Voila... Chauchat!

After the model photo shoot of this week, it was up to me to begin putting that information into 3-D form.

Since I decided to change the kneeling character's weapon from a Springfield to a Chauchat, I now had to construct the new weapon, which demands a first step--  the building of its armature.

I used wooden dowel, some balsa wood, some armature wire, and some wood glue, to rough-out the form:

I photocopied the image of the Chauchat, until it was One-quarter scale, and will use this as a template upon which to build the armature for the weapon...(you can see below how I will form and adjust the wood to fit the silhouette, and then build the wax details over it):

I could theoretically build the entire weapon out of the wax, but it'd be very fragile. The wood and wire is lightweight and strong enough to provide good support for the wax as the fine details are worked out, and ultimately put through the sculpting process.

I'll keep you posted as the process continues. Stay tuned!

 September 11, 2010:

UPDATE!

I cut out the stock...

I sawed off the barrel to proper length...

I attached the stock...

More to come (it's time to create the curved magazine)...

Here it is!
I used a small plastic lid which had the right diameter to make the magazine, and I poured molten wax into the lid, along with some wire to give it strength. I also dipped the "broomhandle" grip into wax several times to begin its shape: 

Soon, it will begin to look more like the weapon than the armature!