Thanks Rayraz. Zhann pretty much gave me what I'm looking for, but I'll keep the tapering idea in mind as well as it is a good one. From Zhann's examples It also appears that vertical rescaling of the model(shortening of the neck and head - in the male narrowing of the sholder- in the female enlarging the thickness of the arms slightly) might be in order. Where I was really having the most problem was where to cut it off, which as I can now see is dependant on what you are trying to emphisise. I was also having a problem visulizing what to do with the arms which her examples clarified for me as well. Although eelie's examples show that taper isn't always done, that a sculpter may use the natural taper of the body or a clothes/armor object to achieve this, especially if a taller pedistal is to be used to emphisise the bust(remove it visually from the object on which it sits). Further there may be an inverse proportion between the length of the pedistal and the bust itself. I'll give it another go this evening - this may take a while to get right, but at least now I have an idea of the result I'm looking for. Again thanks everyone, - TJ