Excavating the Deep Cut

[sboerner]

Unbelievable good! Can't say anything else...

Thanks, Doc!

Here is the first of many laborers who will be working in and along the edges of the cut. Spent the past few days setting up a process to make these, since there will be a lot of them. Planning between 50-60 figures in all, and hoping to keep duplication to a minimum and in the distance. (But we'll see.) This will be my task for the next few weeks.

[WAS]

Unbelievable good! Can't say anything else...

Thanks, Doc!

Here is the first of many laborers who will be working in and along the edges of the cut. Spent the past few days setting up a process to make these, since there will be a lot of them. Planning between 50-60 figures in all, and hoping to keep duplication to a minimum and in the distance. (But we'll see.) This will be my task for the next few weeks.

He looks great. Clothes are done very well.

[DocCharly65]

Great worker!
50-60? Wow!

[luvsmuzik]

Quite fantastic!  I missed the boy and horse, don't ask me how, just great! Some very fine work in this project!

[Dune]

Fantastic. You're in for quite a job! In the distance you an always use a few pops of workers.

One thing; isn't the handle of the spade a bit on the short side? His hand is very close to the blade.

[sboerner]

Thanks, guys. This one took a couple of days but now that I have the process figured out (and bases for the shaders) the rest should go more quickly. The question is whether the clothes are authentic . . . checking with a local source on that and hoping they respond soon.

I put my mannequin to work and came up with a set of 20 poses. I may not need all of them. The same model can be used for more than one pose with different clothing and hair to mix things up. And models can be mirrored. So maybe 10-12 unique models will suffice. And like Ulco says, populations can be used in the distance to get to the final number of 50-60. The plan is to place the mannequins in the scene and then create a list of what's needed, then replace the mannequins as the models are built. I tend to over-prepare when trying new things.

One thing; isn't the handle of the spade a bit on the short side? His hand is very close to the blade.

It does seem a bit short. It's based on one on display at a canal museum, though, so I didn't think I should adjust it. And the (more modern) spade in my garden shed is about the same size, maybe a little shorter.

[Dune]

Great poses, Steve! I'm looking forward to seeing the work progress.

[Hannes]

I'm looking forward to seeing the work progress.

Me too!! Fascinating!

[luvsmuzik]

Image you might enjoy of men working Wabash IN in canal 

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Al2V1QPLhkdggcV4Z9mwqKjvYko07Q?e=MAZB08

[sboerner]

Thanks, Luvs. That's a really great photo and it will help me figure out clothing and hats. Do you happen to know the source?

The Wabash & Erie was an insane project . . . took many years to finish and became the longest canal in the country. I don't think it was open very long, though, and it never made any money.

[luvsmuzik]

Thanks, Luvs. That's a really great photo and it will help me figure out clothing and hats. Do you happen to know the source?

The Wabash & Erie was an insane project . . . took many years to finish and became the longest canal in the country. I don't think it was open very long, though, and it never made any money.

That is actually a grab from Wabash County Museum archives.  All this stuff is my back yard. Indiana was so prone to spring flooding, log jams and such. Without the resources for labor back in the day. The area was still farming and industry was an infant. This image is actually the birth of the railway as men clear the canal to lay track. Yes, our rivers were not deep enough when not at flood stage.  Many many arteries feeding and draining.

[sboerner]

Thanks, that helps. Interesting about running the railroad along the canal bed. Not the only place that happened. One of the reasons there are so few of the original canals left.

You all are probably getting a little tired of seeing this fellow, but he's my test model and I keep finding things to fix. This may be the last version. I stumbled across a 19th-century sewing manual that includes patterns for many everyday clothes, so his outfit now should be more in line with what working people wore in 1824: oversize pullover linen shirt, "poor boy" suspenders, straw hat. Not sure the trousers are 100 percent correct but these are good enough for this pose.

[WAS]

The clothes look really good. Great job.

[Hannes]

You all are probably getting a little tired of seeing this fellow...

Nope!!!!


Clothes indeed look great!! Maybe some more work on the shoes?

[WAS]

Will some have beards? I know they were pretty darn common then.