Making People for the Railway

 

    One of the main reasons I chose Gn15 is the chance to make my own characters.  Instead of being forced to scour the internet for just the right figure then wait along together it shipped from wherever its made (although Modelu3D really is making some fantastic figures of period people that are superb- go see them!).  This way I can imagine a scene, look for reference and make my figures exactly the way I want them to look. 

    I use Sculpey (firm) to make my figures.  I bought sculpting tools from Blick's but some of the best tools can be made from old paint brushes.  You can make a tool that meets your exact needs and scale.  You will also need scupltor'swire so that you can make a rudimentary armature which does not have tone elaborate.  Its only required you have arms and hands that are not next to the body of your figure.  The armature keeps things from breaking.  don't go all the way to the way to the hands because it makes modeling the hands even harder.  Extend the armature beyond the foots have something to hold onto when making and painting the figure.  It also might come in handy when you want to glue the figure to your layout.  

    As a former illustrator I have studied drawing the human figure so I have an eye for proportions.  But here isa photo of the template I used to make my figure.  Feel free to copy the photo, enlarge it to actual size, paste it to a thick card (like railroad cardboard) and carve out the shapes.  You can then fit the clay components within the template to get the proportions at least to match mine.  You can also search on the internet for more accurate drawings of figures as a source to make your own template.  In the following video I show how I made my own figure using the template.  The template comes in handing to insure that all the people are the same relative size.  Don't forget to vary the height, weight of your characters.  

Painting The Figure

Step 1: Use a grey primer that shoots a fine spray like Tamiya's grey primer.  This way the paint does not cover your details and you can find any imperfections that you might want to fix with Tamiya Putty.

Step 2: Paint the face.  I used a base coat of medium brown paint for the skin.  This helps provide a warm tone to the skin colors that go on top.  I then started adding skin colors keeping in mind of the light source.  Things further away from the light source the darker it will be.  

Step 3: Refine the face, add highlights to the skin and then paint hair, mustache, eyebrows and eyes. Go back and fix any paint screw ups.  

Step 4: Start painting the clothes.  Start with a darker shade of your final color then keeping in mind of your light source paint lighter shades of your finale color.  

Step 5: Add highlights to the clothes (remember where is the sun (if the sun is on the left then paint the highlights on the left above). Then add any weathering if desired.  Since my character is a railway employee who'll be getting on and off the train he is going to get dirty so I painted it a color that matched my cobblestones and dirt.  Then finally spray with a matte spray to protect the paint finish.  

Template

       Here is a photo of my template. Download the picture, send to your printer and scale it up to your desired scale. Then glue to thick card like railroad board which is thick and stiff but you can you use any other thick cardstock. 

Update: Now 3D print a Template

I have since designed my own 3D printed my own template that is a little fancier than the above template.   Download the file from Thingiverse and load to your 3D printer.  https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5533995 - watch the YouTube app on how I use a template https://youtu.be/ezUe06NYI8g