Creating Kamiko, Part 1

Kamiko Muscular by Gary  Menten, on Flickr
The DAZ 3D Kamiko I want to recreate

One of my other hobbies is to create art using DAZ 3D, and my personal all-time favorite as well as my fan's favorite is the beautiful but deadly Japanese-American woman Kamiko Takahara. From the moment I got into 1/6th scale I knew I was destined try to create her as part of my team of deadly dangerous apocalyptic survivor gals.  To my good luck, most of the wardrobe and props I used in DAZ to dress and arm Kamiko have their 1/6th scale equivalents.  The big problem is the head sculpt. I needed one that looked Asian and in addition, who had a hair style close enough to Kamiko's that I could style it to Kamiko's particular style.

Damn! but I was frustrated!  There were some where the face was right but the hair wrong, others where the hair was nearly right but the wrong color.  But I didn't give up.  Finally, when I saw a new version of the Tomoe Gozan headsculpt parted out on Monkey Depot, I said "Alea Jacta Est," and scooped it up.  It's a pricey one for sure, meaning it's popular, but rather than dither I took the plunge.

Tomoe_2 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

Since clearly I would never find a sculpt that would have exactly the face i'd created for my DAZ Kamiko, the success or failure of this kitbash will depend on how closely I can modify the Tomoe head sculpt to resemble Kamiko. This involved two separate things:

a. The Makeup (easy)

b. The hair styling (much more challenging)

This is what I came up with

tomoe_kamiko by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

The biggest challenge was that the bangs the figure comes with are too short for Kamiko. To create the long curvy bang going from camera left to right on Kamiko's forehead, I first wet all the hair, then dried off the excess water with a paper towel. The next step was to part the short bangs in front using a 3/0 paintbrush.  Next I pulled a lock from further back on the doll's head and using a diluted solution of simple syrup (boiled water and instantly dissolving sugar) and carefully and patiently pulled it to the front and styled it using a 3/0 paintbrush and the dilute syrup. dilute syrup was also applied to the hair on the sides of the forehead to keep them in place. When the hair dried, it remained in place as as shaped. This is a trial and error process and it took me a few tries over several days to get it the way I wanted.

Okay...the hair needs a bit of brushing but I was otherwise satisfied.

Next I applied myself to creating a red bow and hairband.  The bow, not pictured is made from 6mm red satin ribbon while the band is made from steel wire, bent into a U, primed white and painted red.  Tomorrow I'll go out in search of a hot glue gun to fix the two together. We'll see how that works out tomorrow.

On order is a TBLeague S22A pale body and another pair of Agent Skye high leather boots like the ones I used for my first figure. As for the rest of what she's wearing in the illustration, I have the a pair of (camo) shorts and a camo bra top and not to mention a belt, canteen, pouches holster and pistol, not to mention a Howa Type 89 assault rifle which will be an appropriate weapon for her to carry.  

So the countdown to Kamiko is on.  I estimate two or three weeks before she's ready and photos posted. I will invite everyone then to comment on the kitbash.

That’s a very creative solution for the bangs! Thanks for sharing.

And she looks like she is coming along nicely! With regard to finding the right sculpt, you’ve encountered an all-too relatable struggle for anyone who is trying to recreate a particular character in 1/6 form without a pre-existing headsculpt/likeness. And I can imagine that since it’s a character of your own creation, you’d be even more particular — I’m glad you found something that worked! : )

Looking good so far. I agree on the bangs, great solution; never would have thought of that.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking good so far. I agree on the bangs, great solution; never would have thought of that.

The trick works quite well actually but does take some practice and you want to get your dilution just right. Basically you are making the equivalent of hairspray for a 12" doll.

skywalkersaga wrote:That’s a very creative solution for the bangs! Thanks for sharing.

And she looks like she is coming along nicely! With regard to finding the right sculpt, you’ve encountered an all-too relatable struggle for anyone who is trying to recreate a particular character in 1/6 form without a pre-existing headsculpt/likeness. And I can imagine that since it’s a character of your own creation, you’d be even more particular — I’m glad you found something that worked! : )

Since she is a character of my own creation rather than say a movie actress everyone knows, I can accept that I have to compromise someplace. To boot, it's like choosing an actor to play a historical character in a movie. You know in advance that you might be able to get someone with a resemblance to the character, even a strong resemblance as with Peter O'Tool / Lawrence of Arabia, but it will never be perfect. In my case, it's actually easier to change the DAZ figure to look more like the doll. I actually did this with the body in the top illustration, making it more muscular than previously to match the S22A body I've ordered.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:


Since she is a character of my own creation rather than say a movie actress everyone knows, I can accept that I have to compromise someplace. To boot, it's like choosing an actor to play a historical character in a movie.  You know in advance that you might be able to get someone with a resemblance to the character, even a strong resemblance as with Peter O'Tool / Lawrence of Arabia, but it will never be perfect. In my case, it's actually easier to change the DAZ figure to look more like the doll.  I actually did this with the body in the top illustration, making it more muscular than previously to match the S22A body I've ordered.

It's great that you are so flexible about it -- I think she looks pretty awesome, in both her DAZ and 1/6 forms, so far! : )

skywalkersaga wrote:

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:


Since she is a character of my own creation rather than say a movie actress everyone knows, I can accept that I have to compromise someplace. To boot, it's like choosing an actor to play a historical character in a movie.  You know in advance that you might be able to get someone with a resemblance to the character, even a strong resemblance as with Peter O'Tool / Lawrence of Arabia, but it will never be perfect. In my case, it's actually easier to change the DAZ figure to look more like the doll.  I actually did this with the body in the top illustration, making it more muscular than previously to match the S22A body I've ordered.

It's great that you are so flexible about it -- I think she looks pretty awesome, in both her DAZ and 1/6 forms, so far! : )

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I should have mentioned that this is a very good quality head sculpt, with nice, even hair rooting, quality paint, etc. My only complaint is that they glued the neck joint adapter into place meaning I couldn't pull it out to replace it with one I've designed for the smaller TBLeague bodies. (I've solved that problem too and plan to share my solution shortly). Not that I was l planning to put it on a smaller body, but I'd just like the flexibility.

That head is looking great! Really interesting trick with the simple syrup. Is it at all sticky after it dries? Also, even glued in, those neck sockets aren't too hard to pop out. I usually just go in with a small screwdriver around the edges to break up the glue, and then just pull out with needle nose pliers. The socket doesn't always survive, but they're cheap and easy to replace, and you're only pulling it out if you want to replace it anyway.

Can't wait to see her come together!!!

ReverendSpooky wrote:That head is looking great!  Really interesting trick with the simple syrup.  Is it at all sticky after it dries?    Also, even glued in, those neck sockets aren't too hard to pop out.  I usually just go in with a small screwdriver around the edges to break up the glue, and then just pull out with needle nose pliers.  The socket doesn't always survive, but they're cheap and easy to replace, and you're only pulling it out if you want to replace it anyway.

Can't wait to see her come together!!!

With the proper dilution, the syrup dries not sticky. It's a quite heavy dilution and a trial and error process, but it should be diluted to the point it flows naturally. If it's gooey when you apply it, it's not diluted enough. Thanks for the tip about the glued neck adapter. In this case, It wont matter because I'm not using this head with one of the new, smaller bodies.

I too was a Daz user! Were you on their forums, perhaps I know you. I'm Rogerbee on there too. All I ever got round to was portrait renders, spending endless hours tweaking skin textures, render settings and lighting. I never really did many, if any, scenes, though I had a load of stuff by people like Stonemason. I might get back to it one day.

Good luck with the build

CHEERS!

Coming along nicely. And you get bonus points for using Latin!

GubernatorFan wrote:Coming along nicely. And you get bonus points for using Latin!

Thanks. I'm pleased with the progress so far. It's expensive to kitbash figures from the ground up, but oh, so satisfying from a creative point of view.

I can't help but think this head looks a little more like Kamiko:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-6Scale-Girl-Female-Head-Sculpt-Fit-3A-HT-Phicen-Body-Type-Model/263704223966?hash=item3d65ff20de:g:4I4AAOSw0dhbA-vX

Now he can do Kamiko and her sister Samiko.

Ah, OK

Peaches wrote:I can't help but think this head looks a little more like Kamiko:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-6Scale-Girl-Female-Head-Sculpt-Fit-3A-HT-Phicen-Body-Type-Model/263704223966?hash=item3d65ff20de:g:4I4AAOSw0dhbA-vX

I'd agree that the face does, but it's a terrible quality product. Just awful.

GubernatorFan wrote:Now he can do Kamiko and her sister Samiko.

Kamiko's elder sister, brother-in-law, and parents were killed by road bandits during the Great Anarchy. Her only surviving near relative is he niece, Michiko. As my DAZ version of Michiko has her wearing her hair in a retro updo, I may have to compromise more.

Oh, I'm sorry it's a bad product, what a bummer

Peaches wrote:Oh, I'm sorry it's a bad product, what a bummer

Total crap.

ReverendSpooky wrote:That head is looking great!  Really interesting trick with the simple syrup.  Is it at all sticky after it dries?    Also, even glued in, those neck sockets aren't too hard to pop out.  I usually just go in with a small screwdriver around the edges to break up the glue, and then just pull out with needle nose pliers.  The socket doesn't always survive, but they're cheap and easy to replace, and you're only pulling it out if you want to replace it anyway.

Can't wait to see her come together!!!

It should be quite soon. The boots arrived yesterday and the body will will arrive either today or Monday.

Kamiko almost finished by Gary  Menten, on Flickr

The body arrived yesterday and I'm about 80% done on assembling my 1/6th scale Kamiko. I've still to add her red bow and a few other details.  I chose a more muscular body this time around, reasoning that survivors are lean and fit and that if Alex's bunker was as well equipped as described, there is probably some exercise equipment down there.  In any case, there would be lots of it lying around in abandoned gyms, waiting to by anyone who isn't so busy scavenging food and other essentials that the have the time an means to lug it back to their base.  

What I'm going to attempt for the hair bow is to fix it to a hair band made of steel wire, bent into a horseshoe shape and spray painted red with a glossy red paint. I've done the bending and painting, but the paint takes a good 24 hours to cure properly, so I probably won't try putting it all together for another day or two, at which point, I should post some better quality images.

She looks great already. Should be outstanding when she’s finished.

Looking really good so far -- and the bow will certainly add a special touch. : )  I like your solution for it, and I have likewise found that wire is helpful for creating certain hairstyles and/or hairpieces in this scale.

Stryker2011 wrote:She looks great already. Should be outstanding when she’s finished.

Thanks. I'm also debating with myself if i should attempt to paint the fingernails as my 3D depictions of Kamiko usually have her wearing red nail polish...a homage to Alberto Vargas, the primus inter pares of pin-up artists. The problem I think will be that as the plastic for the hands is a soft and flexible one, no kind of paint will long survive on those hands.

skywalkersaga wrote:Looking really good so far -- and the bow will certainly add a special touch. : )  I like your solution for it, and I have likewise found that wire is helpful for creating certain hairstyles and/or hairpieces in this scale.

Thanks. I'm liking the way she's coming together myself. She is intended to be the most bad-ass female character in the post apocalyptic collection. A real ball-buster...