Saturday, April 12, 2008

Hessian Jaeger, 1777

My latest figure is of a Hessian Jaeger in British service during the American Revolution. These were elite troops recruited from hunters and gamekeepers and were famous for their skills as riflemen and skirmishers.

The figure itself is more 1/35th scale rather than 54mm. The head is from Hornet and the "rifle" is a Wolf conversion. The trigger guard was a bear to make. Made of sheet lead, it was tough to manipulate because of the guards unique shape.

I originally planned to have this figure posed lying down firing over a stump but decided he really should be shown upright. I wanted to place him in a wooded environment so I combed through my stash and found a stump by Armand Bayardi. The stump was tad small for what I wanted so I added about an inch and a half. To add the extra length I drilled a hole in the center of the casting and used paper clip wire as an armatrue. Applied putty to the armature and sculpted the bark using a knife and toothpick. The whole process was much quicker and easier than I thought.

Thanks a ton again to Gary Dombrowski for his help.















9 comments:

Gary Dombrowski said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gary Dombrowski said...

Jason, That is AWESOME! I really like how he turned out. The pose is great.Why I fail to get inspired to get sculpting again I don't know why.You really have nailed the look of the period in my eyes. ~Gary

PS, I noticed a typo to my original post and decided to delete it and repost it.

Pete said...

Jason, the sculpting on that piece is impeccable! Painting too. That sharp sculpting style is a lot like Gary's. It's a painters dream and I hope you do something commercial some day as I'd love to get a chance to throw some paint on one. I've always liked the results I've had with Gary's work. Sometimes it just clicks.

Pete

Jason said...

Thanks Gary and Pete. Rev War/18th Century subjects currently have a hook in me.

I'd like to do a commercial piece someday but you guys know that producing something for market is an art in itself. I'll keep practicing sculpting facial expressions/features then a whole head. Weapons are another monster too.

WendyRaf said...

Jason,
I love this figure! The pose is just right - there's a cautious watchfulness to it that would be there regardless of whether he was doing the sneaking or just didn't want to be sneaked up on.

You're making me want to try some Rev War figs. :D

Anonymous said...

Hello Jason,

Again a great figure. Sculpting is impressive. How do you get it so smooth?
I probably said it before but you have an unique style, that is recognised instantly.
Is it ok for you to send you some photos of my recent sculpting project?

greet,
Robert Jan

Jason said...

Thanks Wendy and Robert!

Robert, I appreciate the kind words. How I get the putty so smooth is using a constant burnishing motion when working the figure. I try not to be too heavy handed when working folds and such. I also try to make clean sharp edges.
Please send me some of you stuff! jsw2471@hotmail.com

Adelaide Gamer said...

Lovely work! I have just discovered your work. My only question is how big are your figures?

Jason said...

dracmuller,

Thank you! The figures are 54mm. Roughly 2 1/4 inches tall.

Jason

Big ol' pile of heads and armatures for the St. Privat project.