Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Another day another set of improvements. (I hope)

Well they look like improvements to me anyway.
The TWH foal now has fetlock joints and a right shoulder and a chest, oh and a gender.  He's a boy.  I've still got to do something about the croup and the withers. The whole topline still looks off.  The hump above the shoulder bone is in the wrong place I think.
But still, He's got better shaped feet now. I've still got a lot of work to do to the legs yet. Reshaping and resculpting the bones. And working on the knees.  He's got an indication of a bushy tail now. Oh, and I slimmed his face down under the jaw some and on top of the head. His front legs need a lot more apoxie to them. They are really thin still.



The big boy's looking awsome now. He's got some knee joints, and some fill in aireas. He's got a new bottom lip and a new chin and new redefined nostrils. Added the base for the mane and started filling in the tail. Added some more fillin apoxie to his neck on one side. When it's dry, I'll sand it back down again and maybe add more.  That's what i do most of them time.  sand it down then build it back up again, then sand it off again.  (sigh)  My indian name is "Wastes Apoxie". 
The one thing about him looking different than the reference photo is his back is alittle more sloped inward or sunken in than the real guy.  I know this, and it's simple as anything to pat down a touch of apoxie in the middle of his back and simply smooth it out to look exactly like the big guy, and I almost did this but I got to thinking. Apoxie can lift after time if models experience a climate change, or temperature change, and they can warp.  It's nothing you can do to prevent it.  If it's going to happen,....it's going to just happen.  The only thing you can do is repair the cracks and Zap A Gap them, sand them down smooth, re-prime, and re-touch the paintjob.  I've had models I've made years ago, never cracked ever. Still intact fully, and some I've had crack in a matter of less than a year and even shorter time.  Sometimes it happens. Drilling breath holes doesn't prevent it.  It's still happened.  I've taken to flattening out a sheet of wet apoxie and literally sliding it in through the open neck hole of a horse and sticking it all around the inside cavity of a CM and sometimes that's the best thing to do. Sandwich the plastic in between two layers of apoxie.  Inside and out.  So anyway, I was thinking, if I put a flat piece of apoxie like a patch right over the middle of that back.....it's going to wind up cracking right there and lifting.  So to avoid a patch of apoxie in a place that could be "lift central" if the model ever does warp microscopically, I'd rather have his conformation off a hair  from the reference photo than to risk the model itself losing display life. I've looked at a bunch of single-footed horses in the last few weeks and there are many that have a slight dip in their backs anyway.  It's just this "particular" one is a hefty one and has a little bulk to him.  But it's not worth the risk add ing such a small flat piece of apoxie there.



I sanded down the Teke a little but nothing real exciting on him yet. I'll get the mane in and take another picture of him. But Cupid's got an antler now!  He's also got a new nose.  I looked at my deer book and he needed some rhinoplasty. He was hard to handle with the antler set, so I'm going to bulk his nose/face up later. His nose is a little too long and thin. He's not going to have a roman nose but just a little more bulked up.  If he were a female it may look better but the males have a more bulked appearance in the face.



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