Casting the weapons and heads to a satisfactory standard is difficult using the "drop casting" technique. The basic problem is that as the individual items are small, there isn't really enough mass of metal to keep the heat as it goes into the mould, the result is that it cools more quickly and its difficult to achieve the fine detail. This is an area where a centrifuge would pay dividends. However after a bit of perciverance I've got a reasonable stock of heads and weapons that I can use.
For the first figure, I intend to do a marching fusilier, as its a good "generic" pose.
In this photo, I've just assembled the figure with the basic components I've cast, so a body, head and musket. The head is attached to the body with a metal pin, drilled and glued to both parts. At this stage I normally bend the arms, move the head etc, until I get a pose that I'm happy with.
The next step is then to start to build up the figure working towards a completed master. Initially I will add the basic, form of the coat sleeves, the shirt around the neck area, and some minor repairs and beefing up of the vulnerable areas on the coat/turnbacks and between the legs that the master for the Torso suffered from.
Here he is having completed this stage of the process, I have also added a little more to the nose, as whilst it was ok looking from the front, in profile it was still a bit weak. I'll stop, now to let this harden, next time finishing the coat, and adding the cartidge box and belt.
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