fmp2connorbaldry

[fmp2connorbaldry]

Final photos of Final outcome:

Using a variety of light brightnesses, a black background and a high resolution camera, I took photos of the final outcome at many angles and magnifications.

I like this photo with how the soldiers are shown with the light on the left as it separates both soldiers even more with the American soldier being exposed in the light whereas the British soldier is shown to be in the dark side of the photo. This can also be interpreted in another way with the rages of war on the left with the US soldier fighting it full on whereas the British soldier is focused on looking the other way. The photo also provides another way of being seen with the background once agin providing a message/tribute to the soldier who fought all hours of day and night and even gave their lives to win the war. These multiple interpretations provide a unique look that allows the observers to think up of constant scenarios of where, when and who my soldiers represent.

I photoshopped this image by applying text onto the left side of the image because I felt there was far too much space for the light to use. To create the text, I inserted a text box and wrote in the text as shown. I did try typing in ‘World War Two’ but it was far too long and would intersect the US soldiers look on the image, So I decided to go with just adding ‘WWII’ to the image. I also added the years the war started and the it ended to add more historical context and interest to the photo. In a way, The yellow text does amplify the brightened background with it being such a bold yellow.

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Spraying the outcome:

The last stage for my outcome was to now coat it in the colour I picked after analysing their advantages and disadvantages to how they would impact the whole look of the model. 

As my model is very heavy to move it to face places such as he outdoors from the room I am in and the problem of the spray paint being dangerous to spray indoors, I had to improvise and spray the model in a room next to the one I am currently working the model in as it does have a door that leads to outdoors so I had to spray the model  next to the open door. I moved the model from the first room to the next room by transporting it on a caddy.

For spraying the entire armature, I became very aware and rained the amount of paint I used until the entire model was green, this was to make sure that I did not miss out any areas that are noticeable. 

After completing the first coat, I then completed another coat on the model on the base to cover up any gaps and cracks. From finishing, This stage has turned out very successful with how effective and relatable my model is to the actual toy soldiers wit the bold green that is not too bright or too dark for the details to stay visible. My only concern is that I had forgot to colour the strap on the American soldier’s Thompson green fully after focusing too much on the base and not leaving enough to paint it. However I have  included a small amount of paint on the area of the strap where it connects to the stock of the gun which does show my original intention but unexpectedly do like the separation of the colour of the strap from the entire model because it make the Thomson stand out much more in a good way.

[fmp2connorbaldry]

The ghosts of Soldiers:

All credit goes to Robert Eveleigh and Slimbridge local history society for the photos published on this source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-46155057

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/510736413987485440/

In 2018, it was the 100th Anniversary of the day the first world war ended or known as Armistice Day high was very significant for history as there were the usual tributes but I have just found out that there was another tribute that was in a graveyard in Slimbridge for a limited time.

There were a total of eleven life size sculptures of British soldiers sporting the Brodie helmet in the iconic respecting pose. each sculpture had been made out of chicken wire and were either looking down or standing in front of some deceased people’s gravestones. I don't think the soldiers have been placed at people gravestones by coincidence or luck without them knowing they either were or weren't soldiers who fought but the strength of these amazing structures of providing respect is incredible as someone has spent the time creating these detailed soldiers, showing the they are fixed on making sure that they are not forgotten.

Not every soldier was accounted for in the war with some of them known and forgotten or they will never be known but the idea of soldiers standing over graves provides clarity and respect for those who did fight in the first world war.

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Memorial to the women of World War Two:

Source of Image: https://www.npg.org.uk/visit/walking-tour/st-james-tour/stop-5

This is a WWII memorial dedicated to be a tribute for all of the women in the war. It is meant to be a symbol of strength for all women who either worked tirelessly throughout the war by fighting in the front themselves, growing food, making uniforms or assembling guns for those fighting on the front or even providing hope with Vera Lynn being one of the major female music artist who's songs cheered up everyone on the most difficult days. 

I love how the women are represented throughout he coats hanging as it can be interpreted in two ways with the first one being that the coats are representing the women who put their coats up either at home or at work and work extra to do their part in the war. The coats could also be a tribute to all the women who either lost their lives in the war or later on in life and they may be gone but their coat still remains, relating to the iconic war quote, ‘Gone but not forgotten’

The font is very bold and smiler to the one used for the ration books used int he time which also points out to me that thesis another way of representing the women as it was always the women who brought and cooked the rationed food whilst the men were busy at wrk or fighting in the war.

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Jacob Epstein and Torso in Metal from the Metal Drill:

Source of image and information: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/epstein-torso-in-metal-from-the-rock-drill-t00340

Source of Image: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Epstein

Sir Jacob Epstein was a British-American artist and sculptor who was responsible for numerous pieces of art, structures and sculptures. His most famous sculptures are The Bust of Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde’s Tomb and many more. I am looking into him for one of his pieces named the ‘Torso in Metal from the Rock Drill.

This unique piece is said to and does resemble a robot which makes its interesting as robots with Epstein himself describing the robot to come across as a  ‘a machine-like robot, visored, menacing’ weren’t even considered to be a thing around the time it was created in 1910s, nearer to the first World war. 

From the Tate website, there is some information that provides the method of how Epstein created this incredible piece of work. Firstly Epstein had made a cast on top of the rock drill to create a symbol for the industrial machine age using the top of a rock drill. He later removed parts of the sculpture by cutting down from the waist and left hand and right arm. He later cast it in Bronze to create the outcome that is iconic in the art industry today. 

I really like the simplicity of Epstein’s sculpture in design but the basic details such as raised and boxed patterns that provide the sculpture with some character and unique traits. One thing I am curious about is what the thoughts were on about Epstein’s work when it was first created and introduced in 1913 as it very complex in design which may have confuse and possibly confuse people in modern society. 

Source of Image: https://ew.com/movies/star-wars-droids-ranked/

The structure looks very similar to the drones used In Star wars which hints to me that the design may have been inspired by Epstein’s outcome.

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Making the head for the British Soldier:

First of all I created the basic shape of the face by slowly building up the shape of the face by applying tiny chunks of clay.

However after the previous attempt of adding features such as the nose and the mouth, I did have to ask for help to make the face again to not only save time but to save the embarrassment of creating a terrible face again. But one thing that I did learn from last time after the face was made was adding other major details such as the hair and the helmet.

With the success of the American soldier's head now complete and looking very good for the armature, it was now time to create the British soldier. For the British soldier, I wanted to create a beret rather than the standard issue brodie helmet as discussed earlier on when I want to mix things up. Before going onto making the beret, I needed to include the hair onto the head using the same method I had used for the American soldier’s head. However I did changed the hairstyle off this one by making the clay for hair being much more thinner to create the short sides. 

For the beret, I did use the same technique of building the shape up on the top of the head to allow me to keep the size of it in proportion to the head by adding small bits of clay onto it. Since Berets has the top overlapping one side of the hat, I created this effect by removing little bits of clay to create the look of the Beret. To finish the look of the beret, I did add a mini circle in the middle of the front side of the hat, This was made to be the badge. To blend in with the entire outcome, I did add some creases on the top and the sides where the overlapping is shown clearly and naturally.

Out of all the parts of the stage, I am really happy with how the beret turned out despite not doing a trial beforehand. The way I have managed to overlap the top part of the beret over to one side has created a basic form of the beret but including the shape of a badge and creases has enhanced its look of not only looking more like a beret but it also sits with the rest of the details nicely, no longer sticking out massively.

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Adding details to the base:

With the two models now complete, the last thing I needed to do before moving onto spraying the entire outcome in the green to include the toy soldier effect was to decorate the base a but more to make it relate to the theme.

I have decided to leave the idea of making the feet for the British soldier to instead create the effect of the soldier standing in water. I think this effect will create a unique effect rather than just creating another set of feet.

However to do this, I needed to divide both areas of the base to give both soldiers their own space without being conflicted. I did this by creating debris to be the walls for the water. Not only will the debris do its job but it will also relate more to the theme as debris was a common trait in war, particularly in beaches, making it perfect to use as the best details.

To create the water, I added and where the bottom of the British soldier's legs were up to a point where the ground level in that area is more level. I then smoothed this part of the clay over which will then allow me to create the effect with the PVA glue without having any abnormalities.

The last feature I included like I last years outcome was some fences of barbed wire scattered throughout the base. To create the wire, I wrapped three pieces of wire around each other to create the basic pattern of the barbed wire. I then cut off certain parts of my barbed wire and then placed it in the areas I wanted it such as running into the ground from pressure on top of it from vehicles or explosions.

I did also tie some barbed wire to some wooden rods which would act as the fence posts holding the wire up to make it more noticable. I also thought adding random strips of wood across the base would also contribute in creating the look of the debris. As I did so for the previous stage, I coated all the details in PVA glue to preserve its moisture from drying out.

The base looks and feels more detailed with the new addition of debris and a puddle of water that relates to the idea of a landscape destroyed by war with it now littered with debris. Although now messy with various bits of scraps, I think it looks 100x better rather than just having the bland rocky base. I think the idea of the British soldier standing in water is a great alternative than creating another set of feet which makes the British soldier more interesting to look at once finished.

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Deciding the Colour:

I went into an art shop in the town centre where they sell a range of professional tools and other pieces of equipment including spray paints.

This is the place where I brought the brown spray paint for last years final major project so I thought it made sense to have a look inside and see what colours of spray paint.

From this, I happened to encounter two shades of green with that stood out to me as I am looking for a green similar to the ones used to colour the popular toy soldiers.

The first colour I found was a bright green as shown, although the colour is much more brighter than the typical toy soldier, using this bright shade of green could provide a vintage and an collector's edition of a toy soldier.

The second colour I picked to look into was a much darker and more sharper type of green, with it resembling more of a mixture of a light and dark green. This specific shade of green is closer to the one used most commonly to colour the toy soldiers. I really like this colour as it is a bold green and could provide the message that it is intending to represent the toy soldiers.

I did find another colour from another shop that caught my attention however I think this colour is too dark for the details to stay exposed which is a huge problem.

Out of the three colours I have analysed into their benefits, I have decided that getting the green that is a mixture of the light and dark green will prove to be the most effective as it is not a colour too bright but it is not too dark enough for the details to become hidden. Looking at it more makes me more confident with this decision as this colour resembles the colour used for the toy soldiers.

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Deciding the Hat/helmet for the soldier

Throughout making the helmet of the American soldier, I came into conflict on whether I was doing the right thing for the British soldier with sticking with the typical Brodie helmet was a good idea or not. To help me I created two alternatives for the brodie helmet

The first one was to make the Cap comforter hat I had researched into earlier on in the project. The comforter could provide me with a unique trait as the comforters aren't featured in films or games very often but using it for the soldier could benefit and provide a small history lesson to the observers for those who do not know what a cap comforter is.

The second choice was to create a Beret. I think this is a great idea as this could change up the look of the soldier dramatically with how different it is to the brodie helmet whilst also being an iconic piece of clothing still used today in the army. The type of beret I intend to use( the photo of the one I researched earlier) wasn't used by the US Army in WW2 but was used by the British which could separate both nationalities much more.

To conclude, I have decided to use the idea of the beret for the British soldier as it will be great at providing more of personal look for the soldier whilst also removing the classic brodie helmet resembling the typical British soldier who fought in WW2. Using the beret will break the tradition.

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Making the head:

With everything complete on the bodies on both the American and British soldiers. it was now time to move onto the hardest step of all, making the heads. I decided to have a go and try again at making the face but instead of just using the technique I looked into, I used the advice my lecturer gave on how to create a face, beginning with prioritising getting the head right. I tried this technique but to no avail as I couldn't even get that right, which forced me to seek help to make the face.

I got assistance on making the main shape as well as adding the features such as the nose and mouth, features that also contributed to making my trial so bad. One thing I do like about this face is how the anger is expressed through the mouth and the slight change in angle of the brows pointing towards the nose as this emotion builds up the American soldier's explosive personality even further which promotes the overall look of the soldier.

The next part I was able to include on which was hair, to make this, I added small clumps of clay onto the sides and top of the head to create the shape of the hair style. This part lead me onto then creating the effect of the texture of the hair by etching lines onto the clay. I only added a few marks across each side to create a basic look of the hair, too may lines would rotuhen up the hair ruining the intention of making hair. I did not worry about any lines on the top of the head as I will be making the helmet sitting on the soldiers head.

To make the helmet, I made a basic bowl shape from the top of the head to create the basic shape of the top of the helmet. To create the sides of the helmet, I then begun to add strips of clay on the sides to create the lips of the helmet where they cover more protection.

Source of Image: https://www.amazon.co.uk/GPP%C3%83%C3%82%C2%AE-Perfect-Helmet-Replica-GPP/dp/B00HNMFSUK

In some areas the lips of the helmet stood out too much but I was able to save this by just blending the lips to the sides of the main bowl part of the helmet to decrease the distance from both parts.

The last part I needed to add in was the straps on the helmet that are shown to be loose and swinging around freely on my improved design. To make these, I rolled out a thin and long sheet of clay and cut of the desired length and width suitable to match the helmet. I then connected these two straps to the helmet by slip. Doing this instead of my usual blending and dragging method ensured a strong grip to the helmet despite being thin. The only thing I had to consider with this feature is how wind will affect it, especially with the soldiers uniform being creased in a particular direction. I needed to do this on the straps so I included this by bending the straps in the same direction as the creases go.

Depsite getting help for the majority of this process, I think the head looks really good with the emotion and my inclusion of the hair and the helmet that all contribute to bringing Sergeant Sulley and his personality to life more and more.

With the success of this head, I am now confident with making the head for the British soldier, even if I need assistance.

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Toy soldiers:

Source of Image: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/toy-soldier--257057091206468824/

Toy Soldiers are toys that are popular dating back since the late 1930s. They were originally made from wood until plastic was more popular to use. Plastic is also cheaper and more easier to mass produce which led to these toys being made from this material. 

They are an iconic vintage toy due to their resemblance of a ww2 US soldier and the different colours of green that were always used the and still today. The toys were either an ‘Olive Green’ or a ‘Dark Green’. this colour made the toys perfect for camouflage, especially in the grass outdoors.

I myself do remember playing with Toy soldiers when I was much younger which is why researching into this toys does bring back memories but the main reason I am looking tiny these is down to the questionnaires results concluding the green is the most preferred colour for my outcome. These shades of greens are now iconic because they were used for the soldiers, which could be a great inspiration for using these specific shades of Green. They could even be used to create the illusion of a toy soldier effect within my very own model. 

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The Vulneratus Non Victus statue:

Since looking into the ‘Our Motherland calls’ statue in Russia and how effective it is at representing all the lives lost in both the battle of Stalingrad and throughout the entire second world war, I thought that adding some photos of this statue and analysing it could help me on research. 

This memorial is located in the town centre’s car park of Bury St Edmunds and was made to represent the lives lost in the South African War that occurred in 1899 and lasted until 1902.

One for the main things I like about this statue is the way the soldier is leant up against the rocks. From looking at it does seem to me that the soldier is resting on the rocks calmly, or maybe on a break from being on the fronts. Although this statue is not inspired by the Second World War, In a way the clothes worn by the soldier on this statue are very similar to those worn in the second world war, especially the British standard uniform which makes this interesting enough for me to analyse this. The feature that sticks out the most is the way the puttees have been made with so much detail that they almost look real down to the way the creases have been made and where they sit on the bottom half of the legs, which brings me onto my next feature, the clothes.

The way the creases on the clothes have been made and introduced onto the clothes provide another effect of realism on the soldier, making it look incredibly detailed.

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Joining the gun to the armature:

With the PVA on the gun now all dry on the gun, locking the moisture in place, the next part was to attach the gun to the soldier's right hand.

I thought of a way to connect both the gun and the hand together by wrapping some wire around the both of them, I then tightened the grip of the wire on both components by pulling the wire with pliers.

Once the gun was resting on the edge of the arm, I then covered up the wire using clay which I used to create the hand holding the gun. Using the video and the technique for the hands of the previous soldier, I created the hands for both of them. For the trigger I carefully placed the fingers in certain angles to create the effect of the hand holding the gun tightly.

To finish, I also added in a strap for the gun, I found a long strip of leather that was the perfect width. The only adjustment I made was the length of the strap to make it realistic and look tight against the weapon rather than loose. Overall I think the joining of the gun to the hand has proven to be successful with how strong the it is using only the same wire as I had used for making the guns armature. Although the pose does not support the gun as strong as the one the British soldier, I do feel confident that the connection between both parts is strong enough to stay in the same position.

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Adding details:

With the gun now all done, the next step was to begin adding more details to the overall look of the American soldier.

To help me, I referred back to improved drawing of sergeant Sulley and images on my mood board to make sure that the details are accurate to not only my fictional character but also to the original us uniforms that were worn by soldier in the second world war.

I first begun to make the bag for the American soldier to carry but first I had to search up for a WW2 US standard issue bag to help me make sure that I can create a similar look for the bag as shown on an image. I managed to find one image of a bag which is a basic design but very different from the standard issued bag for the British soldier, making it more obvious that both soldiers are very different from each other.

I have an advantage with this bag with its simplicity of design but I also have a disadvantage as the bag will be hard to apply onto the soldier as the British soldier bag is quite wide so including it on his American soldier's back will be a challenge.

Firstly I made the simple shape of the bag using the photo as a reference but due to the issue of the bag being hard to add onto the back, I had an idea on how to make the bag appear to be sat on the back realistically by cutting into the shape at the angle where it will clash with the back and the other bag. I had a go at my plan on applying the bag onto the back and apart from altering the width of the bag, my plan worked. The only problem I had to deal with now was to hide up the angle cut by covering it clay and creating the other side of the bag to make it clear where the bag is sitting.

One thing I had not considered was that I did not have to worry too much about the details on the main part of bag as it will be covered up by the other bag but the sides will still be showing up so I had to make sure that the sides had some details included to contribute in my overall working style.

With the bag now complete, I begun looking into other features that are included on my soldiers design. The features included were grenades, pouches like the British soldier had on his harnesses as well a pocket for his knife to sit in.

Source of Image: https://enemymilitaria.com/product/us-army-usmc-mk2-fragmentation-hand-grenade/

I first started on making the grenade by rolling a small lump of clay into a ball, I then put pressure on the ends to create a cylinder like shape but since they are rounded at the bottom, I slimmed down these areas to create the basic shape of the hand grenade. 

From the images of WW2 US army hand grenades, I noticed that they have a circular pin which is pulled out before throwing it. So I decided to create a similar effect by making my own pins using thin wire. To make them circular, I wrapped wire around my thumb multiple times to reinforce the shape, for this, I also wrapped tiny pieces of wire on the sides. The last two parts for the grenade was to achieve the realism of the grenade and I couldnt do that without creating the texture. Referring back to the image again, the grenade shown includes a chequered design. 

I decided to create this effect on my grenade by etching multiple lines diagonally onto it using a small tipped tool. I did use a piece of plastic and etched over that onto the clay as doing this will etch the lines whereas without the plastic, it would cut into the clay. The last feature was creating the handle, for this I rolled a thin piece of clay into a rectangular shape. I cut of the length and thickness that was needed using the image. I then roughly placed it in the area it needed to be inbetween the top of the main body of the grenade and the side of the grenade, sitting just over half the grenade.

The knife pouch was very easy as I didn't have to create the actual shape of knife and could just create the look of a knife sitting inside. All I had to create was the pouch and a basic handle out of clay to convince the audience that the holder for the weapon.

The only thing I had to consider was the width of the pouch as it had to be fairly wide to gain the realism effect. I rolled out a piece of clay into a rectangular shape with enough width to provide more space. As pouches for these weapons are very rounded rather than sharp to comfort the wearer so I did this by creating a rounded edge where the tip of blade would be sitting.

I smoothed the cut using my hands to ensure that it was rounded all round pouch until the top where the handle is resting. To make the pouch I rolled out a tiny piece of clay into a cylindrical shape using my hands. To refine the shape of the handle, I cut off the edges to make sure that it would. for the handle I rolled a bit of clay into a ball which will be the tip of the handle. For creating a strong join without ruining the shape of the ball, I used my clay tools. particularly the tiny tipped ones to carefully attach the ball to the top of the handle. 

With both the handle and the pouch for the knife now all finished it is now time to connect both together and then add it onto the soldier’s belt. The last major features I added in were some pouches for ammunition and food the US soldier has on his belt, very similar to the British soldier.

Overall I am really chuffed with these details despite them looking fairly basic and simple as each of them contribute to the whole look of the American soldier dramatically, adding more and more character and context to Sergeant Sulley. My best feature at this stage is the Grenades despite making multiple of them using only an image and not making trials before making them, even though this would have taken up valuable time but I think they have turned out looking fairly well. the only issue I have the isn't a big one as it does provide the texture is whether I have gone a bit overboard and creating too many lines for the pattern on the grenade. Another feature I think I have managed to adapt and overcome was adding the bag onto he back of the soldier despite the British soldier’s bag being awfully close to his back anyway but I think me cutting into the bag at an angle to allow me to slot in the bag carefully and securely and then covering the cut up with more clay for the sides is a necessary errand that has kept the look of the soldier looking just as good.

[fmp2connorbaldry]

Making the Tommy Gun:

With the armature of the M1928 Thompson submachine gun now all made up, I can now begin to create the main shape and iconic look of the gun with clay.

Firstly I began to add tiny lumps of clay to the armature to build up the bulkiness, particularky on the top where the iron sights will go to separate both the big top and the thinner bottom half of the gun.

I also added the basic shapes of major features included on the Thompson such as the foregrip the soldier held to maintain control of the gun whenever holding or firing it. To include this I just added a chunk of clay on the back of the barrel that connects to the gun.

The next major step was to add textures and include more details with the next one focusing on the main iron sights. To make these, I cut two irregular rectanglar shapes similar to the photo I used to keep my model of the gun as accurate to the iconic gun as much as possible. To stick them to the main gun, I stood them up on their own in the area I wanted to put them which was at the back end of gun and then blended them using a tiny tipped tool to smudge both the sight and the top of the gun itself.

The next part I focused on was making the separations across the gun much more obvious such as the areas where wood was used such as the handles, the foregrip and the bottom half that were commonly made out of wood for the gun. To create the wood effect, I dragged multiple tools of different thicknesses of tips across the areas needing the wood look to create the effect. I made the effect by constantly scratching the areas lightly until I had a basic but effective wood look.

Creating a metal look out of clay is hard so to save precious time, I decided to smooth it down and then roughten up some edges using clay tools. I don't think it has resulted in the way I thought it was going to but as long as the top half looks clearly different from the bottom half then the gun will look great.

The last part I needed to work on was the look of the magazine clip. This was an awkward area as this was the biggest issue I fixed using thin wire which is now visible and now covering it up with clay. I managed to cover the majority of the wire up but some still remain visible due to the thickness of multiple parts of the wire overlapping each other but as the gun will be sprayed a different colour along with the main model and doing this should cover up the wire's visibility dramatically. Once the gun was complete and I was happy with the look of, I then proceeded to coat it in PVA to lock all of the moisture inside.

Overall I think the look of the gun looks amazing with the overall shape and details I have managed to include. The feature I am most happy with is the wood texture I have included using a method I made. It looks like a rough and weathered type of wood which is much different to the type of wood that was neat, tidy and glazed. I think the way I have made my rigged wood suggests the material even more, providing a clear and obvious hint that it is made of wood.

Comparing my model to the image itself, I do think the model is very accurate to it, which shows that I have created a detailed and effective model of the tommy gun despite the first trial going horrendously wrong.

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Refining the creases and adding details:

With the basic form of the body for the American soldier now all complete along with some basic strips of clay acting as the creases, It was now time to go back into these parts and include details to build more character.

The most important feature I wanted to start and get the basic shapes of the creases. As wind is involved in my piece with it affecting the uniform the British soldier us wearing by blowing the clothes in a certain direction to create the creases, for this soldier, the creases are blowing towards the right so to make the American soldier include the same wind to match the whole idea of it on my model, I needed to make the creases on this soldier's clothes towards the left. The creases I made are much bigger and bolder to make the material of this soldier's clothes visibly different than the ones worn by the British soldier which will provide the both soldiers with more details separating each other. I did remove clay in some areas on this soldier to make the clothes on the US soldier more baggier.

At this stage, I experimented with making the shoes for the American soldier to see how big I needed to make them in proportion with the rest of the model. From refining the whole look of the US soldier by creating the creases and removing parts to slim the clothes, I think the soldier is at a good stage with refining the look of him first will save time and provide the confidence of proceeding to the next stage knowing that the shape and form is in proportion and correct.

[fmp2connorbaldry]

Making the Tommy Gun

The slimming down of the American soldier made me realise that I am slightly above schedule than I originally thought for the soldier but I hadn't considered the gun and how long that would take so I decided to get it done now. 

To create the main body I used a photo of the Thompson as a reference to keep on coming back to in order to make sure that the shapes and the features were the right shape and size. For the main upper half of the body I welded two long rods togther, these will act as the barrel for the gun with the smaller rods being the support for making up the shape of the gun.

The next step was making the magazine and for this, I cut four pieces of welding rod to the same measurement, this is to expand the size of the mag which will not only look effective but also allow more space to weld it to the gun itself but before I could do that, I needed to create a connection between all four rods. I lined all four rods up in a straight line and next to each other, I then placed a longer rod over all four which will act like a bridge over all four that will stick to all of them once welded on top. I did this one more time with another bridge slightly lower down on the magazine to enforce the join. Once the join was complete I then went on to join the magazine to the main body. It will be difficult as I have not left enough space to join it strongly to the body.

This is how the armature turned out and truthfully, I am surprisingly happy with it, especially with how wrong the trial went but I think the result has changed dramatically on the shape of the magazine with changing it to a single rectangular mag rather than sticking to the original plan of using a drum magazine as this decision has allowed a strong and fixed join to the main body of the gun. My only concern at this stage is how close the stock is to the back end of the gun where it is iconically distant from each other due the end’s stocky back. However I should be able to rectify this when I am at the stage of applying clay to bulking up the overall shape and look of the gun.

Some welded parts did eventually fall off like the magazine which forced me to wrap thin wire around that and the main body of the gun to connect both parts together. The foregrip also fell off once but I was able to weld it back on and has stayed on since. Once the clay is added onto the foregrip and the body, the parts will become much more stronger which will make it perfect for the American soldier to hold tightly andsecurely without worrying about the stability of the clay or the armature.