Alan - Sunday, June 20, 2010 - 9:59am

I'm trying to fabricate (18 gauge cold rolled mild steel) a human male figure.

First off I made a wire armature (5 feet tall) out of 3/32 steel rod, copying the dimensions from an art book. However, this didn't give me the "roundness" of a human body. It gave me the depth and the edges because I made the front and back (attached by welded rod spacers) the same. From this I was able to calculate and make the torso, since the front and back are essentially the same. There are no arms and legs yet. Looks sort of like "Vincenzo" de Milo! I've made the chest and back by taking a flat sheet of 18 gauge, cut out the shape, and hammered where necessary to get the pectorals etc. then attached the front to the back. They are joined by metal complex curved metal pieces which were fabricated by a great car body expert who guided me through this part of the process. However, since he was not a sculptor I'm on my own from now on. I was lucky because he was able to teach me the rudiments of banging on metal and ending up with a somewhat recognizable shape. Can't imagine how anyone can possible start shaping metal on their own, although there undoubtedly are many who have. I'm surely not one of them!

Now to the main problem: I haven't the slightest idea how to measure and fabricate the arms and legs, since they have a considerable amount of "roundness" to them. I've been banging away, and intend to make the thighs, which I'm working on right now, out of two segments, eyeballing how they will fit onto the torso. I've just about finished the front 1/2 of one thigh. Now for even the harder part, trying to make a matching rounded rear 1/2 of the thigh to match (and weld to) the front rounded half. Then pray that the completed thigh will fit onto the torso.

I'm hammering and fitting, and hammering and fitting, on and on. Needless to say, I'm not even dreaming of trying to seriously smooth out all the hammer marks (altho I'm trying a little since I'm just begging to learn how to use a dolly and hammer - I mean absolutely used the tools for the first time yesterday)

Well, after that long sad tale, are there any suggestions how I might better proceed? For those of you who have bothered to read this far, many, many thanks for your patience.

Hoping to find some arms and legs hanging around,

Alan.