ELENDIL'S HELMET ..... Building a custom articulated 1/6 scale SAURON from Peter Jackson's LOTR using 3D printed statue parts

GubernatorFan wrote:Seems like you have thought it all out -- as only you should, and given your vast experience, it would only come naturally. Thanks for sharing.

Ah well experience not only comes from past success but also failure!

Changed the position of the pauldrons again and I'm now happy with them. The side skirts were giving me grief as well, sticking out too much but I think I've tamed them enough now that they should blend in once all the mail, crotch armour and cape material is added to his silhouette . Sanded/filed his legs down too and ordered more matte black primer paint.





















TOO FLARED OUT





REPOSITIONED THE SKIRTS' CLIPS AND USED SCREWS THIS TIME SINCE THE GLUE DIDN'T WORK VERY WELL





NOT PERFECT BUT HE IS MISSING A LOT OF STUFF THAT WILL FILL OUT THE BODY LATER









HOLEY COW, JUST SAW THIS! A PREORDER FOR A LIFE SIZED BUST (FROM HIS WAIST UP 174CM, THAT'S AROUND MY HEIGHT) WHICH WOULD MAKE ONE HELL OF A SHOW PIECE!!

https://www.toyswonderland.com/product/infinity-studio-x-penguin-toys-11-scale-the-lord-of-the-rings-sauron-life-size-bust/?mc_cid=fba71db025&mc_eid=91de28805e

Yes, I saw that pre-order too, and thought of you. But yours will be more fun, being poseable.

GubernatorFan wrote:Yes, I saw that pre-order too, and thought of you. But yours will be more fun, being poseable.

Even with my giant weapons collection I'd probably be more likely to end up impaling myself on that $3,000 statue by accident!

Thought I'd squeeze in this video of Sauron at the battle of the last alliance of which this figure is based on for your reference purposes. Hmm...was supposed to start around 1:50 into the video but that hasn't seemed to have worked, feel free to skip to that point.

It's looking fantastic so far!

skywalkersaga wrote:It's looking fantastic so far!

Thank you very much SWS!

I've been cutting and sewing together real mail the last couple of days, I really need to remember to wear a glove on my nippers holding hand in future, stupid blisters. Anyway cry-baby whining aside, got it all done without any drama, the only 'problems' are a slight restriction of articulation as the mail bunches up behind the joints, it also pulls away a bit to reveal the black underneath on the knees even though I attached the mail so it's expanding and contracting properties are directed vertically to allow for the joints. Electronics, hands and head next.

I hope your fingers are quickly recovering. I still think the mail fits very nicely. Is it staying this color or do you have plans to make it black? Actually, I'm not sure to what degree it is paintable.

Brilliant use of that old purse. The mail looks so cool.

GubernatorFan wrote:I hope your fingers are quickly recovering. I still think the mail fits very nicely. Is it staying this color or do you have plans to make it black? Actually, I'm not sure to what degree it is paintable.

Stryker2011 wrote:Brilliant use of that old purse. The mail looks so cool.

Thank you both very much! I can weather the mail but changing its colour would have only been possible by heating it beforehand since any paint would just gunk it up and scrape off; the armour will be silver so it's the right colour as is.
Been building the electrics for his eyes, had to carefully drill and file through the inside of his helmet and eye sockets in order to insert the LED where it can do its job.

Oh man, that’s brilliant. Those “eyes” are a thing of beauty. I don’t think I would have been brave enough to do that.

That is looking incredible. I was not expecting the eyes.... amazing!

Brilliant work (as usual)! I'm looking forward to the fully painted version. I'm sure it will look epic!

After seeing your King of the Dead build, and now this, I just have to say how impressed I am...at all of it... You obviously have skill, but more importantly, you have creativity and dedication. The thought of doing something like this is so far beyond me, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize quality when I see it.

Awesome work on the eyes. Your skill and patience pay off, as usual. I think it will add a striking effect to the figure, and outmatch even the phosphorescent King of the Dead. Now, if you really want to push the envelope even more, consider suspending an illuminated Eye of Sauron between the crown's horns, as if it were the Tower of Mordor! I know it would not be canonical, but I bet it will be very cool.

Stryker2011 wrote:Oh man, that’s brilliant. Those “eyes” are a thing of beauty. I don’t think I would have been brave enough to do that.

skywalkersaga wrote:That is looking incredible. I was not expecting the eyes.... amazing!

Randam Hajile wrote:Brilliant work (as usual)! I'm looking forward to the fully painted version. I'm sure it will look epic!

Arcata wrote:After seeing your King of the Dead build, and now this, I just have to say how impressed I am...at all of it...  You obviously have skill, but more importantly, you have creativity and dedication.  The thought of doing something like this is so far beyond me, but that doesn't mean I can't recognize quality when I see it.  

Thank you everyone! I had no idea 1 red LED would provoke such a positive reaction! I'll be starting the paint soon enough.

GubernatorFan wrote:Awesome work on the eyes. Your skill and patience pay off, as usual. I think it will add a striking effect to the figure, and outmatch even the phosphorescent King of the Dead. Now, if you really want to push the envelope even more, consider suspending an illuminated Eye of Sauron between the crown's horns, as if it were the Tower of Mordor! I know it would not be canonical, but I bet it will be very cool.

Cheers GTF! Do you remember by first 20" Sauron from the Hobbit? That's exactly what I did for for that version, maybe you're having a reverse 'Deja Vu' moment of sorts?







What I am planning on doing is making him another Palantir for him to hold in his outstretched hand, rather than just have him doing the "I'm evil come here" pose seen in SO many poses! LOL.

So got him all together and seems to be doing what I want him to do (I haven't glued on the mace yet to avoid snapping it etc..), needs some rubber on his feet LOL. Hands articulate at the wrists well, the head does too, I needed four arms to glue the neck inside the head (hot glue), super glue the LED inside the eye sockets inside the head, get past all the chain mail (probably should have sewn it together after this part on reflection!) and stop any of the glues getting on the chain mail and neck joints!!
Amazingly I managed it with only two arms! The battery supply JUST fits in the chest cavity without ruining all that articulation I created and the power switch JUST fits around the spinal column at his waist staying away from the articulation by a hair's width. Attached the knee armour too but it's not turning with the knee so need to sort that out before paint but he can now bend his knees without pulling the chain mail away from his shins after my little mod of separating some rings. Anyway, here he is supported (just leaning against really) a giant Gundam Perfect Grade Unicorn heavy duty stand in all his unpainted glory! Still have his entire diorama to sort out and paint as well....

Don't have words for how cool this is. One of my fave things you've done so far!!!

You did a great job fitting the electronics. As for the eye of Sauron, maybe I was subconsciously reminded of that previous custom. Or maybe I was just associating the headdress spikes with the tower architecture again.

skywalkersaga wrote:Don't have words for how cool this is. One of my fave things you've done so far!!!

Thank you SWS! I think whoever at Prime 1 Studios sculpted the original statue in 1/4 scale that was scanned to make the 3D printer files for this smaller statue is really the one to be praised here! That original release costs over $2,000 on the secondary market now. I did a bit of research this afternoon going through all the different statues of Sauron by Sideshow Collectibles, Weta Studios, Gentle Giant etc.. The Prime 1 Studios version looks like the original but the base is very different so I don't know who designed that.
Not a 100% sure but I think this is the one used:

GubernatorFan wrote:You did a great job fitting the electronics. As for the eye of Sauron, maybe I was subconsciously reminded of that previous custom. Or maybe I was just associating the headdress spikes with the tower architecture again.

LOL, I think the helmet's tower like shape is what gave me the idea to place the 'EYE' there too!

Just watched this interesting video about Sauron's life from his perspective (sort of).

Thanks for the linked video. Funny, thanks to your builds, I had already come across a few videos by that expert. His knowledge and takes are impressive. His avatar and Elvish (or whatever they are) greetings, on the other hand, make me cringe a little.

GubernatorFan wrote:Thanks for the linked video. Funny, thanks to your builds, I had already come across a few videos by that expert. His knowledge and takes are impressive. His avatar and Elvish (or whatever they are) greetings, on the other hand, make me cringe a little.

LMFAO! Yeah he's camp as hell!! But the info and the reference pictures are excellent. 'The Broken Sword' is another good channel that's not quite as gushy about everything as 'Rainbow Dave' (even the name lol..) although I have been told that 'TBS' can get thing wrong or mixed up as they have other channels too about other franchises. It's his outro that always makes me cringe!

On with the build... had a serious 'bugger!' moment yesterday as I realised that the upper arms must be swapped over, it didn't reveal itself until I put the silver paint on, parts of the arms have all the nice scrollwork patterns and the opposite side of the same piece is blank without scrollwork detailing on the armour; typically I seemed to have been unlucky on that 50/50 decision of which arm goes on which side, not realising my mistake. Anyway so had to remove all the joint parts which was 'fun'  since the glue was super strong (a mix of super glue and a lot of  hot glue!) and the resin of the armour is very brittle . My new mini blowtorch came to the rescue though allowing me to soften/melt the glue enough without setting the figure on fire (too often ) and causing minimal breakage once I got the hang of it, had to keep track of all the broken bits to glue them back together like a jigsaw later. The silver paint is the base coat so plenty more paint to follow...

BACK BUT SHOULD BE FRONT!









FRONT BUT SHOULD BE BACK!









FIRST PART, HADN'T QUITE GOT THE HANG OF USING THE BLOWTORCH TO HELP YET LOL!







BETTER!



YUP, HAD TO CAREFULLY USE THE FLAME ALL THE WAY IN THERE!



MY LITTLE HELPER.



APART.



ARMS BACK TOGETHER WITH ELBOWS REVERSED AND FOEARMS SWAPPED AS THE HOOKS/SPIKES HAVE TO FACE OUT NOT IN.



WHERE I AM NOW, PAINTED THE KNEECAPS SINCE THIS PIC THOUGH.

Bummer about the extra arm work, but this is looking soooooo good just with this first layer of paint already! Incredible, truly. Must be a nice confirmation that you're making something that others want 2000 bucks for.

Diana wrote:Bummer about the extra arm work, but this is looking soooooo good just with this first layer of paint already! Incredible, truly. Must be a nice confirmation that you're making something that others want 2000 bucks for.

Thank you Diana! And that's $2000 for a very fragile statue! But it is 1/4 scale.

Done a black ink wash and wipe on all the removed parts and will continue with the rest. Next will be a super shiny silver dry brush and then I'll start the weathering.

Holy Cow ! You build the best Lord of the rings figure collection i´ve ever seen ! Love the light up function

Ouch, that looks like a painful and scary surgery indeed. But you handled it and fixed it. Setting figures on fire all too often? Sounds like something Sauron would do, ironically. I agree, even with just a silver basecoat, he looks great.

Ahhh! Poor Saury! Dismembered for art.

Ephiane wrote:Holy Cow ! You build the best Lord of the rings figure collection i´ve ever seen ! Love the light up function

Thank you very much Ephiane! I've added some more shelves and reorganised my LOTR collection recently so should upload pics of that.

GubernatorFan wrote:Ouch, that looks like a painful and scary surgery indeed. But you handled it and fixed it. Setting figures on fire all too often? Sounds like something Sauron would do, ironically. I agree, even with just a silver basecoat, he looks great.

Cheers GTF! Nothing drastic, just had to blow out the odd flame here and there!  

Stryker2011 wrote:Ahhh! Poor Saury! Dismembered for art.

Well rearranged for a better look really but it does look a bit destructive initially...

Okay.. done a lot of different things, mostly paint apps but some added articulation too.

 





TRIMMED THE MAIL TO BE NARROWER



DECIDED HIS BUTTFLAP NEEDED TO BE ARTICULATED TO INCREASE ARTICULATION AND STOP HIM FROM BREAKING IT









RUBBER HINGES





AFTER BLACK INK WASH THEN BRIGHT SILVER DRY BRUSHING

















BUTT ARMOUR ARTICULATION IN ACTION!











SUPER HERO LANDING/BREAKDANCNG?













PARTIAL REPAINT IN AREAS FOR ADDED DETAIL CONTRAST, BLACK PAINT APPLIED THEN WIPED OFF, SILVER PAINT THEN SPONGED ON; HARD TO SEE CLEARLY IN THIS LIGHT.



















I THINK I NEED TO SHORTEN HIS NECK SLIGHTLY..NOT SURE..

The neck did seem a little long, but then again maybe it is supposed to be? You know far more about this than I. Great job with the added articulation and repainting. The whole look is now consistent, the paint convincing, nuanced, and detailed. It really comes across as a finished figure already.

That guy is a thing of beauty. Between the details in the sculpt and the paint work (and of course the rest of your hard work) really makes him shine. The articulation you pulled off is insane.

GubernatorFan wrote:The neck did seem a little long, but then again maybe it is supposed to be? You know far more about this than I. Great job with the added articulation and repainting. The whole look is now consistent, the paint convincing, nuanced, and detailed. It really comes across as a finished figure already.

Thank you GTF! I decided to shorten the neck and am much happier with it now.

Stryker2011 wrote:That guy is a thing of beauty. Between the details in the sculpt and the paint work (and of course the rest of your hard work) really makes him shine. The articulation you pulled off is insane.

High praise indeed Stryker! Thank you so much! And of course the art work ie sculpting credit completely goes to whoever at Prime 1 Studios sculpted the statue (if it was them) and the base..no idea but great job too with the odd choice here and there that I'll point out later in the build. I will take credit for all the mechanics and paint though!

So the neck is now one 'vertebrae' shorter, I did have to Dremel out the collar a bit to fit the mail inside and since these pics adjusted it slightly where it was bunching up on the side, I also added more mail to lay over the exposed hinge of his left elbow. Took some pics without the light on the camera which makes him look a bit darker. Going to start the weathering next.