Sparky the Goblin
A scratch built flat now available from Bash Models
Sculpted and painted in 2011
I’ve always been fascinated by flat figures, initially seeing them in the pages of Military Modelling in the mid 1990’s via Graham Dixey’s articles, and being enthralled by his knowledge of colour theory, cast shadows and the used of solid colours rather than metallic paints to imitate metal sections of a model.
Getting hold of flat figures back then was a lot more difficult, most had to be sourced through mail order, and almost all producers were based in foreign countries.
Scale was also a little bit constraining, as most flats were 28mm that I could find, and so a little bit smaller than I would have preferred to paint.
So my grey army remained fully round for a long time, in fact I don’t think I managed to get any flat figures that I wanted to paint until the early 2000’s, with Roy Hunt producing his small range of resin single sided flats – and they are gorgeous too ( having painted a few of them, I can vouch for their quality ).
So what made me want to sculpt my own flat…… Um….. Probably something as simple as “seeing if I could”, added to which, there wasn’t much in the way of fantasy flats available at that point. Oh and I collect fantasy art books, which have LOADS of potential subjects in to encourage, inspire and enthuse the budding sculptor.
So with my less than brilliant sculpting skills, but with high hopes, putty and tools at the ready, I could begin.
I chose a simple enough design from the Art of World Of Warcraft - see photo #1. I wouldn’t produce a copy of the original drawing, but I would change areas of it to intentionally make it different. So by tracing the design out on paper and transferring that onto some thick plastic card I had a rough idea of what it was going to look like, and a guide as to where to place the putty.
This can be seen in photo #2 where I have begun adding putty – in this case Magic Sculpt – to begin forming parts of the design.
The plastic card is held in place with four blobs of blu-tac onto a block of wood. I kept a picture of the finished design on one side to refer to as I went along.
Advantages of sculpting like this is that the design can be built up in sections, allowing parts to cure before adding more.
Disadvantages are that the putty goes hard after a few hours and if the sculpting isn’t right, or needs to be changed after that, then it’s a case of carving new details in, or removing that section and resculpting from scratch, added to which, removing the offending part could damage other areas that are OK.
So, returning to photo #2, I’ve got the face, one leg, one arm and the main part of the barrel done.
Here’s the other problem. It was my first try, and the putty is too thick for it to be a true flat. The face in particular is probably about 6mm thick, so this is bordering on a demi ronde ( semi round ) rather than a flat.
So, this is looking a bit weird, a face floating in mid-air, but that’s OK, it’ll develop.
Photo #3 shows a bit more progress, the ears let the face make more sense visually, although that neck is perilously thin.
Photo #4 begins to look like I know what I’m doing ( I don’t, but the illusion might be there ), with some of the body and the right boot sculpted in. The barrel begins to look mire like a barrel rather than a series of strangely shaped planks standing to attention, and I’ve got to admit that I was pleased with the appearance I’d managed with the flames on the end of the torch.
Even though this is a cartoon style figure, I wanted to try for some perspective ( because we’re moving now to photo #5 ), and so the left hand on the top of the barrel, which is supposed to be closer to the viewer, is significantly bigger than the right hand holding the torch, which is further away.
The helmet, with a bit of damage sculpted in, finished off the piece, and in a senseless fit of achievement, I thought I’d make a mould of the little fella so that other people could share in my triumph.
Having made a mould and produced a few castings, I wanted to paint one, and the beginnings of this are shown in photo #6. Whilst I’ve got the skin marked out, it needs a lot more doing to it, but at this point I was concentrating more on seeing if I could get the lit torch to work.
Photo #7 is looking better, more shadows added to the skin, along with some highlights, the helmet painted with varying shades of grey to make it appear that it’s made out of metal, and that massive “clown” shoe done with the toes peeping out of the end.
The final shot shows the finished flat, the barrel has been painted with the metal areas also being done with grey tones, the trousers painted in, and “TNT” painted onto the side of the barrel. Small details like the buckles on the chinstrap and belt are also done with grey, highlights added with pure white.
As a first attempt at sculpting a flat it’s not terrible, there are however some major flaws that make this a “not flat” that I found very difficult to correct, even on sculptures following this.
Am I happy with it, yes actually I am, The sculpt itself is fun, which is what I intended, the demi ronde aspect is still pretty easy to paint, and the character of the little fella comes through.
These are still available through Bash Models – look up seller ash0040 on Ebay if you’re interested as they’re only a few pounds each plus postage.
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