One Sixth Warriors Forum banner

What sixth scale bodies is the best/most sturdy for stop motion

3K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  Pickle Munkey 
#1 ·
Putting together equipment and uniforms and weapons. Now i just need bodies. What bodies are best for stop motion?
 
#2 ·
Honestly I'd say any True-Type style should work well. Pretty well proportioned, good articulation...
You'd need some stiff joints too, but if any are too lose there are ways of tightening them.
Also the articulation may need modifications, depending on how dynamic you're looking to get for poses...

Have you put thought into how you'd pose them? Securing them to a type of stand can be greatly beneficial, then just edit it out in post.
 
#4 ·
Yes, I put thought into how I would pose them. I would use armature wire, loop it around the figure and underneath clothing, down to the legs, inside the boots, and then drill a very small hole thru the boots to allow for the wire to extend several inches. Cut the wire so only about an inch of the wire shows. Now as for the bodies. I have 18 bodies at the moment. Needing more. Wanting roughly 40 to 100. 20 per side. For a balanced platoon battle for German v US. The idea was for using plywood large enough to create 1/6 diorama of a battle. Using cardboard custom cut and painted for buildings, woodchips and green spraypaint to replicate grass. Then for the concrete simply spraypaint the plywood gray then add in small details like cracks and weeds and debri in the street for more realism. As for posing the figures. Considering it is plywood and chosen for a reason. First use a pencil and/or a sharpy and label small x's where I need to drill so the figure can stand with ease. I would use a electric drill, drilling a small hole into the plywood then place each armature wired soldier onto the plywood, mark the x's, drill holes, place figure. Snap photo. Mark down on paper which figures I moved. Snap photos. Repeat.

I have done many small projects for school way back when with a crappy cam corder. All 3 were with legos however. But same concept. Just more tedious with sixth scale figures. Not impossible. I just need to buy software. Preferably Dragon frame. I have a Sony RX10 II with stand. Now I do need to get better lighting. I don't have anything at the moment besides the one light in the center of the room and two lamps. I need to upgrade, of course. Suggestions?
 
#5 ·
Dang that does sound like quite the undertaking.

You may wanna invest in some Styrofoam, that can be scored and detailed to look like concrete pretty darn effectively.

Any lights can be pretty effective, really, it can depend on the type of lighting you want, but a diffuser can be great. Heck, plastic film or even paper/bristol board can work great for that in a pinch.
If you're able to hook your camera to your computer or a laptop, I'd recommend it, and looking into some free stop motion software with 'onion skinning' type previews, can help with keeping track of your movement per-frame.

You may want to storyboard out the sequence, do little thumbnails and plan the angles of your shots and the action.
 
#6 ·
At the moment i am in the process of using styrofoam to replicate walls, and such. It may seem like a longshot. But progress is there. I have not put together any stop motion photos as that cannot be done until the full set/ or sets are completed. I need realism. And it may seem way too much. But I actually intended to replicate the Battle of Ramelle from Saving Private Ryan. I have three of the characters right now. Private Ryan, Captain Miller, and Private Jackson. I still need Horvath, Upham, Mellish, Reiben, Steamboat Willie, Then dont forget a sixth scale Tiger Tank, Panzer Tank, Stormartillerivagn M/43, 1 half track, and 1 20mm flak gun. Tiger tank and Panzer Tank are not cheap. Talking $500 just about, each. Now, I can definitely recreate the setting in sixth scale. However, it is very time consuming. Money is not rich, but certainly cannot be wasted all in one sitting. I have a budget per month. I try to spend no more then $250 on my sixth scale hobby. But at this point where I need the tanks... i will be forced to pick out $450-500 for each tank. It can be done... but at this rate so I maintain current decent living conditions where bills are paid first, and groceries are bought. We are looking at a full year just setting up vehicles and characters... but remember, this allows for me to really kick into gear with the replica dioramas for each set. It is a very tedious project. But not impossible. I have a full year to set all of this up. Allows me to work full time, then almost all time outside of work is devoted to diorama building.

Thoughts?
 
#7 ·
Well it sounds like you've got things planned out pretty well, to me.
I've thought of something similar, but Vietnam themed. Using smaller scale vehicles and such, along with some trick perspective or green screen for different shots.
For the SPR project though you'd need something different, as you're planning to do, especially with the Marder.
It sounds like quite the undertaking!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top