I'll show him to you when completed probably in a couple of weeks. After that, I have two mounted Great War cavalry figures in various stages of completion - a 1914 British Scots Grey trooper, "Potshot" and a 1916 US 13th Cavalry Sergeant, "Chasing Villa". All in 120mm. All the best, Dan

"...way too many." Yeah - I can relate to that!!!! Very nice P-40! What unit did this one fly with and where? All the best, Dan

Nicely done! All the best, Dan

Hardy and David - Many thanks for your kind comments! David - The germ cells for this vignette were planted by my most generous patron, Mr. Martin Fine of NYC, about the end of February. I built the armatures and put the heads and boots on them sometime in March. Since I still have to earn a crust, I worked on the figures mostly weekends and holidays, with a few week nights thrown in. Since web stumbling into the hobby of military miniature figures about 5 years ago, I've had nothing but fun with it! And the real fun started not quite 3 years ago when I tried sculpting. Although I can paint, I choose not to - never really was satisfied with my abilities. These figures will be painted by Roger Newsome, a most talented painter and seafarer from Bedale, N. Yorkshire in UK. We've worked together on numerous figures now and I really enjoy what my good friend does with our little models. I'm looking forward to seeing Roger's talents displayed again! All the best, Dan

Fourth installment:

Third Installment:

Second installment...

At long last...feels like I've been working on this forever!! Scale: 1/16th Materials: Resin parts from Jaguar, Model Cellar & D. J. Parkin, metal SMLE rifle from D. J. Parkin, magicsculpt, 2 part clear resin for mud, paper map tape for putties & Vallejo 599 coarse pumice paste for earth Based on an illustration by an unknown artist published in several books including, ?Eye Deep in Hell? by John Ellis, 1946. 1st / 6th Durham Light Infantry Rgt., 151st Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division ? no division markings Wounded Tommy ? ? Goatskin jerkin worn as vests over M1902 khaki field service tunic ? M1902 khaki field service trousers ? M1914 leather field harness and ammo pouch Second and Third Tommies ? Goatskin jerkins and M1902 uniforms ? Three Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) MK III 0.303 caliber rifles ? two wrapped in water-proofing, one being used as a lever to lift the wounded man ? Small canvas haversack for carrying anti-gas PH helmets ? M1914 leather field harness and ammo pouches ? Canvas musette bag and haversacks ? M1902 khaki putties and brown half boots ? On left hip, M1908 khaki haversacks and entrenching tool helves ? On right hip, M1908 entrenching tool heads in khaki carriers and water bottles covered with khaki cloth and hooked to belt ? one standing Tommy is a two-stripe corporal; the other has a bombers badge on one sleeve I'm going to post the illustration first and then the photos of the figures. It may take two or three posts - bear with me. Hope you like it! All the best, Dan

Yes, Laurence! That's the idea. It will be clearer when I string up the rifle slings and some other stuff. Please take a look at some of the earlier posts. They show the illustration that I'm working from. All the best, Dan

Thanks Snoopy! All the best, Dan

Third photo... All the best, Dan

As the title says, I'm a little further along on this. All of the field equipment is on the soldiers. Several straps and buckles needed, plus filling out the sheepskin here and there and lots of cleaning. That and adding to the putty part of the ground work will need another weekend. After that another weekend or two using 2 part epoxy to make Somme mud. Hope you like it! All the best, Dan

Totally cool Stephen!!!! What a project! All the best, Dan

Cheers Doug! All the best, Dan

Douglynn: I will definitely keep updating and thanks for asking! Your encouragement is much appreciated! This weekend I won't get much done because I'll be in Philadelphia / Valley Forge at the Military Figure Collectors of America exhibition. But as soon as possible! In the meantime, if you are interested in military figures, fantasy, figure sculpting and painting, etc., may I suggest going to Planetfigure.com? Right now there are 3 or 4 good WWI vignettes under development. Lots of fun! All the best, Dan

Many thanks, Jon! It's coming along nicely. I'm starting to fit the field equipment and weapons on the figures. It's always nice to get to this stage because I can see how the pieces will come together finally. This weekend I'm at the MFCA show at Valley Forge, PA, so won't be making any changes to it. I'm hoping to put six figures into the competition. All the best, Dan

OK - next installment. As I said this is work in progress. Since making these photos I've made about another long week-end's progress and it's starting to come together. The key thing in this vignette is that both of the standing Tommies need to appear to be struggling and off-balance. In the second photo, one of the figures is actually leaning too much. I didn't notice it when I took the photo. Anyways - off balance but not falling... Hope you like it! All the best, Dan

This is a commission from a NYC collector, Mr. Martin Fine. He's actually become more of a patron and friend. This is the third vignette he's asked me to do and the most interesting and best subject so far. It is based on this illustration by an unknown artist. It was published in John Ellis' fine book on trench warfare, Eye Deep in Hell. Due to the size limit on attachments, please follow me into the next post to see my work in progress on the vignette. All the best, Dan

Snoopy - Boats are not exactly my thing, but I like your model of the Kursk! Nicely done! All the best, Dan

Thanks so much, Jon! Kreston Peckham is painting this one for me. I don't paint - just put 'em together and sculpt. Kreston is known as the "master of mud" among painters. So have no fear about the mud puddle. Seriously - he's very, very accomplished - he's been at it much longer than myself and has won many gold medals, best of shows, etc. over the years. If you want to see an example of what he does with mud and with painting in general, look at the On the Wire diorama he painted. It's on my blog at http://heroesonthewire.blogspot.com/. Warning - it's kinda graphic! This is what I'm working on now. It's based on an illustration (don't know the artist unfortunately) in John Ellis's book, Eye Deep in Hell. Three Tommies in the mud of the Somme. Two of them are trying desperately to pull their wounded buddy out of the mud. Their buddy is up to his waist in a mud hole. They have managed to put rifle slings under the armpits of the wounded man and wrapped them over the SMLE rifle that is over their shoulders. I'm not actually going to use the rifle shown. I have another that is a better example. The two Tommies are meant to look off-balance because they're struggling to stay out of the mud themselves, standing on the slippery sides of the hole in which their comrade has fallen. The way I see it they're constantly having to shift their boots around, change position, get better footing and simultaneously pulling for all they're worth. This is work in progress, so lots more to do. All the best, Dan

In the meantime, I highly recommend Planetfigure.com and/or www.timelinesforum.com to anyone interested in miniatures and model figures, military or otherwise. All the best, Dan

Gordon - I'll never be an art critic either! But there is a reason why the well-recognized art of the First World War (or any period for that matter) works. Many people recognize John Singer Sargent's painting of the gassed Tommies. Many people recognize Fortunio Matania's illustration of the dying artillery horse and the British artilleryman hugging the horse's head and crying. They may not be able to tell you the artist's name, but they know the art work and, more importantly, their hearts and minds respond to it. I like the idea of trying to turn illustrations by Georges Scott or the British illustrator Snaffles or others into miniatures simply because I like the illustrations myself and also because I know the theme or pose or action depicted by the artist evokes a response in others. I've done 2 pieces by Georges Scott, one using a little of the technique by another French artist, Georges Ripart, and, of course, 1 by Gilbert Rogers. And I intend to do more in the future. I'm not by any means attempting to compare myself to these famous professional artists! Actually I'm just getting started as a miniatures sculptor, having been at it 3 years this summer. Anyways I'm glad you liked the piece and will post more of my stuff as it gets finished. All the best, Dan