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

I don’t know how I missed this but damn, this is looking incredible! Nothing like some proper scratchbuilding!

Stryker2011 wrote:Bummer about the issue, but at least you got it corrected.

It wasn't that big of a deal I was just having a bad day. If I'd noticed after I'd PVA'd and painted it then it would have been a bit of a disaster for me as if I left it incorrectly assembled it would drive me nuts, but to correct it I'd have to start over completely.

GubernatorFan wrote:Glad to see the finished Mandarin photos too.

Cheers GTF! Did you see my other IM bad guys towards the bottom of the first page?

Lynkhart wrote:I don’t know how I missed this but damn, this is looking incredible! Nothing like some proper scratchbuilding!

Thanks Lynkhart!

Made his leg and foot armour today, I can't make his pauldrons until I get the chainmail so I know what size they need to be to fit over it; I can make his gauntlet armour etc.. though.
Fixed his finger and sprayed him head to toe with black matte primmer (stuck the wrong hose from the second paintbooth out the window by mistake and wondered why the hell the room still stank of spray paint! DOH) missed a few spots but I'll correct that. I now need to add all the rivets/studs then PVA all the armour so far to stiffen it and give it that smooth plastic texture while still being a bit rough for weathering and their utilitarian production finish, these are definitely made as function over form but are still brilliantly stylised in design as all Peter Jackson's costumes and 'worlds' are in LOTR.





























HEY! IT'S THE NEW "SECOND ORDER" STORMTROOPER UNIFORM/ARMOUR!

Cool progress. The repainted body looks totally professionally made now, all the pieces like they were designed to fit together from the get go. Nice to see the armor expand in coverage. Yes, I saw the other bad guys, on second viewing, was too focused on the Mandarin to really appreciate them at first. Your collection has a very good coverage of these characters. I just ordered a knock off hulk -- we'll see what it's like if and when it gets here.

I really liked how you made that armor, everything is starting to look great.

GubernatorFan wrote:Cool progress. The repainted body looks totally professionally made now, all the pieces like they were designed to fit together from the get go. Nice to see the armor expand in coverage. Yes, I saw the other bad guys, on second viewing, was too focused on the Mandarin to really appreciate them at first. Your collection has a very good coverage of these characters. I just ordered a knock off hulk -- we'll see what it's like if and when it gets here.

Cheers and cool! Which Hulk? I did a thread on articulating the best 1/6 KO Hulk for the time:

Articulating my KO HT Hulk

Theboo-bomb wrote:I really liked how you made that armor, everything is starting to look great.

Thank you TBB!

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers and cool! Which Hulk? I did a thread on articulating the best 1/6 KO Hulk for the time:

Articulating my KO HT Hulk

I remember you did a Hulk custom. A bit advanced for me, like so much of what you do. I landed a parted out HT hulk head and told myself how about a body -- but not at HT prices. So I was not expecting miracles but figured maybe someone came up with a third party rendition, like they had for Thanos, Iron Man, etc. So here is another listing for the one I found and will try --
https://www.ebay.com/itm/393624653254?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D233631%26meid%3D8bda4d120d0a440cbad971300b495ff5%26pid%3D101113%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D403187078632%26itm%3D393624653254%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2563228%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWeb%26brand%3DHot+Toys&_trksid=p2563228.c101113.m2108

But a lot of the seller ratings don't inspire confidence, I hope mine is reliable.

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers and cool! Which Hulk? I did a thread on articulating the best 1/6 KO Hulk for the time:

Articulating my KO HT Hulk

I remember you did a Hulk custom. A bit advanced for me, like so much of what you do. I landed a parted out HT hulk head and told myself how about a body -- but not at HT prices. So I was not expecting miracles but figured maybe someone came up with a third party rendition, like they had for Thanos, Iron Man, etc. So here is another listing for the one I found and will try --
https://www.ebay.com/itm/393624653254?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D233631%26meid%3D8bda4d120d0a440cbad971300b495ff5%26pid%3D101113%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D403187078632%26itm%3D393624653254%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2563228%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWeb%26brand%3DHot+Toys&_trksid=p2563228.c101113.m2108

But a lot of the seller ratings don't inspire confidence, I hope mine is reliable.

Yup that's the same one as I modified. I see what you mean by the seller's sales history, only 5? Heads are tricky to match up as I found out, since this guy is undersized compared to the HT their heads are too big but the custom one I bought is too small, must have been designed for 1/6 Legends series of Hulks that are a bit smaller, I'm sure you'll work something out! I haven't had a HT one in hand so I'm only guessing.

Lots of fun fiddley stuff today, carefully using a scalpel to cut off all the metal studs from the leather 'belts' then super gluing them onto the armour in the correct and logical places for joining the plates and allowing articulation (rather what would be articulated in real life) as faux rivets. Then PVA'd it all on both sides, I dilute the PVA to a milk like consistency so the fibre board can absorb it. Now drying next to the radiator. Got to go cut down a forest with a sword to keep the neighbours happy now...































THAT'S DRY WHITE PAINT ON THE PALLET THERE FROM PREVIOUS BUILDS, THE PVA SHOULD BE ALMOST TRANSPARENT WHEN WET AND MIXED PROPERLY

Looking good, Alex.

shovelchop81 wrote:Yup that's the same one as I modified. I see what you mean by the seller's sales history, only 5? Heads are tricky to match up as I found out, since this guy is undersized compared to the HT their heads are too big but the custom one I bought is too small, must have been designed for 1/6 Legends series of Hulks that are a bit smaller, I'm sure you'll work something out! I haven't had a HT one in hand so I'm only guessing.

A lot of the sellers were like this. I tried to make a compromise between a relatively good rating and bunch of sales on the one hand and a relatively low price on the other. They already contacted me to remind me that it would not be shipped in its original box (which is fine by me), so I hope it is a good sign. To be 100% honest, I'm pretty sure at least some of the promotional images in the listings are actually based on earlier products. This one claims to be from 2020, so perhaps a reissue or copy of the one you had, if it is indeed the same. Just noticed on the articulation image (which I had checked before) that although there is knee articulation, there is no elbow articulation shown, which is disappointing. Oh well. It does claim to be 42 cm tall, which is what the Hot Toys hulk was supposed to be.

shovelchop81 wrote:Lots of fun fiddley stuff today, carefully using a scalpel to cut off all the metal studs from the leather 'belts' then super gluing them onto the armour in the correct and logical places for joining the plates and allowing articulation (rather what would be articulated in real life) as faux rivets. Then PVA'd it all on both sides, I dilute the PVA to a milk like consistency so the fibre board can absorb it. Now drying next to the radiator. Got to go cut down a forest with a sword to keep the neighbours happy now...

Only in England would one cut down a forest with a sword. What is their issue which your plants -- you said they are not even by their property? Nice job with the armor and the faux rivets. I remember the tedium of doing exactly the same thing (removing metal studs from leather) for similar purposes.

I'm in Wales actually, different country ;-) knackered after my tree slaying, four hours of constant physical exercise is not what I'm used to now a days lol! I don't think the Hulk is a reissue, they just keep making them as long as they sell, if you look a AliExpress there are loads of them. He is smaller than the HT one though, mine is 40cm including the mods I did which added a cm or two. The KO Thanos is a lot smaller than the HT one although it's a copy of the GOTG version which I believe was smaller than the Endgame version which is the HT one I have along with the KO. It's to do with mould shrinkage, the original moulds would be larger than the actual figure because the polymers they use contract when cooled and solidified, so when the KO factories copy the figure's dimensions through casting or even laser scanning they don't bother to compensate for the shrinkage (or use the difference in size as a legal loophole like all the Transformers KO's) so the figure comes out smaller again.

shovelchop81 wrote:I'm in Wales actually, different country ;-) knackered after my tree slaying, four hours of constant physical exercise is not what I'm used to now a days lol! I don't think the Hulk is a reissue, they just keep making them as long as they sell, if you look a AliExpress there are loads of them. He is smaller than the HT one though, mine is 40cm including the mods I did which added a cm or two. The KO Thanos is a lot smaller than the HT one although it's a copy of the GOTG version which I believe was smaller than the Endgame version which is the HT one I have along with the KO. It's to do with mould shrinkage, the original moulds would be larger than the actual figure because the polymers they use contract when cooled and solidified, so when the KO factories copy the figure's dimensions through casting or even laser scanning they don't bother to compensate for the shrinkage (or use the difference in size as a legal loophole like all the Transformers KO's) so the figure comes out smaller again.

I should have used Britain! Sorry, I have equal respect for all of Her Majesty's Realms, but I guess we are writing in English and that tends to loom larger than the others in one's imagination. I do remember you like to work on top of the Welsh pages of newspapers so you are less distracted by the stories within. So, if this is the same Hulk, really no elbow articulation? You are right about the KO Thanos. I eventually talked myself into buying a parted out HT Thanos body, which was substantially bigger, but mostly because it was their second or third or fourth Thanos (I've lost count). Strange that mold shrinkage would make that much of a difference, but I trust you to know.

GubernatorFan wrote:

I should have used Britain! Sorry, I have equal respect for all of Her Majesty's Realms, but I guess we are writing in English and that tends to loom larger than the others in one's imagination. I do remember you like to work on top of the Welsh pages of newspapers so you are less distracted by the stories within. So, if this is the same Hulk, really no elbow articulation? You are right about the KO Thanos. I eventually talked myself into buying a parted out HT Thanos body, which was substantially bigger, but mostly because it was their second or third or fourth Thanos (I've lost count). Strange that mold shrinkage would make that much of a difference, but I trust you to know.

I can't believe you actually remember the Welsh newspaper thing that I still do! Sadly I don't get free news papers anymore so might be working on kitchen roll in the near future. Do you mean the difference between the Hulk KO and HT's Hulk when you say "Strange that mould shrinkage would make that much of a difference"? As the Thanos KO is still smaller than HT's version 1 Thanos. I've got some cheap unpainted recast 1/6 heads I bought on eBay that are closer to 1/7 size because of mould shrinkage so yes when using many cheaper casting polymers it does become a problem that has to be factored into production processes. I've been to plastic factories making cheap products like buckets, linen baskets, cups etc.. and they compensate for it with the moulds they use especially for rotocasting. Rotocasting is also the reason the elbows on the Hulk KO have no articulation as they just copied the seamless flexible arms of the HT figure in a relaxed position but cast it in a stiff polymer, I haven't bothered to articulate my figure's as it would only allow minimal articulation and have ugly joints, also because I was pretty lazy about that whole project!

Thanks for the clarification. I don't mind if it is a little undersized, as the Hulk heads usually look too small for the bodies (I know that is by design, but still). I do regret that there will be no elbow articulation. But it is understandable -- also the reason why you did not try to give yours any. If you are friendly with any neighbors, could they not give you their old papers?

GubernatorFan wrote:Thanks for the clarification. I don't mind if it is a little undersized, as the Hulk heads usually look too small for the bodies (I know that is by design, but still). I do regret that there will be no elbow articulation. But it is understandable -- also the reason why you did not try to give yours any. If you are friendly with any neighbors, could they not give you their old papers?

Good idea, I hadn't thought of asking, some of them are old enough to still buy them!! And even dumb enough to read them..tabloids etc.. You should see my street all my neighbours are barking mad or super old school working class who seem to be allergic to nature, I'm probably considered one of the maddest to be fair! And that's without them even knowing about my crazy collections lol.
The reason the polymers shrink is basically twofold, firstly just following the basic 3 states of matter: Gas, Liquid, Solid with the molecules being compacted further together in that order due to lack of energy, the second is that some impurities can be removed in a gaseous form during the process further reducing the overall mass and going more in depth into it there's an article on it here (I find it interesting because of my science degree in product design and it's well written for the layman):
https://omnexus.specialchem.com/polymer-properties/properties/shrinkage#factors

I just ordered this, can't wait to try it out! Guess which already built figure I'll be using it on, it's kind of obvious! Will be great for a King Of The Dead build too but in green not light blue if it works well.







Oh, great, now my house is surrounded by junkies because the drug dealer across the street went AWOL and they are about as lost as The Army Of The Dead, popping pills, gumming speed and bickering amongst themselves..yay.. That was kind of coincidental timing!

This should be cool to see once you apply that stuff.

LOL. You stay safely inside. God knows you have an arsenal to defend your castle. Good luck with the neighbors and papers. And with the phosphorescent paint. I bought some for my customized Darth Maul Bloodfin, but it didn't work well. Different product -- hopefully yours will be better. And thanks for the further explanation and link about shrinkage.

Stryker2011 wrote:This should be cool to see once you apply that stuff.

I hope so!

GubernatorFan wrote:LOL. You stay safely inside. God knows you have an arsenal to defend your castle. Good luck with the neighbors and papers. And with the phosphorescent paint. I bought some for my customized Darth Maul Bloodfin, but it didn't work well. Different product -- hopefully yours will be better. And thanks for the further explanation and link about shrinkage.

LOL, I will, don't need them begging me for stuff! And yes my house is half museum half arsenal!
The makers of the paint say the more layers you apply the brighter the glow effect becomes which makes sense. What were you trying to make glow on the Bloodfin speeder? I have the Hasbro one and can only think of the thrusters, is there something I'm forgetting?

Made more armour, his bladed gauntlets and crotch armour; all armour has now had several coats of PVA and feels solid and a bit like Pringels crisps/chips! . I've sponge painted a few layers of the base colour of the body too, more skin tones to come.

REFERENCE FIGURE







1/6 PARTS



USING A METAL TRAY (VHS/DVD PLAYER LID I THINK) TOUCHING THE HEATER DRIES THE PARTS FASTER AND FREES UP MY WORK TRAYS

Both the armor and the figure are really taking shape (or color) now.

Yes, the thrusters on the Hasbro Bloodfin is exactly what I wanted to get to glow:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2996-star-wars-customized-bloodfin-or-darth-maul-rides-again#39826

But it didn't work well with the paint I tried, so I never showcased it. That is the reconstituted HT Maul in there, but I've made several with TBLeague bodies as TPE painting experiments, using slightly different options:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2773-star-wars-updated-darth-maul-custom-part-v-maul-3-0-updated-may-13-2021#36517

GubernatorFan wrote:Both the armor and the figure are really taking shape (or color) now.

Yes, the thrusters on the Hasbro Bloodfin is exactly what I wanted to get to glow:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2996-star-wars-customized-bloodfin-or-darth-maul-rides-again#39826

But it didn't work well with the paint I tried, so I never showcased it. That is the reconstituted HT Maul in there, but I've made several with TBLeague bodies as TPE painting experiments, using slightly different options:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2773-star-wars-updated-darth-maul-custom-part-v-maul-3-0-updated-may-13-2021#36517

They are both brilliant! Absolutely love the colour work for his tattoos (that is cannon I'm pretty sure as Mother Talzin of the Dathomir Nightsister Witches, Asajj Ventress's origin, empowers Maul with dark magic using the tattoos) on a seamless body!! I tend avoid seamless bodies for various reasons including the most obvious that I tend to just grab what's lying around and mod that . Although that will change thanks to you putting that Anubis body into my head which I'm still waiting for to make the Uruk-Hai Beserker
Made my own custom Darth Maul many years ago also based on a statue but of the one with his initial cyborg legs that are way cooler than his later ones IMO and the extended horns that show the extent of his madness driven by anger and Nightsister induced powers (like Savage Oppress) and basically because I love mechanical builds!
Here he is below (I didn't want to mess up your threads), all that dust is 100% from Tattooine and official I swear!

I JUST USED ACRYLIC PAINTS











MY HUMBLE HASBRO MAUL ON HIS HASBRO BLOODFIN, AND NO, I HAVE NO IDEA WHY THERE IS A YELLOW FOUR EYED FROG FOR FOOD THERE LOL, CAME WITH THE DUGG PODRACER PILOT.

YAY! My chainmail (mail) arrived! Even smaller links than I'd expected which means I can quite happily use it on other 1/6 builds too, that's great! It's yellow and not dark as it looked on the pics which is the one bummer, if it's just silver tarnish that'll clean off fine, if it turns out to be brass left after the silver plating has worn off I'll be annoyed, I can't find any silver markings anywhere so it must be plated or was brass to begin with. Either way a bit of paint and ink should solve that to make it look the way I want, I'll just have to be careful handling it after it's painted or perhaps I could tarnish it further chemically. Anyway you can see the comparison to 1/1 steel mail, then compared to 1/6 rubber mail which is smaller but only noticeable because I'm using a 64mp camera and also have a macro lens on it, to the naked eye (weird expression) it looks perfect for 1/6 so so much for my chunky Uruk-Hai mail, lucky they use regular mail too, why? No idea lol.













MORE WHAT YOUR EYES ACTUALLY SEE







MACRO LENS





AFTER SOME VERY LIGHT HIGH GRIT SANDING WITH A SPONGE FOR A FEW SECONDS

Ahhhh, that’s going to be fantastic! I always keep my eyes peeled for bags like that whenever I’m at a charity shop but alas, I’ve never been so lucky. I’ve used the other side of a similar kind of metal bag for maille on my fantasy figures. It isn’t actually chain maille, but it gives you the gist of it.

Aeryn by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

That chainmail looks ideal! Lucky find for you!

Your half-mechanized, quarter-crazed Maul looks absolutely glorious, and perfectly rendered and painted. With acrylic on hard plastic, of course one has to watch out for paint scraping/rubbing off. Is Hasbro Maul about to run over baby Anakin with the Bloodfin? Actually, I just replied to your comments in the Maul thread and linked a couple of postings made with those figures that might make you mildly amused.

The (chain)mail purse looks great and I think it will suit your needs perfectly. It is not quite sixth scale (more like third or fourth scale?) but still very good and probably preferable to other available real metal options. Plus, as you pointed out, uruk-hai are bigger dudes. Are there uruk-hai females? Anyway. Just make sure you orient the links correctly -- either to the source or to historical usage, or shazzdan will call you out on it.

Nice grab on the purse. That looks like it work great.

That mail is perfect. Nice score.

Ahhh, I somehow skipped the photos of your custom Mail! Those legs are incredible!

USING A METAL TRAY (VHS/DVD PLAYER LID I THINK) TOUCHING THE HEATER DRIES THE PARTS FASTER AND FREES UP MY WORK TRAYS

LOL I do the same but with my PS4! It’s great for drying out glued hair wefts and anything papery!

Lynkhart wrote:Ahhhh, that’s going to be fantastic! I always keep my eyes peeled for bags like that whenever I’m at a charity shop but alas, I’ve never been so lucky. I’ve used the other side of a similar kind of metal bag for maille on my fantasy figures. It isn’t actually chain maille, but it gives you the gist of it.

Aeryn by Christine Sutcliffe, on Flickr

I know the metal square links very well! I have loads of the stuff and have used it for quite a few years, useful as you can use both sides for very different looks! I first used it on my 1970's BSG Cylons, then my Gory Gladiators series inspired by 'Spartacus Blood And Sand' and more recently on my Wraiths and Sauron from 'The Hobbit' movies.
Sorry about the quality I'm still half asleep!!

skywalkersaga wrote:That chainmail looks ideal! Lucky find for you!

Luck and a lot of searching! lol.

GubernatorFan wrote:Your half-mechanized, quarter-crazed Maul looks absolutely glorious, and perfectly rendered and painted. With acrylic on hard plastic, of course one has to watch out for paint scraping/rubbing off. Is Hasbro Maul about to run over baby Anakin with the Bloodfin? Actually, I just replied to your comments in the Maul thread and linked a couple of postings made with those figures that might make you mildly amused.

The (chain)mail purse looks great and I think it will suit your needs perfectly. It is not quite sixth scale (more like third or fourth scale?) but still very good and probably preferable to other available real metal options. Plus, as you pointed out, uruk-hai are bigger dudes. Are there uruk-hai females? Anyway. Just make sure you orient the links correctly -- either to the source or to historical usage, or shazzdan will call you out on it.

Cheers GTF! I still love that old build even if he gets his foot shot off occasionally due to being a little too close to the line of fire in my air gun range!!
Don't worry I know all about mail direction for defensive effectiveness as I did a bit of steel on steel Viking re-enactment back in the day!

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice grab on the purse. That looks like it work great.

Cheers Stryker!

shazzdan wrote:That mail is perfect. Nice score.

Thanks shazzdan! So smaller rings than you expected too then?

Lynkhart wrote:Ahhh, I somehow skipped the photos of your custom Mail! Those legs are incredible!

USING A METAL TRAY (VHS/DVD PLAYER LID I THINK) TOUCHING THE HEATER DRIES THE PARTS FASTER AND FREES UP MY WORK TRAYS

LOL I do the same but with my PS4! It’s great for drying out glued hair wefts and anything papery!

Which legs? I'm confused, do you mean the armour plate I'm making for his shins?
EDIT: Oh wait you mean my custom Maul don't you? LOL, thank you Lynkhart!

Great minds think alike when it comes to drying our parts quickly it seems!

Going to bathe the links in vinegar and baking soda mixed with water as the Coke trick doesn't work in Europe since we don't like drinking acid apparently!