Start of ACW project.

[clibinarium]

I'm fairly new to the ACW, so I may be getting things wrong in terms of accuracy, but I thought I'd show some figures I've been working on. These are some Union infantry in sack coats and kepis advancing. Not sure I've quite got the kepis correct.

Haven't decided on scale yet, but strongly favouring 18mm to fit with AB and similar. I'll have to do some test printing to see if the details come out or not, whether the muskets are thick enough etc.

[painterman]

They look great to me (not an ACW expert) - I didn't know you'd switched to digital sculpting, are these the first things you've done.
All the best, Simon

[Norm]

Beautiful.

[CapnJim]

They look good to me. 

FYI, many Union troops wore their kepi without insignia (as you have shown), but some wore the infantry hunting horn on the top of the kepi, with their company letter above it, like this: 



Maybe you could have another set with that included...?

[vtsaogames]

My, those are nice.

[Extrabio1947]

Beautiful sculpts.  Very well done.

If I may make a suggestion, the regulation haversack strap and the canteen strap did not have buckles.  If a soldier wanted a shorter canteen strap in order to allow the canteen to ride higher, he would simply tie a knot in it.  As any reenactor knows, a canteen (especially a full canteen) acts like a plumb bob, and always seeks a vertical plane.  So a shorter strap helps keep the canteen behind the arm.

The haversack strap was wider - about the same width as the cartridge box strap - and the canteen strap was a bit thinner. 

The fatigue caps look just fine.  They were a bit less structured than true kepis.

Thank you for sharing your work.

[MaleGriffin]

I'm an ACW snob and except for the mentioned strap issues, these are gorgeous! The headgear varied considerably. Some versions, like the McDowell, had a round bill. Some bills were squared with rounded corners. Some had well formed crowns (kepi) and some were more like a collapsed bag with a round bottom (forage cap). Some units wore the regulation brass and some no insignia at all. And to make it more complex, some units wore Corps Badges on their hats some on their breast and some both..

[clibinarium]

Thanks for the kind words.

I didn't know you'd switched to digital sculpting, are these the first things you've done.
All the best, Simon

Hi Simon,
Not my first digital stuff, but the first I am free to show as I wish, as they are personal work. There's a few commission things that I've done that haven't been released yet. I wouldn't say I've switched as such- I do both, but there are certain things that are easier to do digitally (and certain things that are trickier). Digital as a process takes much longer to get to grips with and I would say I am still learning.
(If I remember right we did some Renaissance Swiss years ago?)

If I may make a suggestion, the regulation haversack strap and the canteen strap did not have buckles.  If a soldier wanted a shorter canteen strap in order to allow the canteen to ride higher, he would simply tie a knot in it.  As any reenactor knows, a canteen (especially a full canteen) acts like a plumb bob, and always seeks a vertical plane.  So a shorter strap helps keep the canteen behind the arm.

The haversack strap was wider - about the same width as the cartridge box strap - and the canteen strap was a bit thinner. 

The fatigue caps look just fine.  They were a bit less structured than true kepis.

Thank you for sharing your work.

I'm an ACW snob and except for the mentioned strap issues, these are gorgeous! The headgear varied considerably. Some versions, like the McDowell, had a round bill. Some bills were squared with rounded corners. Some had well formed crowns (kepi) and some were more like a collapsed bag with a round bottom (forage cap). Some units wore the regulation brass and some no insignia at all. And to make it more complex, some units wore Corps Badges on their hats some on their breast and some both..

I really apreciate this sort of observation, thanks. This is the kind of detail that can be missed if you're new to the period and lack a deep knowledge. With digital these are a relatively straightforward fix.

FYI, many Union troops wore their kepi without insignia (as you have shown), but some wore the infantry hunting horn on the top of the kepi, with their company letter above it, like this: 

Maybe you could have another set with that included...?

Yeah that's something I've thought about, but not decided yet. I was thinking maybe that's a decision for painting, since there could be brass badges, or cloth corps badges, or indeed blank as you say. Blank seems most versatile?

A turntable of the pictured figures, because the backs of figures are a prime place for mistakes to arise!

[CapnJim]

Not bad.  Not bad at all.  They do look the part.

[Tony Barton]

At the moment the heads look rather too big,in proportion to the bodies. I know that most wargame figures are like that, but take a good look. If you can reduce the heads they would be even better.

[clibinarium]

At the moment the heads look rather too big,in proportion to the bodies. I know that most wargame figures are like that, but take a good look. If you can reduce the heads they would be even better.

Wow, advice from Tony Barton, that's pretty special; to hear from one of my sculpting heroes! I realise that something meant sincerely can sometimes look like sarcasm when in text, but let me be clear- this is meant very sincerely.

On the subject of heads- I 'm in the camp of wargames figures heads are generally too large, I usually go with 7- 7 1/2 heads when doing 28mm.  I agree the heads are a tad large and this was intentional as the figures will likely be 18mm, but I may have overdone it. On checking them they were about (actually under) 6 1/2 heads tall, which is kinda big. So I reduced the heads by 10 percent, and I think it looks better? The tricky thing with digital work is that you are looking through a camera, so focal lenght and other factors can interfere with your perception in a way that dosen't happen with hand sculpted stuff and the Mark I eyeball.

So I've made some corrections (including the fact that the bottom jacket button is on the wrong side as pointed out to me in a PM by an eagle-eyed forum member). I realised the strap buckles were something I picked up from the Historire et Collections book on the uniforms of the war; its shown on most of their figures, but perhaps that's just a mistake repeated?

Side by side with 10 percent head reduction. Perspective is turned off so that it is easier to see.



Three quarter view. Perspective turned on.

[vtsaogames]

Kudos!

[Tony Barton]

Definite improvement with the 10% reduction of the head !
 All designers  ( including me) introduce a certain amount of distortion when sculpting small figures, sometimes intentionally, but perhaps more often unintentionally. One thing that making figures for fifty years has taught me is to check scale, and check proportion. Of course, now you can alter the 3d drawing before producing real figures, an option I wish I'd had when I started !
Have another look at the feet as well : the feet are now too big.
If you take on these suggestions, these are going to look very good in the flesh.

[clibinarium]

Definite improvement with the 10% reduction of the head !
 All designers  ( including me) introduce a certain amount of distortion when sculpting small figures, sometimes intentionally, but perhaps more often unintentionally. One thing that making figures for fifty years has taught me is to check scale, and check proportion. Of course, now you can alter the 3d drawing before producing real figures, an option I wish I'd had when I started !
Have another look at the feet as well : the feet are now too big.
If you take on these suggestions, these are going to look very good in the flesh.

Absolutely on the distortion, hence the very thick cap bills. I've been sculpting in putty for a while and the easy adjustment of digital over physical is a real boon- about three/four years I made a set of Ottomans in putty, only to find they were too tall- that was a nightmare to fix.
I'll reduce the feet by the same proportion as the head. It would be a foolish sculptor who didn't take on board suggestions from Tony Barton!
I hope to get a test set of these printed in the next couple of days, and I'll post up results here (if they print correctly).

[clibinarium]

Ok did ome test printing last night, had two failures out of six figures, but four decent prints. There's a few dings where supports have been pulled away.

Initial thoughts-
-Rifles are quite thin, bayonets even more so. I think they both need bulking up.
-some more depth needed to separate items- in some areas of the straps for instance. Or the swirl in the rolled blanket edge. The fetaures of the canteen I think need a lot of beefing up. It will end up pretty exaaggerated compared to reality but maybe that's required.
-hair generally needs deeper cuts in it to bring out the texture. This is an ultra exaggeration but I think its necessary.
-head size. its more correct but I worry its a bit small now for an 18mm figure? Maybe they are better suited to 28mm? I don't think the world needs more 28mm ACW (admittedly there's quite a lot of 15/18mm too)
-bases; might trim these fo they are as small a footprint as possible, they cover too much ground as they are?






I hope Tony doesn't mind if I post this pic with some AB Naps in it that will give a better idea of the size of them.
Actually having written and read that, rather than post the pic I'll wait for Tony's consent to that before I post the pic.