1/35 scale civilians -- figures

[Malachi Constant]

I've pretty much gotten hooked on 1/35 scale for my "large scale" modeling and plan to customize and/or paint a variety of figures for the auto repair shop currently under construction and the future railroad ... so here's a thread that will include some links for figure sources / makers ... along with my projects ... and others are invited to join in with their 1/35 figure projects.

MK35 -- These are my current favorite.  They produce a nice variety of civilian figures plus animals, carts and such.  The sculpting and casting (resin) are top-notch.  The figure above right is one of theirs with just some very minor modification to the trousers.   The MK35 figures are sold in the US by R&J Enterprises or directly from MK35 in France (www.Mk35.com).

The grouchy-looking guy has been dubbed Mr. Mudgeon and he's the head mechanic at the auto repair shop ... and, apparently, he's been watching "Tool Time" re-runs or something and decided that he needs a shapely assistant.  Oddly enough, her name is Lefty Lucie ... and she's a very capable mechanic.



EDIT:  This figure is "Russian Female Tank Crew Natalia" sculpted by Yoshitaka Hirano.  After posting the figure here, I found out that I had unwittingly purchased mine from a source making unauthorized copies (ugh).  Thanks to forum members here who caught that!  Here's a legitimate source for this figure:
http://www.miniature-park.com/search_result_e.php?search_maker_id=378&search_sort=&visible=&page=2

The sculpting is beautiful and I thought about letting her go to the work in the army boots and baggy pants, but Mr. Mudgeon said he preferred a country girl in blue jeans, so we started hacking away ...



Looks a bit scary at this point ... especially where the lower legs have been carved (sort-of) from army boots ... but this should be a decent starting point for some putty work. 



Thinned her ankles before I started whittling her army boots into some casual shoes, so both feet snapped off ... zoinks!  Shoe on right is an army boot after mild whittling ... at left after a bit more.  A bit crude perhaps, but if the figure painting goes well, I don't expect too many folks will get hung up on the shoes! 



Thinned her hips enough that her hand was nearly free, so carefully filed away that gap ... stuck some poster-tack in place to support her arm and cut off her hand to be repositioned and slightly re-shaped.  Turned to cut get a little drill bit ... turned back and the hand was gone  ... lesson learned.  After crawling around on the floor for quite a while to find the missing hand, decided that poster-tack would be good for holding this little bit.  Reshaped the thumb a bit (just some carving) and drilled thru the hand so she can carry a toolbox.



Now she's getting a primer coat so the body putty will stick ... meanwhile, Mr. Mudgeon and I are surfing for reference photos so we'll be able to fashion a nice pair of jeans. 

Recently posted some links to other female figures in 1/35 scale here:
http://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1068.msg17347#msg17347

Will post additional links as time allows and/or new figure projects get going ... meanwhile, stay tuned for the further adventures of Lefty Lucie.

Cheers,
Dallas

[finescalerr]

It is too late to remove more of her clothing and leave her in a thong bikini? I doubt Mr. Mudgeon would object. -- ssuR

[Frederic Testard]

After all, why would Russ not come to the corner too, from time to time?
Your tutorials are always interesting, Dallas, and you've certainly chosen an attractive subject...

[Malachi Constant]

It is too late to remove more of her clothing and leave her in a thong bikini? I doubt Mr. Mudgeon would object. -- ssuR

Well, no it's not too late ... but we don't want him to be completely distracted.  Legend Productions in Korea makes some "sassy" and "naughty" female figures.  I have the "Bathing Girl" figure shown below and figure she'd be helpful for a promotional car wash ... think the "Monella" figure riding bicycle (also below) has a sort of Marilyn Monroe thing going on.  They also have some topless girls in thongs.  For those, go to the website and search "Hot Body" ... also page thru the 1/35 figures to find a couple others:
http://www.www-legend.co.kr/

The Legend Productions figures are available in the US from Squadron.com and various other sources. 

Meanwhile, we'll be content to have Lucie looking cute in her skimpy t-shirt and snug blue jeans. 

[finescalerr]

Not exactly the answer I'd expected but you're not a party pooper, either.

By the way, Frederic, I OWN the corner and am its permanent resident!!

ssuR

[Malachi Constant]

Using "Magic Sculp" two-part modeling compound (air-drying putty) to shape some blue jeans.  This is Round 1, Part 1 -- did one leg and let that cure for a couple of hours before moving on, so I wouldn't smush one leg while working on the other.



Round 1, Part 2 -- Will let this fully cure, then do some sanding, shaping and fill-in as needed ... then some final detailing.



Figure is about actual size on a 19" monitor as shown here ...

[narrowgauger]

Hi Guys

interesting article on figure conversions.  However I could not help but to note that this figure came from "Chinese Resin figure reseller".

This warrants comment since this particular party is ripping off many well known figure producers with counterfeit copies of their figures, including the figure featured in the article.

I understand that we all want to keep our hobby costs down and therefore will buy from low price sources.  However it may be worthwhile considering that the original artist who created the figure is being ripped off by the party in China copying their work at zero costs and flooding the market with these couterfeit products.

It is incumbent on us to support the artist who put his time & energy into providing these figures and to stop buying the counterfeit products.  Ignoring the moral issues also keep in mind that if we don't take action against the counterfeit products sooner or later there won't be new figures released by the ligitimate manufacturers.

Bernard

[Malachi Constant]

Hi Bernard --

I hadn't seen this figure before and didn't realize it was a copy ... if you know the maker, I'll change the link!

Thanks,
Dallas

[Philip Smith]

Master Sculpted by Yoshitaka Hirano

Philip

[Ray Dunakin]

The conversion is looking very good so far!

[Ray Dunakin]

Hi Bernard --

I hadn't seen this figure before and didn't realize it was a copy ... if you know the maker, I'll change the link!

Here's one source, in Japan:

http://www.miniature-park.com/search_result_e.php?search_maker_id=378&search_sort=&visible=&page=2

The Natalia figure is a little less than halfway down the page.

[Malachi Constant]

THANK YOU!  I'm in full agreement with Bernard's comments noted above and thanks to Philip and Ray for filling in the needed info.  As a relative "newbie" to 1/35 scale, I'm still searching for sources of interesting figures, supplies, etc. and didn't realize what's going on in this market.  Link in my previous post has been updated with the information you've provided.

Thanks!
Dallas

[Philip Smith]

I submitted a complaint directly to ebay and will follow-up. I wonder if they will take action?

BTW Dallas, The lower sculpting mods look nice!

Philip

   

[Malachi Constant]

Thanks Philip, on both counts!  I've reached a point where I'm just taking a break from work for a few minutes here and there to add one more detail ... helps me avoid mushing wet putty while turning and handling the model.  You can see how the primer coat is severely worn on the upper half from handling.



Still very much in the learning stages of working with the Magic Sculp and building/sculpting tiny details, so I'll post some notes for two reasons:  (1) to encourage others who haven't tried this sort of thing before and (2) because there are some much more competent and experienced sculptors on this forum and this might prompt them to make suggestions for doing it better! 

Been looking at the fading patterns on blue jeans, and it seems that adding seams will help reproduce those patterns by creating little edges for a dark ink wash along the edge of the seam.

Added a ribbon of Magic Sculp as shown in first photo ... then put some talc on my finger tip so I could mush it down without lifting it off.  Then took a knife and trimmed the "hard edge" of the seam (left side in photo) ... checked thickness and mushed it down a bit more, then trimmed again.  Then moistened the area and feathered the soft edge of the seam.

PS -- Don't worry, I won't post a progress shot for each and every seam!  Will post a follow-up after I've finished the seams and pockets, etc. ... meanwhile, just thought these pix might prompt some further input on technique. 

Cheers,
Dallas

[eTraxx]

Found one of the distributors for Magic-Sculpt ..

www.sculpt.com

Looks like a good product. I was going to order some Miliiput from Micro-Mart but 4oz is $8.20 (standard grain) while the Magic Scuplt is 1lb for $14.99 at that link .. so .. placed order.

Looking at what you are doing has me fired up to do something similar. Good work!