butternut pilot recarved

Well after donating the pilot I had taken a break from carving to work on the finishing touches on my book. Then this past Friday I had the chance to go visit a friend of mine, Bob Soderholm at his home and bring along a friend and veteran with me who is now interested in carving. Bob and Ed spent some time discussing different aspects of carving as well as various cuts and some terminology for carving. Then they got started on Ed's 1st project with Bob. While this was going on I listened in to what was being taught and of course got out some wood and began carving.

I didn't have a game plan but ended up carving a new pilot as the previous one has been transferred to c temporary duty station awaiting his permanent assignment at the end of the raffle. At first I was considering carving this one in the same design as the previous but once I got home I decided to change things up on my newest recruit. This one is a bit old school and still enjoys a cigar when the opportunity presents itself. The first image is what I got done during my time hanging out with Bob and Ed, the ones on the left shortly after having applied the paint and the third was after the sealant had been applied.

Happy with the way he ended up, I carved some bags under his eyes and decided not to dry paint his beard. I also used a different technique in painting the goggles and am happy with the results, may be my new way to paint them.

as always, 

"Good night and May God bless"