A CROWN IS BORN../ The Hobbit Dwarves etc.. WIP's & Finished Builds Part 2

Theboo-bomb wrote:Sucks about your computer issues, but the work so far is looking great. And like Skywalkersaga we learn stuff too, I never knew you could soften spray painted fabrics.

It's far from perfect but it helps with lightly painted materials, Dori's cape/coat has so many layers of different paints on it the baby lotion won't do a lot but it's meant to be either thick wool or leather. Added brass eyelets for a leather thong to tie the collar peice, also laced up the undershirt. I've started the inner robe but making only the visible parts due to lack of materials but also to allow more articulation and stop the clothing bunching up.

Only letting me upload three pics at a time, PC still off line.

That is looking so good!

skywalkersaga wrote:That is looking so good!

Thanks!!
Fixed PC YAY!







STRING WAS TEMPORARY BEFORE I MADE LEATHER THONG



PINCHED AND GLUED COAT TO FIT BODY AND MATCH THE LOOK OF THE CHARACTER'S CLOTHES. DOESN'T SEEM TO BE A CLOAK OR A COAT BUT A MIXTURE OF BOTH

He's coming together beautifully. And glad you fixed your computer so you can showcase your excellent custom more easily -- surely, among other things, I imagine.

Brilliant work. I love seeing all these WIP images, and learning about the materials and techniques.

GubernatorFan wrote:He's coming together beautifully. And glad you fixed your computer so you can showcase your excellent custom more easily -- surely, among other things, I imagine.

Cheers GBF! So am I LOL, now if I can just fix that bloody boiler...electronics related...

Stryker2011 wrote:Brilliant work. I love seeing all these WIP images, and learning about the materials and techniques.

Thanks Stryker! I always try to show my experiments and what works and what doesn't!

SOME MORE REFERENCE PICS I FOUND INCLUDING DORI MEETING PRINCE CHARLES! LOL:









Making stripes for his tunic, changed his shirt's laces to red, covered ugly collar holes, modified 'coat' sleeves for more articulation, hot glued his head on and made boots. Belt and weapons next, need to find my plaboard! Don't know where I put it! Need to modify gauntlets a bit too. The collar's leather laces will be cut once I decide how to tie them off.

Seems like half the time I'm looking where I put away stuff... Anyway, these are some great additions. He seems to be coming along great -- in fact, he looks almost done. Are the upper parts of the boots flexible? And good to see Prince Charles show some love to this underrepresented British constituency

Prince Charles geeking out over fantasy characters? I think my estimation of HRH may have just increased a notch or two!

A brief internet search reveals that The Prince of Wales met Dori the Dwarf a decade ago in New Zealand. Here's a fun article with a few more pics:

https://www.itv.com/news/2012-11-14/the-prince-and-the-dwarf-charles-goes-behind-scenes-at-hobbit-film

GubernatorFan wrote:Seems like half the time I'm looking where I put away stuff... Anyway, these are some great additions. He seems to be coming along great -- in fact, he looks almost done. Are the upper parts of the boots flexible? And good to see Prince Charles show some love to this underrepresented British constituency

I should probably start looking for it, that may well help! LOL. Yes the upper parts of the boots are pleather but he has very limited foot articulation anyway, he won't be doing any Dwarvish martial arts but he won't keep falling over either.

davidd wrote:Prince Charles geeking out over fantasy characters? I think my estimation of HRH may have just increased a notch or two!

A brief internet search reveals that The Prince of Wales met Dori the Dwarf a decade ago in New Zealand. Here's a fun article with a few more pics:

https://www.itv.com/news/2012-11-14/the-prince-and-the-dwarf-charles-goes-behind-scenes-at-hobbit-film

Cheers! I'd seen the pics years ago but didn't know it was his birthday! That's kind of awesome and I'm no royalist being Irish but kudos to him for showing his 'fanboy' side!

I'm not at all impressed with the obsession (or need) for the Royals, but that is pretty cool to see. Nice upgrades you made, and I like the red laces better myself.

I love how you were able to create the look of all the different textures using scrap/found materials and old Hasbro pieces. You're ability to built from scratch has always been so impressive.

Stryker2011 wrote:I'm not at all impressed with the obsession (or need) for the Royals, but that is pretty cool to see. Nice upgrades you made, and I like the red laces better myself.

I wanted red initially but couldn't find any in my bags of cord and ribbons so went with the grey, then remembered those cyborg ninja pants I have loose being black but with a red lace system I'd always meant to remove as I thought it was OTT on the black for the build I had/have planned for them (Predator related).

skywalkersaga wrote:I love how you were able to create the look of all the different textures using scrap/found materials and old Hasbro pieces. You're ability to built from scratch has always been so impressive.

LOL, I'm trying to think what random stuff has been seriously modified to build this guy:Lego, Mego, Hasbro, Sideshow, GI JOE and just to ruin the 'O' at the end theme: Toy Biz.

shovelchop81 wrote:LOL, I'm trying to think what random stuff has been seriously modified to build this guy:Lego, Mego, Hasbro, Sideshow, GI JOE and just to ruin the 'O' at the end theme: Toy Biz.

Given the often extreme reworking/customization in your work, even where you are modifying existing pieces, it is often almost like working from scratch. And being able to think of what to use in the first place is both valuable and impressive.

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:LOL, I'm trying to think what random stuff has been seriously modified to build this guy:Lego, Mego, Hasbro, Sideshow, GI JOE and just to ruin the 'O' at the end theme: Toy Biz.

Given the often extreme reworking/customization in your work, even where you are modifying existing pieces, it is often almost like working from scratch. And being able to think of what to use in the first place is both valuable and impressive.

Thank you GTF! It's my only 'super power' well that and super hearing which is damned annoying when you suffer from extreme anxiety which is what causes it in the first place!!
Stupid smart phone's dead now...WTF...I'm surrounded by built in obsolescence! Did you know PCB's have acid in them that starts to eat away the circuitry after around five years? No BS, I learnt that 25 years ago when I did my Bsc(hons) degree in Product Design, that's why more expensive acrylic board for modelling states that it's 'acid free' on the packaging.

Ah, planned obsolescence... an infernally inspired good business practice that is ethically repugnant. Is that the only role of the acid in there? Because if it is, that is utterly evil.

GubernatorFan wrote:Ah, planned obsolescence... an infernally inspired good business practice that is ethically repugnant. Is that the only role of the acid in there? Because if it is, that is utterly evil.

TBH I'm not a 100% sure, I have my 'O' Level chemistry, biology and physics ('A' Level biology too) but my present knowledge of chemistry is a bit sub par lol. Amino acids are used to make natural polymers and these are often used in the plastics industry and are biodegradable so that could be the answer there, not as environmentally friendly as they sound either, they produce high quantities of carbon dioxide and methane when they break down.

Well, that is a lot more than I know. I have just learned that I should take out the batteries I put in for strings of Christmas lights when I take them down every year.

GubernatorFan wrote:Well, that is a lot more than I know. I have just learned that I should take out the batteries I put in for strings of Christmas lights when I take them down every year.  

LOL! You're putting up decorations in August? Mind you my neighbour has them up all year round as she thinks they cheer up the neighbourhood. Coincidently I just posted this on Danoby2's YT channel the other day in relation to his HT Marvel Rescue Pepper Potts figure and wanting a single external power source (mine just arrived today and I will be unboxing it now ):

As a product designer I can tell you it is not R&D that is the issue with them constantly using button cell batteries. The issue is safety, using mains power whether it is by USB or a wall socket requires a crazy amount of health and safety regulations to be sold in the West, testing for inference alone is a major hurdle. If, like many Chinese factories, they bypass a lot of these tests (paying the right people etc..) they can end up with a potentially very dangerous product, think of the cheap USB leads etc.. that have caught fire charging phones overnight for example. Not only would this be a legal issue but would completely ruin their reputation and a lot of collections, possibly lives. Button cell batteries, unlike Lipo batteries are not known to be destructive or dangerous, yes they may leak some acid if left in too long but this normally only results in internal cosmetic damage and can usually be fixed with some wire wool/brush scrubbing the contacts, so large rechargeable bases are also an unattractive option for them. wrote:

And talking of things arriving, my new phone with a 64 megapixel camera and macro lens will be arriving tomorrow, for comparison my recently deceased mobile which had an excellent camera was 24 megapixel. It's Christmas for me then so go ahead and put up those lights once you've wire brushed the contacts in the battery box!

LOL. No I wasn't putting up lights, I was just remembering what I learned to do due to acid leaking out of batteries if left out for a long time. I do have some not-very-specifically Christmas lights entwined around a complex metal chandelier that look quite cool that I meant to use all year, there in particular the acid leaking seems to be a big problem, so I am going to wait until Christmas season to put new batteries in them.

Congratulations on getting your new phone. Looking forward to all the fun photos it will be making. And thanks for explaining the dependence on the batteries in sixth-scale products -- even when space allows for other solutions. It does make good sense.

Cheers! Got it and it's great, basically 3x better at everything than my previous one, it has a 64 megapixel camera and a macro lens specific camera too, in fact it has 5 cameras! No idea how to use it as of yet, it spent the last two days transferring all my music and pictures via Bluetooth from my old phone since it has a built in memory (128GB) and not an SD card like before but sure beats my 30GB card!

Anyway took build pics with my previous, previous phone (got it out of the draw of phones) but can't find the stupid pictures anywhere!  So the trickiest part of this build segment is undocumented, basically building his belt. I took these pics with my previous phone as it started behaving normally again once the SIM and SD card were removed (I think it's RAM components are failing causing it to overheat and shut down the operating systems constantly when it has to handle more than 14GB including it's own operating systems which are most of that anyway!). I still have no idea where my plaboard is so had to improvise with some plastic from an old wire junction box to carve into the buckle and his sword, stank to high heaven but does the job nicely, then backed the buckle with PVA painted felt card. The actual belt is made of real leather with thinly sliced darker pleather carefully woven through slots I cut into the leather to create the correct pattern and also attached to the edges of the length of the belt, top and bottom. I added brass studs in the complementary 'V' patterns as shown on the original then painted them and the buckle silver with a bit of weathering. I re-patched the boots and gave them a proper paint job, modified the gauntlets to have a plain underside and twin buckles as per the props and painted those too; finally attaching them properly with some random plastic sprue offcuts so they still rotate and wiggle a little bit. I replaced the real leather thong laces on the collar with pleather ones and reversed the direction of their lacing to make it all neater and tie off at the top like the actual costume. I'm building his weapons now starting with his 'machete' and using real rosewood for the grip of the handle and black milliput for the bone shaped pommel. Got a life sized version of this and many of the other Dwarves weapons too made from cast iron (I think), wood and aluminium embellishments.





















HIS MACHETE'S ON THE LEFT, NOT SURE WHO'S KNIFE THAT IS YET:









NO FILEWORK OR SANDING DONE YET, JUST CURING:



NEW PHONE CAMERAS (OPPO X3 with SONY Quadcam System), WELL IT'S AN IMPORTANT TOOL LOL!

Glad to see he is still coming together so nicely. The detailed work is impressive as ever. As with the other ones, you'll end having the most accurate (or only?) version of this character.

so much detail to see. Wonderful work!

GubernatorFan wrote:Glad to see he is still coming together so nicely. The detailed work is impressive as ever. As with the other ones, you'll end having the most accurate (or only?) version of this character.

BAMComix wrote:so much detail to see. Wonderful work!

Thanks guys! I'm starting to get my head around the new cameras but haven't worked out the size and ratio stuff so sorry if these are too big file wise!
Built the machete with some additional detail inspired by my 1/1 version of his weapon, made his scabbard with fully functional clasps to lock the blade in place and a harness for his belt. I've started on his flail like weapon, I think they were described as Bolas the South American hunting tool/weapon although seems an odd choice as they could only be used once in a fight that way.



























BOLAS BUILD SO FAR, MAKING SPIKED GEOMETRIC 'BALLS':

An now I know what "bolas" are! Interesting to see how despite the minor imperfections in the macro photos, between the scale and your improvements, they look perfect in the end. Love how well he is coming along and how detailed and rich everything looks.

GubernatorFan wrote:An now I know what "bolas" are! Interesting to see how despite the minor imperfections in the macro photos, between the scale and your improvements, they look perfect in the end. Love how well he is coming along and how detailed and rich everything looks.

Cheers GTF! Yeah I can't hide anything with this camera! Definitely need to reduce the file size though. I made Bolas as a kid using string and rocks, not the easiest thing to use! You might remember them being used in James Bond (Moonraker I think) in Q's lab, he tests a set of exploding ones a Roger Moore does his usual quip/pun.

Aha! Found it!, first result on Google lol!

That machete is cool, and the sheath turned out nice. I don’t remember the bolas, and oof, poor Roger really got the short end of the stick when it came to most of his Bond movies — too silly for my tastes, though I loved them as a kid.

Stryker2011 wrote:That machete is cool, and the sheath turned out nice. I don’t remember the bolas, and oof, poor Roger really got the short end of the stick when it came to most of his Bond movies — too silly for my tastes, though I loved them as a kid.

Not to me, my favourites are Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only (well I did grow up in Greece and my parents still live there). Moonraker has everything in it: sci-fi, fencing, jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute then stealing a parachute in mid air, Jaws of course and Dr. 'Goodhead'  Also the new Blackwidow film is a complete homage to it, they're even watching the movie in the movie  I guess I've always liked the sillier side of Bond movies which is why I even like Octopussy.
Made 'the balls' for the Bolas, had to use my combined glue trick to get them to stick together correctly. That's when I use Bison Kit/Universal glue as the main 'body' of the glue then immediately add super glue as an accelerant or hardner; it gives the same result as hot glue but no heat needed and no mess and you can be quite precise with your application this way too. It's shown as the green gooey looking stuff that is actually rock hard and will be painted over momentarily.



USING THE OLD APP ON THE NEW PHONE TO TAKE THE IMAGES IN 480X640, THINK I MIGHT UP THE SIZE/QUALITY A BIT.

Whoa, those are very cool.