I’m calling him done.
I’ve been absent this week because I didn’t see the value in blogging any more of my failures.
I struggled a bit with the buttons but I got there in the end. It would have been quicker to just make them all individually. but I have at least invented a new use for UV curing glue!
The respirator hooks were a challenge until I hit on the idea of filling in around some bent copper wire.
I wasn’t happy with the oilcloth veil/hood, so I did it again, and again-I had 3 attempts before I was happy. I tried another Duro version and a really terrible silver foil version.
![IMG_20201115_151925396.jpg IMG_20201115_151925396.jpg](https://www.scale-models.co.uk/data/attachments/272/272771-7208b7a6379d568e4c17912cf4f0dcaa.jpg)
I couldn’t use the Bees Putty because I knew the 3D-printed helmet would melt in the oven, so I decided to make a Milliput mould of the inside of the helmet then a car body filler cast of that, which I then used to model the veil in-situ.
![IMG_20201115_153833016.jpg IMG_20201115_153833016.jpg](https://www.scale-models.co.uk/data/attachments/272/272774-6c1c1e4e4c08fd364192ce48de7f08b8.jpg)
He looked like he'd just stepped out of 'Fiddler on the Roof', but it did the job. I wasn’t happy with the end result, though. I just couldn’t get the drapery right AND the texture. So I tried a different approach by using the crumpled greaseproof paper I was using to impress the texture.
I need it to stay rigid because I want to mould it, so I hardened it with two coats of this (other wet-rot treatments are available, I’m sure)
![IMG_20201115_154448058.jpg IMG_20201115_154448058.jpg](https://www.scale-models.co.uk/data/attachments/272/272775-ad814b64a8bdd72c941bb911f3e3f0bd.jpg)
I think it’s the same as clear dope for model aeroplanes, actually.
I thickened the whole thing up (for moulding) from the inside with my new best friend, the UV fly-tying resin glue, and then added a second layer of crumpled greaseproof paper for the texture of the inside surface, which also got ‘The Tetrion Treatment’.
I nearly forgot the screw on the top of the helmet, for which I used half a lead fishing line weight.
Anyway, here he is, my first ever bust, all ready for rubber (Steady, the Buffs!)
![IMG_20201115_152556290.jpg IMG_20201115_152556290.jpg](https://www.scale-models.co.uk/data/attachments/272/272778-b5356dbbba0baa377c09d65a1781d6fc.jpg)
![IMG_20201115_152618969.jpg IMG_20201115_152618969.jpg](https://www.scale-models.co.uk/data/attachments/272/272779-64a6e4461964b8a6dfaae10d677fd28f.jpg)
![IMG_20201115_152649752.jpg IMG_20201115_152649752.jpg](https://www.scale-models.co.uk/data/attachments/272/272780-2ba157f093ab498e8113bfb6166ac3db.jpg)
The plinth, by the way, is 3D-printed in PLA on an FDM machine at extra fine resolution (0.06mm build layer).
It’s had a coat of Halford’s High-Build Primer-Filler to fill in the layering, a rub down with 600 wet & Dry and another coat of primer filler. It just needs a coat of gloss before I mould it.
Thanks for looking
Neil