Sharpe's Loup and Captain Frederickson, Major Sharpe (modded), Sergeant Harper mods (done for now) WIP

Coming along nicely. I like how you did the boots.

Aha! So "Loup" is the inspiration for the DiD "Napoleonic" head sculpt that I spent ages looking for online a few years back. I had no idea what that head was from when I began looking.

DiD issued a set of four "Napoleonic" action figure heads that I presume are based on the cast of Sharpe.

This looks like a fascinating project, combining historical research, television show research, and impressive crafting skills and an eye for detail.

Just started watching the show. One episode down. Pretty good so far. My one complaint would be the oddly out of place electric guitar for parts of the music — reminds me of Ladyhawke.

GubernatorFan wrote:Looking good. If that is rabbit fut, it was recently suggested to pluck out the longer hairs so that it would look more convincing as wolf fur in sixth scale.

This is just crappy nylon or polyester.

Stryker2012 wrote:Coming along nicely. I like how you did the boots.

Cheers! Salvaged them! LOL

davidd wrote:Aha! So "Loup" is the inspiration for the DiD "Napoleonic" head sculpt that I spent ages looking for online a few years back. I had no idea what that head was from when I began looking.

DiD issued a set of four "Napoleonic" action figure heads that I presume are based on the cast of Sharpe.

This looks like a fascinating project, combining historical research, television show research, and impressive crafting skills and an eye for detail.

Cheers! Yup the set comes with Loup, Sharp, Harper and a generic Napoleonic British officer's head, at least I don't recognise it as any character in particular. You can still find them cheap on eBay.

Stryker2012 wrote:Just started watching the show. One episode down. Pretty good so far. My one complaint would be the oddly out of place electric guitar for parts of the music — reminds me of Ladyhawke.

LOL, well it was the 90's, if it were the 80's we'd have a synthesizer! Be grateful they didn't use anything dafter! LOL.
If you're watching them in order there's actually a prequel called 'Sharpe's Tiger' about his service in India and how he became an officer even though he was just an enlisted soldier normally couldn't rise in rank above Master Sergeant, he saves Lord Wellington's life; not really a spoiler as they refer to this often in the series but there's a lot more to the episode than that! A really good one starring Toby Stephens (Black Sails, James Bond 'Golden Eye'etc..) as the lead villain with a stunning Indian female model Padma Lakshmi along side him.


Forgot updates lol.
Having fun messing around with alternate hair, right now I favouring a gorilla soldier's scalp from POTA lol.































I'VE SINCE CUT THE GORILLA 'SIDEBURNS' OFF

I for one LOVE the 'oddly out of place electric guitar' --- For me, that is a huge part of it's charm!!!

But seriously, embrace the cheese, it's part of the fun.

And back to the project, the way you fearlessly modify just about ANYTHING in pursuit of creating your figures is always so impressive. The creativity to think of scalping the gorilla for his hair! lol!

You're so fast!! And this is coming along nicely! Definitely better with the wig.

And funny note about Sean bean.
But it just goes to show that he is the kind of actor who will always give a character enough weight for the death to have an impact, even when he is the bad guy.

Ah yes, Sharpe. There is someone who frequently recommends to watch it. The Underdog British Empire against the evil French. What would they be without their supersoldier who wins all their battles.

I really like your loops an buttons chest, I'd lose motivation to do that when just looking at the reference pic. And your painted them with a golden sharpie (haha) after attaching them and without gilding the shirt.

And I also like cheesy guitar riffs. For me some 90s nostalgia is easier to stomach than the omnipresent 80s that somehow never ended.

skywalkersaga wrote:I for one LOVE the 'oddly out of place electric guitar' --- For me, that is a huge part of it's charm!!!

But seriously, embrace the cheese, it's part of the fun.

And back to the project, the way you fearlessly modify just about ANYTHING in pursuit of creating your figures is always so impressive. The creativity to think of scalping the gorilla for his hair! lol!

Thanks! It was more of an experiment than anything just for fun as he'll be posed wearing his helmet anyway so anything close to a likeness in hairstyle is a bonus!

Diana wrote:You're so fast!! And this is coming along nicely! Definitely better with the wig.

And funny note about Sean bean.
But it just goes to show that he is the kind of actor who will always give a character enough weight for the death to have an impact, even when he is the bad guy.

I love that you call it a wig! It does look a bit like one, I wonder if the actor was wearing one too? Yes Sean Bean has played some great characters.

Ovy wrote:Ah yes, Sharpe. There is someone who frequently recommends to watch it. The Underdog British Empire against the evil French. What would they be without their supersoldier who wins all their battles.

I really like your loops an buttons chest, I'd lose motivation to do that when just looking at the reference pic. And your painted them with a golden sharpie (haha) after attaching them and without gilding the shirt.

And I also like cheesy guitar riffs. For me some 90s nostalgia is easier to stomach than the omnipresent 80s that somehow never ended.

Well the 95th Rifles were more of a sneaky Special Forces group who took any advantage they could, like wearing green for a start! Not lining up on a battlefield to just be shot by cannons instead they would hide in the high ground and use their far more accurate weapons for sniping. They had to be 'Chosen Men' though, you couldn't just join them, a bit like the SAS or Navy SEAL's I guess. I can't take credit for all the lovely stitching, that was done by DID for their British Hussar figure called 'George' I just changed all the colours and I'm about to replace the fur too.

More messing around with the gorilla hair, not really styled, not sure this thick stuff can be at this length but I'll try..maybe. The helmet is actually mostly steel! I had assumed it was plastic since it's so light compared to my other metal one.







USED HAIR I'D CUT OFF EARLIER TO FILL ANY BALD PATCHES (CHEAP ROOTED HAIR WIDELY SPACED) AND GAVE HIM SOME EARS AS I FIGURED HE'D NEED THEM.





















SOME WEIRD OLD SOCKS, TIPS LOOK LIKE SHORT GREY FUR TO ME LOL.











MIGHT WORK FOR THE PATTERNS ON HIS THIGHS?





GOLD...



BIT OF A MESS BUT SOMEWHERE IN THE BALLPARK LOL..











STRAYS ALL OVER THE PLACE LOL

Looks pretty good. It’s always funny to see how wild the hair looks when first starting, but it turned out good. And good work on the outfit and hat.

For a scalped gorilla, that hair worked out fairly well. I guess it doesn't have to be a fancy rehairing job if it's going to be mostly under a helmet.

That being said, have you tried your hand at tibetan lamb hair re-hairing? Not for this figure, I'm just thinking in general. Maybe you already have done that for previous projects, but I feel like you'd be good at it!

Stryker2012 wrote:Looks pretty good. It’s always funny to see how wild the hair looks when first starting, but it turned out good. And good work on the outfit and hat.

skywalkersaga wrote:For a scalped gorilla, that hair worked out fairly well.    I guess it doesn't have to be a fancy rehairing job if it's going to be mostly under a helmet.

That being said, have you tried your hand at tibetan lamb hair re-hairing? Not for this figure, I'm just thinking in general. Maybe you already have done that for previous projects, but I feel like you'd be good at it!

Cheers! I've done hundreds of 'real hair' scratch builds, where I take loose hair and glue the strands on a few at a time generally using either real hair, acrylic hair, fake fur or real fur. Probably done some lambs wool along the way, I remember I asked a farmer on Andros for some but got impatient and used cotton wool instead with PVA, I was on a Greek island working with what I could find in the wild to finish building my Samurai Predator. This lambs wool thing seems to have become popular recently with the releases/announcements of the lambswool hair Jokers by In Art and HT.

anyway, just woke up and did some quick mods before my coffee or smoke, they seem to help. I think the sculpt is too aquiline and looks a bit like a young Charlie Sheen. I'll give him thicker fur sideburns/mutton chops later, he definitely needs those. Added sharpie copper to the hair, did some final trimming and detailed bits of the face but could use more work on the face.























IGNORE THE SLOPPY TACHE FOR NOW, WILL BE FIXED.









PROBABLY OVERDID THE NUMBER OF PICS AS USUAL!LOL.

I was wondering about that gorilla hair, but it worked out in the end, as usual. Very well indeed. And now you've got me watching the show too. Poor Sharpe constantly pitted against not only revolutionary French, but also constant incompetence and snobbery on his own side.

That turned out really cool. Nice work on the real hair.

GubernatorFan wrote:I was wondering about that gorilla hair, but it worked out in the end, as usual. Very well indeed. And now you've got me watching the show too. Poor Sharpe constantly pitted against not only revolutionary French, but also constant incompetence and snobbery on his own side.

Cheers GTF! Glad you're giving it a go too, the show that is, not gorilla hair lol. You'll meet a Southern Gentleman called Colonel Leroy who befriends Sharpe and has the same opinion about the snobbery and incompetence of the British senior officers. Oddly enough he was from Boston in the books but making him Virginian for the TV show added a new dimension to his character because even though he is very likable, you remember where he's from with him saying "slaves, tobacco, cotton and molasses" being the best ways to get rich.

Stryker2012 wrote:That turned out really cool. Nice work on the real hair.

Cheers still got the mutton chops and tache to do. I just noticed his neck's too long as well! Fixing that will help get rid of the aqueline look making him more 'bullish' like the actor Timothy Cotton.

The close up photos look awesome! I love how he turned out!

I figured you'd done the 'gluing on the hair' thing given how many builds you've completed over the years!

Re: the tibetan lamb hair, maybe it's become more popular recently, but it's been my go-to material since I first encountered it when I got into the hobby about 5 years ago. I've seen some spectacular results from professional 1/6 artists tibetan lamb's wool, and I know Ephiane, Ovy, GF, and Valiarde all use it to great effect as well. But it's a fiddly process, so it can sometimes be a relief to find an alternative method for hair that doesn't involve all the cutting and glueing. ;p

skywalkersaga wrote:The close up photos look awesome! I love how he turned out!

I figured you'd done the 'gluing on the hair' thing given how many builds you've completed over the years!

Re: the tibetan lamb hair, maybe it's become more popular recently, but it's been my go-to material since I first encountered it when I got into the hobby about 5 years ago. I've seen some spectacular results from professional 1/6 artists tibetan lamb's wool, and I know Ephiane, Ovy, GF, and Valiarde all use it to great effect as well. But it's a fiddly process, so it can sometimes be a relief to find an alternative method for hair that doesn't involve all the cutting and glueing. ;p

I tend to use whatever is laying around lol! Unless I need a particular type of fur or something like for this build.

Talking of which... I've been 'furing' everything in sight it seems this morning!  Gave him fur mutton chops and taches, a gap for his scar is on purpose. I made his helmet plume of the wolf fur with head and 3 tails (distinguishes him as the Brigadier General) from behind I'm guessing, it's screen accurate anyway! I then did all the fur for his coat which involved a lot of trimming, might need a bit more and wires put into it to shape it better over his shoulder, I'll redo the gold and attach it's carry strap too. Also shortened his neck to make him more bullish.











SAVED FOR AN ORC BUILD PROBABLY











































































POST TRIMMING

















PART REMOVED





BEEN WORKING ON THIS SINCE 2AM, IT'S NOW NEARLY 11AM, NO WONDER I'M YAWNING! LOL.

Wow that is some intense work! It's turning out great!

Now get some sleep....

That is indeed a ton of fur. But it is coming along nicely. The wolf is charming. And your work on the facial hair is a great improvement.

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow that is some intense work! It's turning out great!

Now get some sleep....

Cheers! Done the sleep thing too now lol.

GubernatorFan wrote:That is indeed a ton of fur. But it is coming along nicely. The wolf is charming. And your work on the facial hair is a great improvement.

Thanks! Should be a lot better with the face now, been working on it under a magnifying glass which helps especially with today's cameras! Done a bunch more trimming on the coat fur, plan to do the same to the helmet plume later. Oh, looks better with the shorter neck now.























SEEN A COUPLE OF THINGS ON THE FACE I OVERLOOKED BUT IT'S ALWAYS THE WAY WITH PICS! THEY'RE LIKE AN EDITING/PROOFREADING TOOL FOR BUILDS! LOL.

Your painstaking mods have already made a ton of difference for the better. What an improvement! And does justice to your source. If I recall from just a few nights ago, the blind eye could be a little bit more whitish. I don't remember this detail precisely, but the nose-side edge of the left (camera right) eyebrow might need to be a tad fuller (unless this is sparse due to scarring).

Wow. Pretty cool. The work on that head sculpt really paid off. And the jacket is looking awesome.

GubernatorFan wrote:Your painstaking mods have already made a ton of difference for the better. What an improvement! And does justice to your source. If I recall from just a few nights ago, the blind eye could be a little bit more whitish. I don't remember this detail precisely, but the nose-side edge of the left (camera right) eyebrow might need to be a tad fuller (unless this is sparse due to scarring).

Cheers! Correct on both counts! I need to fix the colouring inside his nostrils too.

Stryker2012 wrote:Wow. Pretty cool. The work on that head sculpt really paid off. And the jacket is looking awesome.

Thank you Stryker! We're getting there.

Trying to make sense of his long cloak, not a lot to go on but you can see it in the pics and even better in the video when he's riding away but you'll need to scroll back to watch that, too tired to repost it now. Found pics showing a sort of similar cloak idea for Napoleonic soldiers so I based it off what the call a bivouac cloak.
Did a bit more work on his face, not the white eye yet, also trimmed the helmet fur plume and attached his straight sabre that is full metal and 'engraved'. Cloak not finished yet.





















OLD BOXERS LOL.










NOT ATTACHED YET













WAITING ONNN MORE BISON GLUE NOW...

Coming along very nicely, he looks resplendent in that cloak.