The Shoveller

[lazyschnauzer]

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

[lazyschnauzer]

And the last one.

All the best,

Dan

[Jim Baker]

Fantastic!!

How much do you actually have to sculpt, and what pieces can you use from kits?

[lazyschnauzer]

Cheers Jim! Thanks for the kind comment!

The head and helmet, boots and shovel come from D J Parkins - everything else is Magicsculpt, mixes of MS and Pro-Create or (for the putties) thin paper map tape. The hands started off being resin but had to be re-done extensively to fit the shovel. Lots of man hours but a labor of love.

All the best,

Dan

[Jim Baker]

Really excellent. I'd thought of trying this a few times, but unfortunately my skills aren't there. I try to humor myself with kits.

Again, this is fabulous work. I'm looking forward to seeing them painted.

Thanks.

[Laurence Strong]

Nice work

[lazyschnauzer]

Many thanks Jim and Laurence!

Jim - Try it again. This is my third year sculpting stuff in this manner - a few resin and metal parts but mostly MS. Before that, I had built and painted kits - starting with model cars in junior high, armor in high school, armor after college, etc., etc. My fascination with the Great War got me started with Steve Warrillow's excellent metal figure kits in 80mm. Excellent sculptor and figure maker and a very good scale. I started by modifying some of them. The last one was a combination of three of his figures, all heavily modified, a Scottish Lewis Gun team resting and smoking in a trench.

I suggest that you start small. Do a tree. Do a hat. Do a small kit bag. Do a haversack. Don't start with a helmet - they're devilishly difficult. Look simple, but aren't!!. Also don't start with a weapon conversion - also tricky.

Use Gary Dombroski's excellent sculpting SBS on Planetfigure.com to get started. There are others, both on Planetfigure.com and www.timelinesforum.com and elsewhere. If I can help, let me know.

ps - This is what the 3 Tommies and the Shoveller started out looking like. I changed the Shoveller's head later.

All the best,

Dan

[Guest IMHF]

Thank you for sharing can't wait until it is complete: what is he digging a trench?

SSG Luna, Lorenzo

[lazyschnauzer]

Just digging, Lorenzo. The idea for this figure came from Roger Newsome. The illustration from which the Three Tommies comes actually shows 5 soldiers. I was going to do 4 and this shoveller was #4. The fellow that commissioned Roger and I to do the Three Tommies, Marty Fine, said he didn't want the fourth one, so I removed it and was going to throw the figure out, but Roger stopped me. The shoveller became a "one-off" for Roger.

Roger and I both have a fondness for figures showing soldiers doing something other than standing holding a rifle or running at the enemy, etc. Those poses are OK but if you want to depict a soldier, 99% of the time they're actually doing something else. Eating, sleeping, patching clothes or equipment, reading a letter from home, on work detail, etc., etc. In the Great War, they spent a lot of time digging - There ya go.

Right now I'm working on a Seaforth Highlander cobbler of 1916 repairing a boot and a Yorks and Lancs corporal of 1914 cleaning a rifle. John McNenney and I recently formed a small model-making company, The Old Contemptibles, and these (hopefully) will be figures 2 and 3 in our line. Figure 1 is almost complete with some necessary revisions, Tommy of 1915. All three of these are in 1/16th scale or 120mm. I'm not going to do only British soldiers. I have an Austro-Hungarian army Tiroler mountain sharpshooter that I put aside to work on these two. And if I can get the face right, I'm considering doing a shell-shocked German soldier cowering in a corner of a trench. Here's a link to our company - http://www.milminwh.com/theoldcontemptibles.htm

And this is a link to my blog. http://heroesonthewire.blogspot.com/

All the best,

Dan

Edited December 25, 2007 by lazyschnauzer