"Civil War Sculpting Advice Needed" Topic

I am attempting to sculpt my own ACW minis. I'm using some milliput to knock out a practice sculpt before I start using my dollies and green stuff. I am happy with the right leg, a little less happy with the left leg, and quite confused about the belts.

In my mind, the belts look too big and too exaggerated. I'm not sure what I can do to shrink them, though. Should I carve / sand them down until they are smaller? Should I build up the areas around them? What about the buckles?

And how do I do the itty bitty things like coat buttons?

Any advice would be helpful.

My biggest advice, switch from milliput to greenstuff or procreate. It will save you a lot of grey hairs and is far more suited to this type of organic sculpting. Miliput is rigid, unforgiving in my experience and more suited to straight edge sculpting.

Cheers
Anton

Research…

First off, I would recommend looking at the uniforms:

A: Visit a nearby museum (especially one on a CW battlefield), to give you an idea of what "The real deal" looked like, as they always will have uniforms on display.
(This may not be available as to your location though, and I can't tell based on your profile).

B: Books: Perhaps the best books you can use for research and what the styles and types of uniforms were is the three book series "Echoes of Glory – Arms and Equipment of The Union/Confederacy" (one book on each one). This is perhaps the best set of references around next to the actual things.

C: Right away I would have to say that this is looking like a Union rifleman, (Oval round buckle, and round breast plate). You are missing your cap box. This would be to the right of the belt buckle, closer to the belt buckle than the cartridge box..

D: The biggest killer here seems to be that your cartridge box strap is too wide.Remember it was a strap for holding a cartridge box, not a baldric for holding the weight of a broadsword.

I think the other issue here is that of the leg position. Is he resting on one leg? Why is the other one at such an odd angle?…

Good luck with it, and keep us informed…

Please keep in mind this is an obvious that is less than half done. Obviously, parts like the cap box are missing at this point. It's just a test.

I'm trying to ask about technique. Should I be making the straps out of a separate putty "snake?" Or should I be pushing the putty in to make a raised surface? Same thing with the clasps… I made these by making a little dot and sticking it on there with my finger, and they look grossly exaggerated. Is there a better way to do it?

Personally, I use separate bits of putty to make belts, buckles, etc, rather than trying to cut them in. It takes a bit of practice to sort of "dial in" to the amount of putty you need to get the size you want, it's generally a lot less than you think. I don't use milliput, but with GS or Procreate, a good method for separate belts is to roll out a thin "snake" of putty, flatten it with some kind of roller against a piece of plastic card stock, trim it with an xacto (or something similar), then carefully peel it off and apply it to the figure. Buckles I generally add after the belt or strap putty has cured. Press a tiny (tiny!) dot of putty where you want the buckle, then shape with your tools til you get the look you want.

My first comment would be to echo the advice about moving away from miliput for this kind of work. You'll find greenstuff or procreate much more forgiving and "biddable", of the two I'd go with procreate because you can sand it much like miliput.

I find using "snakes" the best thing for straps, though you have to get them on between the time in the curing process where initially the snake is too sticky to work with (sticks to your tools better than the figure) and is hardened slightly so it doesn't stick to tools but is too hardened to adhere to the figure. There's a point where its at the right amount of stickiness/hardness where its workable. I'd say about 5-10 minutes after mixing.
For clasps, buckles etc I'd use a thin about of putty and place it with a pin or tool rather than a finger, which is imprecise (and often it will stick to your finger). You can get tiny bits of putty by cutting a small bit continually in half with a blade unit you have a bit of the right size. Or pulling a blob of soft putty apart and you can cut a really small bit off the ends of the fronds that develop at the break (like pulling a bit of chewing gum in half with your fingers).

Solosam…

I understand that this is less than half done.
I didn't know that "obviously the cap box is missing at this point". I've seen figures that didn't have any. How was I supposed to know that you were planning on it.

My apologies if I offended your sensibilities….

Adding to the above by clibinarium and Kayl MacLaren I would concentrate on getting the body shape correct and in proportion then add the belts/straps as mentioned above.
Coat buttons I tend to do by rolling a small snake as previously mentioned then adding it to the coat and smoothing it before impressing a the shapes with the end of a fine tube, then carefully trim the excess. In this way it is easier to get the buttons in line with each other.

The tip of a mechanical pencil works well for buttons, using the method described by Captain Clegg.

I sometimes sculpt most of the clothing, then while it's still soft use the flat back edge of a hobby blade to lightly press in where straps and belts will go. Then after it all hardens, I use a 'thread' of brown stuff to make the straps. Makes it look like any hanging weight 'sinks' the strap into the clothing. Hope that helps/inspires…. ;-)

Ok. I will take another whack at it when I get my green stuff in the mail. Thank you all for your help.

Sorry I got offended. You were only trying to help.

On the question you raised about the legs. The folds that you added at the ankles makes it look like the trousers are too long. Also, I would suggest taking a look at images of ACW reenactors to see how their clothing fits. While some exaggeration is needed on folds in cloth to help sell the pose, I think you have too much around the crotch area. Take a look at this guy

I hope that helps some.

Matthew