A Deer Hunter's tribute

[Timbor]

Greetings everyone, I feel its about time I let you all in on a secret little project of mine.    It's not a very common theme, and its quite specific and personal.  Its also obsessive enough to get approval from the likes of LAF, methinks 

I, like my father, and his late father before him, am an avid deer hunter.  My dad taught me, like his dad taught him, and it has been one of our closest bonding experiences as I was growing up.

I was at university for a long time, so hunting got pushed to the back burner due to lack of free time and my distance from home.  After graduating, my field of work has allowed me to pursue hunting for a dedicated amount of time in the fall.  It is a wonderful privilege for me, and I look forward to hunting season for most of the entire off season (that is, about 9-10 months of the year).

In my youthful enthusiasm, there is one minute detail which I failed to anticipate - the inexorable march of time.  Indeed, while I was pursuing higher education and a secure employment for my future, time has taken its toll on my father.  The spry, middle-aged hunter whom I left for university is now feeling the temporal effects of life.  While he is still able to hunt, I am not sure if this year will be his last, or perhaps next year... it is really hard to predict as his health is somewhat unpredictable.

So, as any young man would do, I set my sights on stopping the progression of time.  After a quick google search expounded the current impossibilities of such a feat, I endeavored to do the next best thing. I would immortalize one of our greatest feats in lead.

My goal was this - to recreate a great experience from a recent hunt by commissioning a sculptor to sculpt a few of the main characters. Once they were cast in glorious pewter, I would construct a diorama of the scene.

So, for the brave few who have managed to follow me thus far, in this thread I will show you the sculpts, share the story I wish to recreate, and hopefully document my progress of realizing my vision.  For tonight, I will share a photo of the main characters.  From right to left you have my dog, Remmy, myself, my dad, and our good friend Dave.  There is also a deer in the picture which I shot.  That is another (good) story, but will not be the topic of my project.  Perhaps if you twist my arm I will share that tale in due time, but for now this picture is all you get. 

[von Lucky]

Interesting and a touching tribute to time spent with your father.

BTW what breed is Remmy?

[Timbor]

He is a Hungarian Vizsla - best breed ever!

[von Lucky]

I used to have a Weimaraner, so I'm a fan of the general family.

[Timbor]

Weims are nice dogs.  When my dog was a pup I did some hunting training with him, and most of the other dogs were weimaraners.  Nice dogs, but they get bigger than Vizslas, so are a bit harder to control when they get bird crazy... 

[Blue in vt]

sounds like a very cool project Tim...I look forward to seeing how it progresses!

Cheers,

Blue

[Timbor]

So, I am sure a few of you were thinking, "Nice project Tim, I will come back in several months once you actually have some sculpts to share..."

Not so fast!  You see, I thought ahead, and I got started on the sculpting way back in the summer.

After chatting with some acquaintances who had their own sculpts commissioned, I shopped around and found a sculptor whose style appealed to my vision, and most importantly, had time available to do the work within my timeframe.  I hired Andrew May, whom many of you may have seen around this fine forum.  Andrew's past work is on his blog and he recently ran a KS project for his range of steampunk miniatures, which also has its own blog to document his ruleset development.

Andrew was great to work with, and has been very helpful to set me up with a mouldmaker as well (the miniatures are at the caster as I write this).  If you have a project you want sculpted, and you find his style appealing, I highly recommend him.

Onto the pictures!  The plan for my original diorama was for three figures and my dog: Myself (Tim), my dad, Dave (our friend), and my dog Remmy.

Here is the sculpt of Tim:





Here is the sculpt of Dad:



Here is the sculpt of Dave:



And finally, here is the sculpt of Remmy:





After seeing the results of the sculpting, I decided to have a couple other bits made, but I will leave you with this for today so you are not overwhelmed by the awesomeness. 

[von Lucky]

Very nice.

The wargamer in me says, "they would be great for a zombie game set in the woods".

[Andrew May]

It's funny how many times I've seen gloomy background vistas of my living room on the Internet, now. 
It's been a pleasure working on such a personal project with you, Tim. I really enjoy sculpting more "mundane" figures, if you understand, as much as I like sculpting muscle-ripped trolls with 15ft axes, the simple figures are often the most satisfying. 

[Constable Bertrand]

Wow, they are beautiful looking figures. Hope your dad really enjoys the diorama, because it's a nice idea.

[marianas_gamer]

Really nice work on a nice and interesting project.  I love the dog!
LB

[galvinm]

This is a wonderful tribute for your Dad. He will love it.

My father is 80+. He served in the Navy on the aircraft carrier USS Hancock. Last year, I purchased a 1/700 scale copy and built it and painted it for him. I Turned it into a waterline, in an open ocean setting, put it in a display case with a brass plaque commemorating his service. Brought tears to his eyes. A wonderful moment for all of us. We are a military family, so it meant a lot to all.

[Timbor]

Thanks for the comments, guys.  galvinm, that sounds like it was a nice project.  Care to share a picture?

My thoughts for the diorama are to make a setting of about 8"" square, or perhaps 8x10.  I was thinking of getting some sort of wooden plinth to mount it on, but a display case seems like a good idea.  I was trying to figure out how I would keep it dust and damage free (especially with all the grandkids running around).  Anyone have a good source for display cases?  An 11 or 12" cube might fit the bill nicely.

The scene I wish to recreate I cannot yet fully reveal, as I am trying to transfer it to prose, which will of course be shared here.

I forgot to post this picture as well, which shows Remmy with me for scale.  This sculpt will work really nicely for many sporting dog breeds - it could be painted up as a weimaraner, german shorthair pointer, or a vizsla quite easily.  At 28mm scale the size difference between dogs would not be as significant.

[tomogui]

Beautiful sculpts—Andrew May knows what he's doing—and a lovely idea for a hunting tribute. Your dad will love it. 

And if you do end up making some copies available to the public, why, you may find yourself and your dog on these very pages hunting zombies or running from The Thing In The Woods...

[Doomsdave]

Wow.  Great idea for a tribute.  I'm looking forward to following this thread.