Hi guys--
Well, I have wanted to do this little project for a whle now, but it never seemed like the right time, until I finished a build 9 days ago, and couldn't start another big project before I'll be leaving for a 2 month tour on Wednesday the 10th. I had about 2 weeks to blow on something, so I figured I could wrap this up relatively quickly. It's a scene inspired somewhat by an old, favorite movie of mine called "The Dark Night of the Scarecrow" from the 80's.
I used these elements--Verlinden's "Soldier's Skeletons"; MK's "Farmer"; MK's "Scarecrow"; and Military Miniatures Warehouse "Corn Stalks". I also had some spare heads in case I wanted to use them.
As you can see, the scarecrow didn't have a head, s I had to sculpt one form Milliputt two-part putty. I did a few versions before settling on this one.
Here's the general layout--I wanted to make this a little more "scary" or gruesome", but decided in the end to make it more of an enigmatic scene, with the farmer pondering the scarecrow's newly acquired "prop"...
The white metal corn is ripening...
The base was constructed using the ol' garden foam.
This was then covered in first a light celluclay to simulate old, dry dirt, and then a darker celluclay (tinted with paint) to simulate the newly extracted dirt...
The dead soldier....
..was placed in his final resting place, sealed in with real, sifted dirt.
Pierre and the scarecrow were painted up using craft store acrylics...
...and the scene is 99% finished. The scarecrow was placed on an post made of cocktail sticks. The old corn stalks are from a straw broom. The vegetative matter in the rows is a spice called "Cilantro Leaves"--I just have to clean up the sides, base, and maybe a few small details here and there....
The farmer is pondering how the scarecrow managed to snare the old Mauser from the grave...
I took advantage of some atmospheric skies and some creative editing to make some pretty cool images....
I hope you enjoyed this little diversion for me. I will be here until late Tuesday night, so all comments and questions or even suggestions are welcomed and appreciated!