a good Job well done and looking good to boot!!

But are they waterproof?

Creativity at its best, well done Wizzel, my mate!
Bigkev

I am now satisfied with the profile of the wooden former, having compared it to an online photograph of the real thing.  Next stage is to reduce it in size by 1/16" all round to account for the sugar paste. 

Having just looked at the photographs, I wasn't actually going to include the heel and sole on the former as the original plan was to make a separate heel/sole for each boot  and glue the uppers onto the top of them but having worked it into the shape, I will leave it on and see if I can end up with a hollow boot all the way down and the just fill in the hole at the bottom with a thin fillet of sugar paste to go INSIDE rather then UNDERNEATH the boot.  Again, the theory is sound but practice may prove more hard work than it's worth.  If that's the case, I'll simply take a scalpel to the bottom of the former and revert to plan A1.  More tomorrow folks.

Looks like now you see it, now you don`t. Nice one Wizzel.

Move over Gordon Ramsey and Mary Berry, there's a new kid on the block!

Well Done Wizzel!

Almost there now with the woodwork.  My files were about 1/16" thick so using one as a guide, I sanded a strip around the welly half way up the leg to the depth of the file, pared it down roughly with my craft knife from there and gave it a rub with some wet and dry.  It doesn't need to be 100% smooth as it's going to be covered in sugar paste and any blemishes will be on the inside of the welly and unseen.

It's had a first coat of varnish but as you can imagine, balsa is very porous and therefore greedy.  I imagine it will take another 3 or 4 coats at least to seal it properly.  That should take me nicely to Saturday when the next stage will commence.

Bootiful.

Quote from: zak on July 21, 2017, 08:14:15 AM
Bootiful.

I was about to put "I wonder how long it will be before Bernard Mathews reviews this thread" hahaha.

Well(i) never. Looking forward to the next leg of this project.

Well I won't stoop so low.
I'll be the 'Sole' of discretion.
Sorry Couldn't help myself.
Bigkev

After getting back home from Cropper's Model Shop, doing dinner, walking the dogs and nipping up the allotment, I was just about to settle down to a bit of boot mutilation when who should walk in through the door but that constant monkey on my shoulder, DCOS!  So, I had time to drill a hole through the heel of the boot only tonight.  This will go far enough into the leg so that when I cut the boot into 2 parts across the ankle, I can fix a cocktail stick through it to hold the 2 parts together while the sugar paste dries and then remove the respective parts from inside the sugar paste once it has done so; the foot from underneath and the leg from the top.  At least DCOS made herself useful and took the pictures for me!

Now it`s drill boots!!!

Quote from: Kiteman on July 23, 2017, 01:30:07 PM
Now it`s drill boots!!!

GETAWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

Right, tonight I got the "pins" pushed into place to leave guide holes, then cut the boot at the ankle and tested the fit of the resulting two parts back together again.  Very satisfactory.  I used two pins to avoid any twisting of the parts when working on the next stage but I cannot progress any further until DCOS is out of the way which means Wednesday when she's at work.  Then it will be time to start on the sugar paste!  So far, the theory has been sound but it's this next part that is critical!!!  Luck please.

Thats a nice fit is that, well done so far. I`m sure that it will turn out ok. If not, give it the boot.