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

Stryker2011 wrote:That is coming along nicely. I love the green wash (is it also glow in the dark paint?).

Cheers Stryker! No glow in the dark paint yet, that will go on last as it's clear. Done a bit more purple work with a paint marker but it's going to be a lengthy process to get the depth of colour and mottled skin colours I want.

I agree, coming along very well. Perked right up after the primer layer was replaced with bone and even blue coloring. Got some Skeletor vibes, too.

GubernatorFan wrote:I agree, coming along very well. Perked right up after the primer layer was replaced with bone and even blue coloring. Got some Skeletor vibes, too.

Thanks GTF! Done more pen painting, looks like 'The Grateful Dead' for now! LOL but these are the 'under colours'.

Very intricate.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very intricate.

The poster or the paint? LOL, both I guess. Just made the huge mistake of watching some Grateful Dead music for the first time (I guess they never made it as big in Europe), bloody hell, they're terrible!! A cross between The Eagles and Jimmy Buffett but somehow worse... I guess you need to drop some acid before you can have your brain distorted enough to appreciate them... At least they chose a great artist for their posters/album covers even if it is all a bit too bright and rainbow like for me but my figure still makes me think of stuff like ths.

I meant the appearance of the color effects on the figure.

GubernatorFan wrote:I meant the appearance of the color effects on the figure.

Understood, cheers!

Getting there now with more shades of green, messed around with the teeth quite a bit, think they're okay now, sanded the bones back to the kit colour, started the eyes and as usual not sure about them, probably will make them smaller. Added yellow later to represent the subdermal fat layer with darker parts for the rotting muscle tissue, I studied A' Level biology in British 'high school' in Greece (grew up there) so at least it's useful for something lol.

Looking really cool, Alex. Like the new colors for the rotting flesh, and all the different levels.

Very impressive, the details pop beautifully. It is a bit lighter than I expected, but probably more striking than the dark reds, browns, and greys I would have imagined. Of course, there the detail would have been largely lost.

Stryker2011 wrote:Looking really cool, Alex. Like the new colors for the rotting flesh, and all the different levels.

Thanks Stryker! Doing my best to make it realistic but in a fantasy setting so a bit of a balancing act lol.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very impressive, the details pop beautifully. It is a bit lighter than I expected, but probably more striking than the dark reds, browns, and greys I would have imagined. Of course, there the detail would have been largely lost.

Cheers GTF! Like I just said to Stryker, it's a balancing act between realism and ethereal magic and I've decided on a course I'm going to take as I type this; to keep him faithful to the movie and have a bit of scientific practicality: juicy on the inside to allow unrestricted movement, a bit crusty on the outside to give him that flakey mummified look, sort of like a Greek tiropita (feta cheese pie with filo pastry) DAMN I MISS THOSE!!

shovelchop81 wrote:Cheers GTF! Like I just said to Stryker, it's a balancing act between realism and ethereal magic and I've decided on a course I'm going to take as I type this; to keep him faithful to the movie and have a bit of scientific practicality: juicy on the inside to allow unrestricted movement, a bit crusty on the outside to give him that flakey mummified look, sort of like a Greek tiropita (feta cheese pie with filo pastry) DAMN I MISS THOSE!!

I am familiar with the Slavic version of the tyropita, which is called banica (pronounced "banitsa"). I love it, as long as the feta cheese (which I personally refer to as "fox poison") is mixed and softened (taste-wise) with cream cheese. And I love your analogy/explanation of how that applies to your approach.

Fox poison?! Sacrilege!!

Added green pastel paint for the skin but you can't see it now, cut the overalls a bit and sepia washed them (seems to be my cure for everything!), inserted his guts and glued them in place, sewed the boot bits together to make a tunic then added a nice red/purple/black colour changing material (no idea what it's called, any ideas out there?) which was glued then sewn on too; then added a small strip to the top of the chest to be movie accurate. Filed and glued the armour together with my 'double glue' trick, then hacksawed it into the battle damaged/rotted state I wanted, I'll file it a bit more later. attached the mail where it needed to be just with a drop or two of super glue. Got a tub of green glow in the dark translucent paint as well.

It's a very complex custom, for sure. Your patience and skill continue to impress every time.

I like what you did with Gimli's chainmail, very practical and saves the material for other customs. The undead dude is coming along really nicely, looks very gruesome.

GubernatorFan wrote:It's a very complex custom, for sure. Your patience and skill continue to impress every time.

Thanks GTF! If I don't challenge myself it gets boring

Theboo-bomb wrote:I like what you did with Gimli's chainmail, very practical and saves the material for other customs. The undead dude is coming along really nicely, looks very gruesome.

Cheers TBB!

Wired his cloak, filed, painted and attached his armour, gauntlet etc..









































I'll probably reattach his waist armour directly to his chest armour rather than leaving that gap for the belt, we'll see.

Very nice progress. Love the quilted tunic. The rather toy-like rib-cage-like armor improved tremendously with your repaint. I take it the red cloak might be tattered-up more before you're done. I wonder if the bluish/purplish colors on the body and head might not be worth making just a tad more subtle.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice progress. Love the quilted tunic. The rather toy-like rib-cage-like armor improved tremendously with your repaint. I take it the red cloak might be tattered-up more before you're done. I wonder if the bluish/purplish colors on the body and head might not be worth making just a tad more subtle.

Cheers! Those are decisions I'll need to make a little later, I'm trying to avoid the 'christmas' look of greens and reds and gold I guess by throwing in some colour like the purple to break that up. I've yet to decide whether to decorate his cloak with the obscure markings shown on the statue, they would just be 2D unless I decided to use glue glue to sculpt them, not sure.





Helmet and hair next, might involve some creative mould making and latex casting...

Redone his armour and I'm much happier with it now.

The armor looks much fuller now. Would the belt go over it?

GubernatorFan wrote:The armor looks much fuller now. Would the belt go over it?

I'm using that belt to attach the armour so he can still articulate his waist. I'll use a different belt for his sword and dagger.

That’s an inspired choice for the cloak. Really like how this is coming along.

Amazing custom work!

Stryker2011 wrote:That’s an inspired choice for the cloak. Really like how this is coming along.

Is inspired polite for odd? LOL. Cheers Stryker!

BAMComix wrote:Amazing custom work!

Thanks BAM!

Done a lot of old school latex casting using plasticine and random Celtic looking bits and bobs to make multiple copies of in latex, which I then used to make his crown fairly close to the 'official' one. I last used this technique on the very large Hunter Predator (from 'The Predator' movie) to make all his skin that worked as armour.





A SUPPRESSOR MAKES A SURPRISINGLY GREAT ROLLING PIN!











ALLOW TO DRY, NEW LAYER, REPEAT A FEW TIMES AND IN THE MORNING IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS!









CUT BACK AND MILLIPUTTED THE HELMET YESTERDAY TOO SO DRY FOR TODAY TO SAND.









FIBRE CARD TO THE RESUCE AS USUAL





LOTS OF LATEX CUTTING LATER AND BEING SPOILED FOR CHOICE PARTS WISE, I BEGIN BUILDING THE CROWN

































NOT AN EXACT REPLICA (STILL NEEDS A CENTRAL SPIKE AND PAINT) BUT AS YOU CAN SEE ABOVE, OFFICIAL DEPICTIONS AREN'T CONSISTANT EITHER AND THAT'S MY EXCUSE!  

















I'LL TRIM BACK THOSE CHEEK GUARDS, ADD AND CHANGE SOME DETAILS TOO, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'M SEEING IT TOGETHER AS IS IF YOU FOLLOW WHAT I MEAN.

Looks like an excellent start to the crown, and I'm sure it will look perfect when you're finished. Very inventive approach. And no, "inventive" is no euphemism.

GubernatorFan wrote:Looks like an excellent start to the crown, and I'm sure it will look perfect when you're finished. Very inventive approach. And no, "inventive" is no euphemism.

LOL Cheers! I need to made those stupid birds' heads that adorn each (just got interrupted by a crazy junkie who is so out of it he doesn't realise my old neighbour who was a dealer has been gone for a year now FFS..) crenel with just a 4.5mm plastic bb.

Detailing continues both with real mail and the crown. Found some ravens the right size to cast multiple copies of their heads to be the birds heads depicted on the crown. Did the latex thing again but with a bit of improv this time, since the beaks are long making the moulds narrow and deep, getting the latex at the bottom to cure was becoming a pain in the arse. I solved that by putting the plasticine containing the latex casts into a frying pan and then heated it up very carefully on my gas stove for about 10 seconds then after turning the gas off I left it in the hot pan which had heated up the plasticine (stinks a bit) still in it to keep 'cooking off' the latex curing it. You see the difference in the results, the short stubby useless castings are the ones I peeked at pulling the latex back a bit to find it wasn't curing properly at the bottom, the good casts are the results of the undisturbed castings that were forced to cure properly with the frying pan trick I just invented!

Still pretty inventive! I would not have thought of casting realistic raven heads, but that is definitely a viable solution. The crown is already coming along nicely, and I'm sure the painting will tie it together in the end.

GubernatorFan wrote:Still pretty inventive! I would not have thought of casting realistic raven heads, but that is definitely a viable solution. The crown is already coming along nicely, and I'm sure the painting will tie it together in the end.

Cheers! I think they are meant to be Celtic stylised vultures but ravens are carrion eaters too so works for me as I don't have any baby Celtic vultures lying around and didn't think to sculpt any  Did you like my frying pan curing solution?

shovelchop81 wrote:Did you like my frying pan curing solution?

Absolutely!