Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Captain Kara Sloan Conversion

Capt. Sloan, in her stiff stock pose
This was a fun conversion, and one of few times I've been asked to reproduce my own work.



Like many others, I thought that the Kara Sloan stock pose (right*) was static, at best. I personally am a huge fan of well done "at ease" poses, which is why I'm constantly impressed by the old Confrontation line.

* Seems there was some confusion about the stock photo, so I've added the least painted photo I could find of the stock pose, if someone has a clearer one, please let me know.

However, holding a rifle longer than she is tall, one handed, with the other on her hip, is not an interesting (or believable) pose. (Interestingly, the concept sketch shows with her in a very similar pose, but looking over her other shoulder, and the rifle on the ground, in a much more natural pose. The face is also nicer, but I imagine that's more to do with sculpting limitations than the poor pose.)



Sloan, done by Mr. Uderzo looks
 sort of like a man, but at least looks
like s/he's doing something.
The obvious modification was to make something like her artwork (right), which took some careful cutting and was one of the first attempts I made to do thoroughly mechanical details.

Ready to cap some (insert faction here).
I was quite happy with how the model came out (as were my clients), but, were I to do it again, I'd definitely apply what I've learned about making scale rivits (more on that in another post).



I think that this conversion, while not perfect, is one of the more effective conversions for the time it took of any I've done.



A more elaborate conversion I've considered is as follows:

-completely remove/resculpt both shoulders, to drop her stance slightly.
- lean her head in to the gun slightly (to give the look of taking a shot, instead of either just having shot or scoping out a new target)
-the addition of a bipod or monopod might be in order

However, I pride myself in affordable prices, so I didn't do the extra steps for the commissions, as I don't feel it's worth the time and associated cost to my clients- this would likely be a personal project instead.




3 comments:

  1. Magnificent. This is beautiful work!

    May I just ask how you did the mud on the trim of the tunic so effectively? It really does add to the miniature!

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  2. Oops, sorry that was unclear, the first image is the studio photo, just showing the stock pose (I guess that was unclear), but my best guess is it was done with weathering powder or, knowing PP's painting tendencies, wet blending followed by a white highlight.

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