SW Neimoidians: (LACKY STARTED) Nute Gunray & a lacky WIP

Started building the generic Neimoidian some years ago then got bored, recently found this Nute Gunray cup head thing on eBay cheap. It's a bit big but after some research I discovered that the Neimoidians are very tall! I'll give it the slow/safe acetone treatment to shrink it a bit, I've already started removing paint with acetone free nail polish remover (so I don't pollute the acetone later) and the sculpt is looking a lot better without that thick factory paint. Obviously he needs a body cloths etc..















Comparisons and measurements etc..



3.75" scale figure, 11mm=4.4"



13" in cup form





7" crest to chest



Random 12" figure



These cosplay guys look like they'd get the height right!



The reason for the tall head dresses! It wasn't CGI like most people think but very clever complicated animatronics!



Actors looked through the mouths I think.





A scalpel later..





Removed paint reveals pretty good sculpt

Huh... pics posted fine this time....weird....GOOD!!!

Reference pics















Figures





I'm pretty sure the Techno Union guy is tall too.

Your ingenuity never ceases to amaze. What an interesting upgrade -- and I can't blame you for getting bored with Neimoidians, but the nature of the kitbash itself ought to be enough to sustain your interest this time. Great start, and I agree, the head sculpt looks very promising stripped of the paint. I imagine the new paint would have a lot more nuance and washes to make it pop.

So creative, and really cool work!

I'm really interested in following along with this conversion.

I had one of those Darth Maul Ep. I cups when I was a kid.

What an interesting way to go. I’d wish you luck, but I doubt you really need it.

GubernatorFan wrote:Your ingenuity never ceases to amaze. What an interesting upgrade -- and I can't blame you for getting bored with Neimoidians, but the nature of the kitbash itself ought to be enough to sustain your interest this time. Great start, and I agree, the head sculpt looks very promising stripped of the paint. I imagine the new paint would have a lot more nuance and washes to make it pop.

I'm hoping better paint aps will help, I just need to shrink it (hopefully) first.

BAMComix wrote:So creative, and really cool work!

Early days yet but thanks!

Zes wrote:I'm really interested in following along with this conversion.

I had one of those Darth Maul Ep. I cups when I was a kid.

Thanks! He came with a Yoda one and an ST one as well but I don't think they'll be much use for 1/6.

Stryker2012 wrote:What an interesting way to go. I’d wish you luck, but I doubt you really need it.

Thank you! I'll be needing a lot of luck with the shrinking lol! I have learnt from my Vader mishap though.

Repetitive and 'experimental' stuff going on. Removing all the while paint 'tufts' from the gown using a razor, took a while but got it done. Had to wait for more new acetone before I could start trying to shrink the head, the paint was a pain to get off even with wire brush and nail varnish remover, I think I got a dud batch of that stuff in the second bottle, watered down or something as it was the same make as the one that worked quickly on the face but the 2nd bottle took ages to to remove stuff. Head and hands are in the first drying and shrinking phase and will need another two rounds of that done, I'll be looking for materials to make Nute's clothes next, pretty sure I got some stuff that'll work as long as I haven't used it all yet!









Switched to this large straight razor for better and faster removal of the paint



Nearly there!



Done! Any white flecks are just loose paint chips







And a scene from the Warden's office in The Walking Dead!lol





Nice and swollen and floppy!





About 5.5"-6" from chin to top of crest right now in the swollen state.



Drying, going to take days to a week...



Found some materials to make his clothing from.



references

I had no idea that the drying process takes so long. That said, the head looks better already. The gown is also an improvement, both specifically and in general.

Nice work so far!

GubernatorFan wrote:I had no idea that the drying process takes so long. That said, the head looks better already. The gown is also an improvement, both specifically and in general.

BAMComix wrote:Nice work so far!

Cheers guys! Not a lot more to show yet, I used pure acetone today for the first time and boy did the parts expand!! Should be good news for shrinking and them not falling apart like Vader's mask did. I cut the head into sections to allow more of a surface area and room for expansion that allows contraction to increase when dried/cured (I think the acetone displaces/replaces the air in the vinyl so when it evaporates the vinyl can constrict more due to elastic memory). Found some more yellow cloth and red/orange leather for the costume too.

Shrunk a bit but not enough yet..





To increases shrinkage hopefully



1st time in pure acetone, very swollen, fragile but not broken.



got rid f the last of the paint too



Paint pollution! I can filter some of it out with kitchen roll.



Drying and hopefully shrinking at the same time





More material to choose from

Pretty good progress. Such a unique way to build these guys.

I agree with Mark. It's sure great that you know what you're doing.

Stryker2012 wrote:Pretty good progress. Such a unique way to build these guys.

GubernatorFan wrote:I agree with Mark. It's sure great that you know what you're doing.

Because no one else has a clue what i'm doing?
It's my usual rigorous method of: no idea what I'm doing either, what happens next might work... keeps it interesting for me at least.

shovelchop81 wrote:Because no one else has a clue what i'm doing?
It's my usual rigorous method of: no idea what I'm doing either, what happens next might work... keeps it interesting for me at least.  

Well, I thought I knew, but at this point I am confused whether the acetone bath shrinks or increases the size of the pieces.

Yeah, I agree. This whole acetone technique is lost on me.

Aside from stripping paint from some robust materials, i.e., metals, I'd never want to use it. I'd be afraid of the acetone eating through plastic.

Oh wow, neat to see the acetone method here! I used it myself on some lekku from an Ahsoka doll a while back -- unfortunately, the end result still wasn't small enough to work for my needs, but it DID shrink considerably and didn't ruin the plastic at all.

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Because no one else has a clue what i'm doing?
It's my usual rigorous method of: no idea what I'm doing either, what happens next might work... keeps it interesting for me at least.  

Well, I thought I knew, but at this point I am confused whether the acetone bath shrinks or increases the size of the pieces.

Zes wrote:Yeah, I agree. This whole acetone technique is lost on me.

Aside from stripping paint from some robust materials, i.e., metals, I'd never want to use it. I'd be afraid of the acetone eating through plastic.

Well to answer both of you simultaneously it does both but in order of making the vinyl bigger then smaller, always finishing with smaller. Think of the vinyl as a partially inflated balloon, the added acetone causes it to 'inflate' more but as the acetone leaves/evaporates, it takes all the original air with it too so the balloon is now completely empty and is as small as it can be (this is sort of a mixed metaphor so I don't know exactly how a balloon would react to acetone IRL).

skywalkersaga wrote:Oh wow, neat to see the acetone method here! I used it myself on some lekku from an Ahsoka doll a while back -- unfortunately, the end result still wasn't small enough to work for my needs, but it DID shrink considerably and didn't ruin the plastic at all.

At least someone knows what's going on! LOL! I wonder if I have that Ahsoka hs too, is it from the "designed for girls according to Mattel or Hasbro line of toys"? I've built a few figures from using that line as a base already. I can't remember their names, it's too early or I'm getting too old!! Need coffee.

Yes, it was from the Forces of Destiny line of dolls from a while back (circa 2018 or so). I have few others as well that I've sourced parts from. Pretty much all those dolls are good for from a 1/6 perspective.... each one has maybe a handful of spare parts that can be 'debarbified' so to speak. ;p

shovelchop81 wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:

shovelchop81 wrote:Because no one else has a clue what i'm doing?
It's my usual rigorous method of: no idea what I'm doing either, what happens next might work... keeps it interesting for me at least.  

Well, I thought I knew, but at this point I am confused whether the acetone bath shrinks or increases the size of the pieces.

Zes wrote:Yeah, I agree. This whole acetone technique is lost on me.

Aside from stripping paint from some robust materials, i.e., metals, I'd never want to use it. I'd be afraid of the acetone eating through plastic.

Well to answer both of you   simultaneously it does both but in order of making the vinyl bigger then smaller, always finishing with smaller. Think of the vinyl as a partially inflated balloon, the added acetone causes it to 'inflate' more but as the acetone leaves/evaporates, it takes all the original air with it too so the balloon is now completely empty and is as small as it can be (this is sort of a mixed metaphor so I don't know exactly how a balloon would react to acetone IRL).

Ah, I see. I think my confusion was from my miniature painting days. Acetone would eat through polystyrene models with ease. I have not worked with vinyl models before, so I assumed it would react similar to acetone as polystyrene.

Nice, I liked the Neimoidians in SW and its strange no one ever did them in 1/6 (or maybe they did and I just forgot) I look forward to seeing how they end up looking, also that part with the face flat on the surface reminded me of that face transplant they did some time ago.

skywalkersaga wrote:Yes, it was from the Forces of Destiny line of dolls from a while back (circa 2018 or so). I have  few others as well that I've sourced parts from. Pretty much all those dolls are good for from a 1/6 perspective.... each one has maybe a handful of spare parts that can be 'debarbified' so to speak. ;p

Ah that's what the line was called, I just called them 'build fodder'! lol.

Zes wrote:
Ah, I see. I think my confusion was from my miniature painting days. Acetone would eat through polystyrene models with ease. I have not worked with vinyl models before, so I assumed it would react similar to acetone as polystyrene.

Yeah it'll eat through polystyrene immediately! ABS takes a bit longer. You only want to use it on rotocast type vinyl, like old 1/6 DID, BBI, Hasbro, Mattel etc.. heads and stuff like Vinyl Pops(?)

Theboo-bomb wrote:Nice, I liked the Neimoidians in SW and its strange no one ever did them in 1/6 (or maybe they did and I just forgot) I look forward to seeing how they end up looking, also that part with the face flat on the surface reminded me of that face transplant they did some time ago.

I certainly can't remember even an obscure little company making them, yet Hasbro did give us some really nice Gungans. They are a subspecies of Duros and we've had a few 1/6 Cad Banes so far.

Head shrunk perfectly, just rebuilding it using part of a DR Who Dalek Sec hs to do it. Found a beat up Frankenstein's Monster body from the Van Helsing movie toy line I had lying around used in some previous build at some point, it has the height and mass required for Nute Gunray but needs quite a bit of work for articulated hands, feet and neck/head. Also found a random abandoned empty suitcase today outside the house and think the red material has a cool texture which could work for Nute. Also had some broken kids jewellery inside that could be useful too.









Repaired OS feet from Hasbro Kylo Ren (was going to use on a Vader build so they were cut up)





Assembling the head











Obviously it's not as simple as this, will need plenty of sculpting to hide seams etc..









compared to regular 1/6 Duros head











Small suitcase I just found







Junk inside, mostly broken plastic reinforcement plate.



But some 'jewels' too, could be sci-fi buttons and even LOTR Silmarils  for my Morgoth build..

Fascinating watching that head get built.

Glad the head shrink worked out!

And ha, yeah, I only know the name of the line because I had to look them up on Ebay so often...

Stryker2012 wrote:Fascinating watching that head get built.

skywalkersaga wrote:Glad the head shrink worked out!

And ha, yeah, I only know the name of the line because I had to look them up on Ebay so often...

Cheers!

Some pics of my mods to the body so he can have articulated feet, hands and head, need to get the hot glue out. I'll mod the top of the Dalek Sec head to fit in and cap off the Neimoidian's head, if you watch the species video by Metanerd you'll understand why (about 1:27 minutes in but the whole video 20mins is well worth a watch, very interesting species). Still plenty of hacking and filing to do just to get the base body ready.