The Predators 2018, Building The Ultimate Xmass Grinches! WIP Hot Glue Blood/Gore Effects, New Blade Weapon For FP & Next WIP Reveal..

Stryker2011 wrote:That is so cool. Ingenious using a car antenna.

Lucky I kept them! Wish I had more..

Rogerbee wrote:
Funnily enough, I was advised to avoid slilcone on rubber, but, if it works for you then it works.

CHEERS!]


Ahh, it was probably the automotive stuff that was being referred to, like Armor All. Gotcha! Sorry!

CHEERS!

Most likely they used the wrong stuff and had a bad experience due to the ethanol drying out the rubber, stops it being slippery which kind of makes the lubrication and 'nourishment' properties moot. People ignoring my silicone advice has turned into a bit of a pet peeve over the years as SO many 1/6 figure and Transformers You Tube reviewers ask for a solution to either preserving rubber figures or quietening squeaky plastic/polymer joints and I've always told them about airgun silicone oil but not one has ever acknowledged my advice and seem to dismiss it which drives me nuts!    
Guess I dumped all that pent up frustration on you Roger, sorry! Friends always get the crap to put up with!    

Rogerbee wrote:
He's coming along really well now.

CHEERS!

Thank you! Paint today!

NECA just released their pictures of their Assassin (Hulk) Predator for the 7" line, he'll be nearly 12" apparently but doesn't look it in the pics. My FP is 13" and my HP is 16".

That’s the one thing I never got from the newer Pred movies, is why they would hunt each other... Guess they must get bored hunting species lesser than them.

That NECA figure looks quite good, but, their regular predators are the same size as humans. Gives you a bit more reference though.

CHEERS!

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s the one thing I never got from the newer Pred movies, is why they would hunt each other... Guess they must get bored hunting species lesser than them.

It's a bit more complicated than that, I'm no fountain of knowledge on Predator lore (only watched the movies and came across some info in my figure research etc..) but they have clans that like any society tend to clash now and again especially over tradition it seems, I believe this is loosely based on the Japanese Samurai Bushido type situation which is in conflict with change and breaking tradition. In this case an unknown clan (to me that is) have started experimenting with genetic modification of themselves using DNA from their most resilient prey (taken in the form of trophies like the skull with spine containing all the brain matter and nervous system). The Fugitive Predator turns out to have some human DNA which is perhaps why he travels to Earth (betraying his clan) to try to warn the humans of the imminent new genetically boosted Predators soon to come their way, he also brings a special gift to help the humans fight the advanced giant Predators (like the Assassin/Hulk Predator) in the form of a MECH/Iron Man type suit to even the odds a bit. Of course his clan would be furious of his betrayal of their banned experiments (causing problems for them on their home world as well as ruining their plans to breed genetically enhanced hunters that would have been secretly sent off world to be tested against even bigger prey) so they sent the already genetically enhanced Assassin Predator to eliminate the Fugitive Predator (recovering his DNA for analysis with the traditional 'ripping his head and spine out of his body' collection process, this is conjecture on my part but it is what he does). The Assassin also needs to locate all their stolen technology (by the Fugitive Predator) and take it from any humans who may have found it (FP's spaceship crashed when they shot it down thinking it was a threat so they did find loads). The Assassin Predator is also tasked with finding new useful DNA for his clan's experiments, which in this case is a little boy who is autistic but with a genius IQ, making me conclude that they want their enhanced ultimate hunters to be brains and brawn. Damn am I glad you asked this question after I'd got my new keyboard working!!!

Primered the entire figure in black now so it's just waiting for paint apps. There is a flaking problem due to the latex but that's better that the paint never curing which is what happens with some primers on rubber based builds..

Rogerbee wrote:That NECA figure looks quite good, but, their regular predators are the same size as humans. Gives you a bit more reference though.

CHEERS!

That's odd given all the amazing reference material they will have access too, why make such a basic error in scale? The humans should be 6" or less in that case, weird. Might explain why they seem to have gone for the wrong (in my opinion) colours for this Pred too, he's far more green in the movie with striking red accents; they can't blame that on the lighting as he was a complete CGI character unlike the FP that was sometimes CGI and sometimes an actor in a suit.

Looking good,

I guess the NECA might be a decent paint reference. Looks like other pics. That said, their paint on the Ultimate Gremlins is actually way off when compared to pics of the screen used ones.

CHEERS!

EDIT: Ok, after reading your post, maybe not then! Go green!

shovelchop81 wrote:

That's odd given all the amazing reference material they will have access too, why make such a basic error in scale? The humans should be 6" or less in that case, weird. Might explain why they seem to have gone for the wrong (in my opinion) colours for this Pred too, he's far more green in the movie with striking red accents; they can't blame that on the lighting as he was a complete CGI character unlike the FP that was sometimes CGI and sometimes an actor in a suit.

That's mainly because NECA are just doing 7" figures and not doing them to a particular scale most of the time. Their scale varies wildly. The Gremlins are about 1/4 scale and the Ash vs Evil Dead figure they did was more like 1/12. It's really weird, some are in scale and some plain aren't. It's the luck of the draw as to what you get.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Looking good,

I guess the NECA might be a decent paint reference. Looks like other pics. That said, their paint on the Ultimate Gremlins is actually way off when compared to pics of the screen used ones.

CHEERS!

The stills do seem to have quite a degree of colour variants and the movie doesn't help with real lighting changes then compensated on the CGI model so that changes too...hell I'll just blame the CGI guys and stick with the dark green and red as that's been my plan all along and I didn't invent the colour scheme, it just seems to be the most consistent allowing for all the variables involved, hell he's invisible half the bloody time!

Rogerbee wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:

That's odd given all the amazing reference material they will have access too, why make such a basic error in scale? The humans should be 6" or less in that case, weird. Might explain why they seem to have gone for the wrong (in my opinion) colours for this Pred too, he's far more green in the movie with striking red accents; they can't blame that on the lighting as he was a complete CGI character unlike the FP that was sometimes CGI and sometimes an actor in a suit.

That's mainly because NECA are just doing 7" figures and not doing them to a particular scale most of the time. Their scale varies wildly. The Gremlins are about 1/4 scale and the Ash vs Evil Dead figure they did was more like 1/12. It's really weird, some are in scale and some plain aren't. It's the luck of the draw as to what you get.

CHEERS!

I thought you meant humans in the same universe/franchise/series like Dutch Shaffer or the Space Marines etc..

shovelchop81 wrote:

The stills do seem to have quite a degree of colour variants and the movie doesn't help with real lighting changes then compensated on the CGI model so that changes too...hell I'll just blame the CGI guys and stick with the dark green and red as that's been my plan all along and I didn't invent the colour scheme, it just seems to be the most consistent allowing for all the variables involved, hell he's invisible half the bloody time!

Sounds like a plan!

CHEERS!

shovelchop81 wrote:

I thought you meant humans in the same universe/franchise/series like Dutch Shaffer or the Space Marines etc..

Oh, no. NECA never have been totally scale specific.

CHEERS!

Thanks for the explanation. It's funny, aside from them having space travel technology, and really cool weapons, it's always hard to think of them as little more than savages, but all of that would make sense. Just because they look like "animals" doesn't mean they're idiots. Ahh, the arrogance of Human thinking rears it's ugly head again.

Stryker2011 wrote:Thanks for the explanation. It's funny, aside from them having space travel technology, and really cool weapons, it's always hard to think of them as little more than savages, but all of that would make sense. Just because they look like "animals" doesn't mean they're idiots. Ahh, the arrogance of Human thinking rears it's ugly head again.

They're far more intelligent than the average human, it would be like saying Jabba the Hutt was stupid but x10! LOL. Predators actually look down on humans as an inferior species, like we hunt wild boar for example even though we know pigs are intelligent.

shovelchop81 wrote:

Rogerbee wrote:Looking good,

I guess the NECA might be a decent paint reference. Looks like other pics. That said, their paint on the Ultimate Gremlins is actually way off when compared to pics of the screen used ones.

CHEERS!

The stills do seem to have quite a degree of colour variants and the movie doesn't help with real lighting changes then compensated on the CGI model so that changes too...hell I'll just blame the CGI guys and stick with the dark green and red as that's been my plan all along and I didn't invent the colour scheme, it just seems to be the most consistent allowing for all the variables involved, hell he's invisible half the bloody time!

After going through all my movie still pics up close on my tablet I realised why I had thought he was green not grey, it's his own blood! Because he has bioarmour rather than regular armour the mg and smg bullets pierce his skin before bouncing off causing no serious damage but still rupturing capillaries etc.. like a little cut on your face, looks bad but it really isn't. So all that blood smeared over him (which is bright green of course) from the hundreds of bullet strikes gave him a green appearance in a lot of the battle scene stills.

Done a grey base layer.

Annoyed by the paint flaking problem I realised I had a solution practically staring me in the face, I still had some grey liquid latex in my cupboard! I gave the already applied paint a good scrub with a sanding pad to get rid of the worst of the flakes and allow areas for the new latex coat adhere to so hopefully it won't peal off. I then mixed a bit of black ink in with it to darken it without compromising it (I'm pretty sure acrylic paint wouldn't mix well but don't actually know if I've tried that before) and then just sponged it over the entire body of the figure making sure I got it into all the nooks and crannies as anchor points in case the adhesive properties aren't as strong as I hope they are; drying now so we'll find out later.

splitting and flaking acrylic, not terrible for this type of figure but still undesirable.













After a scrub







All done





Not quite this type of latex bodysuit but same idea sort of...pics like these are why I get seriously distracted on imgur and forget why I opened the app in the first place!

Well that seems to have done it, still need to be careful not to rip it but he has 'smooth' finish and is still well articulated, I also added the lighter (no black ink) latex on top where the NECA figure shows lighter patches of grey. Sponged on the red lines then used a red sharpie as my Gory Red got over dilluted by mistake, I was running out of it , then gave the whole body, hands and mouth parts a black ink wash and wipe down. Looks quite vivid for a Predator so I may tone the red down a bit, not sure need to see it with fresh eyes after a night's sleep. Still need to finish the head hence no pics of that yet.









































#



LOOKS LIKE I WENT TOO LIGHT WITH THE GREY..





THE ADDED SPIKES LOOK MORE LIKE NIPPLES SO THEY NEED TO GO TOO.

Right, redone the colouration so he's darker using latex and marker, also made sure to take some natural light pics as the flash had made the previous result look worse than it was. Will probably add a black wash again and some medium grey pastel for highlights. Removed the 'nipple' spikes as well.

Just latex





Sharpie red added with flash on





Natural light









Latex on head drying

Looking good so far!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:
Looking good so far!

CHEERS!

Thanks! Finally found your Gremlin thread! Since this guy is mostly latex too I'll put some silicone oil on him when I'm done and you can be the judge of how it affects the finish, as for proof of preservation well that will take a few years!

I've been concentrating on his mandibles, waist armour and adding grey pastel as a highlight/blender over everything. Still need to finish the mandibles such as painting the rubber inner jaw muscles (the mouth parts don't look nearly as bright in real life) and teeth and paint copper on all the beads of the dredds.

Coming along!

I will still seal my Gremlin with polyurethane as I want to paint on top of it with acrylics in order to redo his eyes and touch up other areas.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:
Coming along!

I will still seal my Gremlin with polyurethane as I want to paint on top of it with acrylics in order to redo his eyes and touch up other areas.

CHEERS!

Cool, just make sure it doesn't contain any additives that will eat the paint and latex! Although you seem to test everything paint orientated so I'm preaching to the choir there!

Chris said he used it and one of the team from Cabin Fever 3 used it on their display pieces, so it should be ok.

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:
Chris said he used it and one of the team from Cabin Fever 3 used it on their display pieces, so it should be ok.

CHEERS!

All good then.

Been busy repainting his dredds as the beads were the wrong colours, messy job that I should have done before I glued them to the head! I'm mucking around with the dreaded eyes now, bloody hate eyes... need to make all my figures blind! Also been working out his weapon systems for his gauntlets, been a bit of a parts juggle as I've changed designs or been torn between saving a part for another planned build also coming across new products depicting the character changes things like the 1/6 statue I just saw on pintrest of the HP and his forearm blaster. No one else seems to have attempted to depict the grappling hook/speargun weapon he has so that's still open to interpretation due to the lack of source material; you'll see below some pics of the CGI and then the actual physical blue-screen set which is why there are no props to look at! Made his armour out of real leather and painted all his claws, painted/inked/pastelled/glossed his mouth parts and head too.

















I STARTED OFF USING THIS AS A BASIC REFERENCE FOR THE WRIST BLASTER











THEN SAW THIS REALLY NICE STATUE WHERE IT LOOKS A BIT DIFFERENT SO I MARRIED THE TWO IDEAS











WHY COULDN'T I GET A GOOD COLOUR REFERENCE? TURNS OUT HIS SKIN HAS ADAPTIVE CAMOUFLAGE EVEN WHEN NOT CLOAKED!



ALL I'VE GOT FOR THE HARPOON LAUNCHER AS REFERENCE!







MINE SO FAR..

























WHY THERE ARE NO PROPS FOR REFERENCE!

Coming along nicely!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:
Coming along nicely!

CHEERS!

Thanks!

Just finishing the weapons today, made the grapple launcher and two different tips for it, one closed and one open (impact triggered like a modern mechanical broadhead hunting arrow tip), the closed one can also be placed in the launcher's tip/barrel when not being used. Wrist blaster and blade mounted, need to do detail paint on the gauntlets, fix his eyes somehow (found perfect parts on ebay but it's Chinese New Year ) and make the decapitated FP head accessory etc..

Nice one!

I love the word grapple, takes be back to the days of wrestling on World Of Sport. "Good afternoon, grapple fans!"

CHEERS!

He's almost ready! It's been a long and complex but so far very successful build.

Rogerbee wrote:
Nice one!

I love the word grapple, takes be back to the days of wrestling on World Of Sport. "Good afternoon, grapple fans!"

CHEERS!

GubernatorFan wrote:He's almost ready! It's been a long and complex but so far very successful build.

Cheers guys! Probably the last post I do on this thread as next I'll do a finished figures thread with them fighting in the photobooth, perhaps outside depends on the rain..

Made him new eyes from the reverse sides of some cut down push buttons off a cheap Chinese digital clock, not perfect but then you don't see his eyes very much anyway.
Finished painting and clear coating all the weapons and armour, started the ripped off FP head with spine and removable helmet (so the figure can still use it) as an accessory for the Assassin Predator (that seems to be the official name now). I'll need to experiment with hot glue, paints/inks and cold water to make some Predator blood effects for the head and the open grapple tip.

Another top Chop job!

CHEERS!