My Custom 13 Dwarves & Bilbo From 'The Hobbit' Movie WIP. Bombur Weapons & Accessories.

He is looking great Alex, excellent work on the costume to date, wouldn't expect any other from you.


Cheers,

Peter.

Man, that’s looking great already.

GubernatorFan wrote:He's really coming to life now.

Rogerbee wrote:He looks SO good!

CHEERS!

Allotropos wrote:Wow..Bifur is looking awesome !

Pontiacivan wrote:Once again, over the damn top! Five minutes inside your brain would probably be an awesome trip.
Your solutions to problems and the shear volume of creative ideas you present is astounding.
You will always be one of my favorite figure creators. A very satisfying post to read and re-read.

peter the painter wrote:He is looking great Alex, excellent work on the costume to date, wouldn't expect any other from you.


Cheers,

Peter.

Stryker2011 wrote:Man, that’s looking great already.

Thanks guys!
Ponti, my brain is no where you want to go! LOL! You'd be stealing everyone's trash for a start!
Having a rapid deceleration in build work getting done as I'm burnt out and need a break from LOTR related stuff but don't want to start another 1/6 project since I'd then be committed to that for ages and not get back to these guys for a while. So I'm compromising by doing a gun build I've put off for far too long that should only take a couple of weeks to do since I just ordered a nice new Bosch angle grinder to do the mods to make it a CO2 powered full blow back 30rnd pellet shooter with rifled barrel. You can see how huge it is in the pics, there's a 1/6 Dr. No for size reference; it's a full metal replica of a Barrett .50cal anti-material rifle used for taking out engine blocks, tank tracks, targets behind concrete walls etc.. at 1,500m.
As for Bifur, I've built his boots and started on his eye resculpt also resculpted his eyebrow to be more arched  as per the reference pic above, got to paint it next, and make the eyes green.

Damn I still suck at doing eyes! Even in this case where it's only one... technically not human either..oh well I'll get there eventually. Made all the tusks out of milliput (the slug looking things LOL) and started to finish other weapons like Nori's kukri based knives and Balin's glaive etc..

I'm sure eyes in this scale are difficult for everyone (I was wondering what you were doing with them in the first place), so don't get dejected. You'll get them right...

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm sure eyes in this scale are difficult for everyone (I was wondering what you were doing with them in the first place), so don't get dejected. You'll get them right...

Well it can be pretty disheartening to not be able to get the damn things right, 1/6 eyes have always been my nemesis and I thought I'd tried everything until now... just discovered my new secret weapon on 1/6 eyes (no it's not sunglasses as tempting as they can be!

This is actually Thorin on set!



...But a simple small hole punch through painters' masking tape, can't believe I never thought of it before! It just occurred to me last night while in bed (when I get a lot of my ideas problem solving, helps me get to sleep and not get depressed). And it works! I also found painting the marker colour I wanted onto the brush tip then using that to apply it helped a lot. I still need to gloss they eyes.





















Before:



After:

Great idea, provided there is enough space. That's what I've begun to use to paint the nipples on TBLeague bodies when needed. lol

Redid his eyebrows to match the reference pic a bit more, glossed the eyes (very reflective now so hates the flash!) and put his axe back in after a paint touch up, also touched up the braids and hair in general where the paint was a bit worn/thin. I'll be adding some 'real hair' later.



looks a bit durpy here thanks to the flash lol, gives him character though!

GubernatorFan wrote:Great idea, provided there is enough space. That's what I've begun to use to paint the nipples on TBLeague bodies when needed. lol

LOL! Never had to do that so far...

Alex, that's not the expression I would necessarily associate with Bifur but, I like it.

Cheers,

Peter.

peter the painter wrote:Alex, that's not the expression I would necessarily associate with Bifur but, I like it.

Cheers,

Peter.

The actor is quite facially expressive in the movie as he can't talk (well only bits of some ancient dialect of Dwarvish and not the common tongue) because of the axe wound affecting that part of his brain, this info is official canon. He gets one line in the extended Director's Cut version of the film when the axe is finally removed!

Damn...Go away for a few days and this guy builds an entire figure...

Excellent work, too, brah.

Carry on.

dadrab wrote:Damn...Go away for a few days and this guy builds an entire figure...

Excellent work, too, brah.

Carry on.

Funny you should say that, I'm actually on a break, well not really a break but building a replica Barrett .50 as a change of pace since I was burnt out on the LOTR/Hobbit stuff, still doing the odd bit when the mood takes me like starting the weapons and repaint the head here and there.

A Barrett 50?! Cool. Will it be fully functional?

I've been wanting one for years, but man! The cost is ridiculous (with scope around $13,000 - 15,000!!!) (Maybe if I wasn't spending all my spare money on 1/6 I could actually save up for one....)

Stryker2011 wrote:A Barrett 50?! Cool. Will it be fully functional?

I've been wanting one for years, but man! The cost is ridiculous (with scope around $13,000 - 15,000!!!) (Maybe if I wasn't spending all my spare money on 1/6 I could actually save up for one....)

Well in American terms no, they banned .50cal rifles of any kind (they used to allow single shot versions but semi auto only in .22cal) as I guess they decided collectors or sports shooters didn't really need anti material rifles! There was only one range you could use them on in the whole of the UK, which is in Wales where I live funnily enough but it's a military range so you need serious connections to be able to use it! I'm converting a full metal airsoft AEG into a much higher powered (but legal) CO2 powered 35 round true semi auto pellet shooter. Done a fair bit of work so far but more to do including the reciprocating cocking handle/dust cover. Obviously it will be all black when finished .

Replica Barrett build thread

I see you put the same kind of love into your weapons builds that you do into your custom figures.

Very nice.

dadrab wrote:I see you put the same kind of love into your weapons builds that you do into your custom figures.

Very nice.

Thanks dadrab! Built quite a few custom pistols and rifles plus the odd SMG, all black and very modern and aggressive looking with my usual build technique of reusing thrown away items but mostly metal and industrial strength reinforced polymers for these rather than clothes or jewellery!

Oh man, painting eyes is so tricky! Brilliant idea using the punch. I'd imagine its still hard to get them lined up right and even, especially since the tape obscures a lot while you're lining everything up? Another trick I figured out is to paint in your white first, then do the lines at the edges otf the iris and cornea with a pencil. It's really subtle, but I think the slight indent from the pencil lines makes it easier to get those hard edges. Or that might be in my head. Here's the 1st real success I've had with eyes, and to took me about 20 attempts to get it right.





Also, freckles!

Fine job, Rev. Eyes tend to whip on my ass, too. The last ones I did, I went the pencil route followed by going over those lines with a fine-tipped Sharpie. That gave me a bit of a comfort zone on the outside of the iris to begin putting color inside...if that makes any sense.

dadrab wrote:Fine job, Rev. Eyes tend to whip on my ass, too. The last ones I did, I went the pencil route followed by going over those lines with a fine-tipped Sharpie. That gave me a bit of a comfort zone on the outside of the iris to begin putting color inside...if that makes any sense.

The sharpie is a great idea! I'll definitely try that next time. Eyes are something I want to really get good at. Maybe a few hundred more tries and I'll have it.

Looking good!

Eyes have been a bane for me too. I usually do the base flesh, then the white of the eye and then I put blu tack over the eye till I'm ready to do the rest. I like to mark out the iris with a pencil, then, depending on colour, I either draw it in with a permanent art pen or use a pastel. Pastels are better as you can wipe them off if you go wrong. Doing it in pen can mean a strip and a repaint. I want to see if I can paint them when I start again.

You look to have done a good job on yours

CHEERS!

Eyes are pretty much the reason I don't paint HS anymore. (That, and my own eye-sight is getting so bad I need TWO magnifying glasses and my own bifocals just to see anything that small). Have you guys thought of using the decals that you can get off eBay for irises?

RS: Great job on the eyes!! They look really professional to me, as in high end 1/6 figures. The pencil is a good idea to, surprised I never thought of that, all the other tricks mentioned by all of you above I've tried with varying degrees of success or failure... I actually thought about doing the edges of the whites with pencil to show the slight greyness or shadow of the sclera (orb) of the eye. Ah well I crack it one day! LOL. Done a bunch of braiding (that acrylic white hair is super slippery!) to give him some real hair beard and braids down the back since his beard is actually a bit longer with quite long braids too. Finished sculpting his boar spear/harpoon blade and crossguard with his machete to finish next.

Great work on the spear and braids; excellent progress.

Looking good!

I think, because eyes are often the last things on a head that you do, you can rush them because you're so eager to get the project finished. I've done that so many times. I've learned now to sit back and take my time. Do an iris, put it down, take a break, maybe pick it up the next day. Obviously if it's a commission you may not get that luxury, but, if it's your own work, take it at your own pace.

CHEERS!

Stryker2011 wrote:Great work on the spear and braids; excellent progress.

Cheers! Getting there!

Rogerbee wrote:Looking good!

I think, because eyes are often the last things on a head that you do, you can rush them because you're so eager to get the project finished. I've done that so many times. I've learned now to sit back and take my time. Do an iris, put it down, take a break, maybe pick it up the next day. Obviously if it's a commission you may not get that luxury, but, if it's your own work, take it at your own pace.

CHEERS!

LOL, Ido! And still muck it up!

You'll get there. I don't think there's a single one of my painted projects that has been totally right from start to finish.

CHEERS!

Glad to see it continue toward completion. Every little detail has been thought of!

Rogerbee wrote:You'll get there. I don't think there's a single one of my painted projects that has been totally right from start to finish.

CHEERS!

To be fair to you, your kits rely mostly on paint unlike my builds so it would be pretty damn hard to get it all right!

GubernatorFan wrote:Glad to see it continue toward completion. Every little detail has been thought of!

Cheers! Done a lot more work on him the last few days, lets just say he's at the barber's right now...