After the preview follows the "movie".
Many, many thanks to
Brian da Basher, who has sent me the sled-dogs some months ago.
Without them the Lafayette Esquadrille could not have been complete!
I must confess, I wasn't sure, if and HOW I could use the dogs and transform them into teenage-lions, but once I've heard a silent "click" in my head and...
... an overview:
Many things have must been done.
First of all, what had have been done to
both of the puppy-lions:
- The integrated harness must be removed.
- The fur must be smoothed.
- The bushy tails are needs a shave and an extension. (Honi soit qui mal y pense! I DON'T mean a Porsche as an "extension"
)
- The ears were integrated and I wanted to "set them free".
- And the snout was too long.
The plastic, the dogs are made of, is very soft, that's means a disadvantage, but also an advantage. The disadvantage was in my opinion the looong time, the glue and the plastic needs to dry. Waiting was necessary to prevent a rupture/pulling apart of the unified parts, while working at an other site of the animal. But the advantage was the ability to sculpturing the soften plastic very easy.
Many thanks to our own dogs (4 - 3 male and 1 female) and cats (2 - 1 male and 1 female) for the many opportunities to study their postures! Otherwise I would have been forced to search the net...
Now the first lion:
and:
The individual tasks were:
- To saw across the body below it's thorax and two thin slices from each part. To the now lying rear part, I glued the slices; the first in 30°, the second in 60° and at last the front in 90°. Now I could sculpture the soften plastic with a scalpell to create a relaxing animal in the correct posture.
- The frontlegs, I'd carved out of the shoulders, in addition some tiny parts of plastic and after this I reunioned all to the result, you can see above.
The sleeping lion (...the lion sleeps tonight... la, la, la...
):
and:
Looks much more easier. Am I right, pals?
Trust me; it wasn't:
- To create a realistic posture, I was forced to carve all FOUR legs out and put them in again. Giving to the legs a new position was really very difficult. O.k., not difficult (in an anatomically way)..., better: it was really fine work. You know, what I mean?
- I had to decapitate the dog! Why? Ever seen an animal sleeping with the snout parallel to the ground? Never ever! So the head must been sawed off, turned a bit and glued again in the right position.
Sorry, on the macro-pic, I have seen, the join between head and neck isn't good..., I will make it better - sorry.
I hope you have enjoyed this report.
So long,
Norbert
