Friends,

RMG campaign finally showing some advance!
My British para took a life of its own when I saw a nice pic showing a guy with an open chute. I had to scratchbuild the harnesses and the jacket on the basic Dragon figure (thanks for the ref links guys!) and it came out really nice. I wasn´t too picky about every single strap but it should be ok.
Here´s the reference pic with the first in progress shot of the figure. I took the pic with my Nokia 3200 mobile phone, better pics will follow! I´ll also make a descrption of the technique I used to make the parachute. You guessed right: kitchen foil again!
I´m still going for black&white colouring with this...




Cheers,
Toni

wow toni thats just great.
really nice done!

very good I like it

cant wait to see the finished result.

maybe you can make a feature about making a chute?

Envar´s Excerpt is in the making as we speak!

Toni

Looking impressive plan, but at first site checking the pic and the figure i think the chute is a lil small.have u done scaling in dimensions to find out the size to make it? I am very curious to see it going cause it is something i have been thinking but never tried ,go gogo my friend

That´s right, it is way too small, almost 1:35 scale as my figure is 1:16 scale...
In this case it´s a matter of practicality, I have had no intention making a base that would be half a meter long to make the ropes and parachute proportions correct. I may fold the parachute down thus braking the round shape so that the dimensions wouldn´t become an issue.

I admit that I never do any accurate scaling in dimensions, this Parachute v1.0 was just a test if the technique would work; it did, but the dimensions got wrong.

Thanks for pointing that out. I have to think about this a bit more.
Maybe a very narrow, long base wouldn´t be too bad after all... :-)

/EDIT/


Like this, perhaps?
/EDIT/


Thanks,
Toni

Wow - another one!
Here's an idea (depending on what your lines are made of) have the chute extend out in 'space' off the base and scale it up a bit. Suspend the chute using stiff wire for the lines and shorten the base a bit (long wise, make it more square). That would definitely give it a dramatic affect.

Great idea and I'm looking forward to the excerpt! :-)

Jummy Jummy,

Eagle loves these developments ! No need to worry guys... I know Toni pulls it off again.... We're in to see another awesome dio soon again.....one of the very few dios with a parachute....excellent that someone has the nerve to try it !!!

Toni,
- the figure is absolutely smashing. It doesn't look a bit stiff (like most model paratroopers do) but it's very much alive and in motion. A true Envar figure !
- the chute IS very small. Maybe you need to give that some thought after all...
- when a shute is "blown up" by the wind, there's a typical flower-shape with nice round lobes between each two ropes. The Black/white picture nicely illustrates this. The model shute doesn't reflect this : its "wrinkles" are erratic. This looks nice, but it doesn't look as real as it could. I can imagine the technical problems to make a chute like that. The idea of making a mold springs to mind. Wouldn't it be possible to model/sculpt a parachute shape out of some solid material, and then mold the paper chute using this shape ?
This would probably be a very painstaking and messy trial, without guarantee for success, so I probably would discard the idea even if I would have to make a parachute. I just wanted to share the idea... I'm curious to read how you made this shute. Probably also by using a molding shape of some kind ?

Jan

Looking great Toni. A very ambitious project. Another method for using the 1/16 figure and a 1/35 scale parachute is use a forced perspective dio. Basically everything gets smaller as it goes to the back of the dio. I think I´ll leave you to work out how to do that ... Im getting a sore head! #:-) Good luck with this ...

Whew! Looking good! Standing by for the final shots....

Thanks boys,

yes this is a tricky thing to do...

I used metal wire bent to flower shape as the skeleton of the parachute. It was then covered with kitchen plastic and it has grey primer on it. You can actually shape the parachute any way you want and it holds, except when it´s compeletely round. I think I´ll have to use thicker wire for the body...
This technique works very well if the parachute is at least a little bit folded.

Thanks again,
Toni

very good idea and very good job Toni. please keep us posted for every step on that.

Envar:
Sweet conversion. Perhaps a shadow box can help you with the forced perspective/scale issue. In any case that's a great idea, it'll be intersting to see the final product. Yet another winner from Envar.
What's the ETA on completion?

That's a great idea. I love it. I like slodder's idea of using a small base and the chute off the base.

I´d say at least a couple of weeks.
After solving the technical problems there´s still the painting part. Trying out black & white the first time, I don´t expect it to go without problems...

I like the idea of rigging the parachute off the ground, just haven´t solved the construction of the parachute. I could use a few hard steel wires as strings, but I´m still not sure if that would be enough to support the cupola...
I tested it yesterday and the farther from the figure, the smaller the parachute can be.

Toni

Toni,
here's an alternative idea for the strings : try simple sewing thread.
You stretch a strand of sewing thread between two fixed objects to keep it straight, then impregnate it with CA glue.
The result looks stiff as a steel wire, but thinner and with more thread-like texture. It's a very simple procedure, and it works well.

When cut to size, these stiffened threads can easily be mounted to your parachure using CA glue.

Be careful though : when you apply CA glue to thread or cloth, it tends to immediately release fumes. (there must be a chemical or physical process that provoques this). Watch out for your eyes !

Jan,

I was about to go for fishing line to make the strings. I´m just still trying to figure how I could make those strings strong enough to hold the weight of the parachute all by themselves...

Anyone know where to get thin wire made of Adamantium(tm)? #:-)





#:-)

Toni

Toni,

Once again, your talents are just incredible!

If it would help, perhaps your trooper could be using his reserve chute... this is smaller in diameter and has shorter risers than the main parachute, but not always worn depending on the jump altitude. I do not know what the jump altitude was for "Market Garden". Just a possibility, but in all actuality, in those days, if the main malfunctioned and you went to your reserve, the main's harness etc would still be attached to you. Today's main chute can be released prior to deploying the reserve to avoid any entanglements.

I can't wait to see this one finished!!

I can tell from the figure that it is a British Paratrooper and....the British Para's didn't wear reserve chutes. The Americans did, so the idea is valid. Only make a US Paratrooper to go with it..

hiya. I read here that the us troopers didnt wear the reserve chutes during market garden.

it was a low level jump, so no reserve chutes were worn.

atleast thats what I read.

Low level or not....the US did wear their reserve chutes in the Market Garden Drops :

then I was misinformed and misread my humble appologies

Hey Ho,

let's lighten up.... I didn't mean to play the schoolteacher If it sounded that way , then I am sorry ! It wasn't my intention at all.

Don't feel bad about it Juul, not all the books are 100% accurate.....and.... I gave you info on some troopers who DID wear their reserve chutes, perhaps there where units that DIDN"T wear them at all.

So don't feel bad about it. I'm sorry if I sounded like the good old teacher

no biggy danny

no offence taken etc etc

Well,

Juul and I have been "thinking" on the MSN Messenger....perhaps there actually where US units that didn't wear reserve chutes in Market Garden....does anybody know if this can be true...or even better...wich units didnt wear them ??