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

Finished the 'middle' robe, basically a bunch of patchwork sewing to extend it and get the border extensions in the right place too. I've run wire through the border hems to create that cuttlefish look of wavy folds or pleats, added a fold to the back as I saw one version of his robe doing this and it hides the stitches. Extended his inner robe to cover his feet too, needs sone red stripes to be screen accurate. His bib and medallion need to be made but will do his outer robe first using knitted material that looks like the texture it is made of on screen, a bit large but beggars can't be choosers.





Extension to middle robe being added





Example



Inner robe extension





Wire for wavy pleats



Possible ribbon or stripe solution



Example





Patching all the border bits to the robe, trying to get the length right as this is the last of the material and I need to allow for pleats while keeping the attached robe straight







Outside







Inside, kept extra material to create folds and signs of excess etc..

Very impressive tailoring! I like how wavy the robe is!

I'm curious to see how you'll tackle that collar piece

Nice. But isn't it the outer robe of the reference images?

Zes wrote:Very impressive tailoring! I like how wavy the robe is!

I'm curious to see how you'll tackle that collar piece

Thanks! I've got some red/brown leather I might use for that, not sure yet. Oh you the medallion? Tin can and a screwdriver are the plan lol.

GubernatorFan wrote:Nice. But isn't it the outer robe of the reference images?

Yet the reference pics are of a custom figure that I don't think is accurate but it just gave me an idea.

I've been searching the net trying to get a better understanding of his outer robes, are those sleeves or a caplet of some sort? If they're sleeves they don't have a top to them, sort of like some medieval clothing, I chose a sort of half sleeve half caplet look in the end. Then there were the 'folds' or more like piping in my case due to the nature of the material it's too thick to drape naturally in a 1/6 fashion, they took forever (okay a day or so) to sew and no one will ever see them! Then lots more sewing to attach the sleeve things and connect the outer robe to the inner robe so the cuttlefish folds always show. I'll probably trim off all that excess 1/1 scale hem around the bottom of the robe and the sleeve things.

Reference of sleeve/capelet confusion.

















Anyway... chose this material as it's the closest I have to the textured material used for his robe, trying to work out sizes too was fun, made a mess of the first one (too small) but turned that into the sleeves.

2nd try..





Flowing issue



Hence all the sewing here



Should have done this in reverse now I think about it, oh well no one will see it and it's still a tailoring feature.. I guess my brain wasn't switched on...



Caplet try out











Where he is now











Material choices for front tabard/bib



References, about as consistent as ice-cream in the afternoon sun!













And of course there are all the ref pics at the beginning of this post... even the thread...
I'm going for a leather material, saves me doing any hemming!!



Someone else made a 1/6 version of this guy too, a German is all I know

So much progress. Keep ‘em coming, Alex. Looking good.

Great progress, Alex, he looks almost done.

Stryker2012 wrote:So much progress. Keep ‘em coming, Alex. Looking good.

GubernatorFan wrote:Great progress, Alex, he looks almost done.

Cheers guys! Getting there although today was a step backwards as a correction to going forwards.

I decided the folds facing the wrong way bugged me enough to undo all the sewing work I'd done over the last couple of days, I cut all the stitching connecting the outer and middle robes. I still wasn't happy with the folds/pleats even the correct way around so restitched all of those with a better matching thread colour and tightened them too. I cut off all the 1/1 sized hems/borders, and after flipping everything around sewed it all back together again! Won't look like much to you but it's a big difference to me.



Facing the wrong way



Facing the right way but too loose



Borders cut and 'sleeves' reversed



Pleats restitched







Everything sewn back together in reverse





Looks much tidier to me now













Sometimes you have to do a lot to change just a little but it's still worth it in the end.

Ah, the price of being a perfectionist... Well done though.

Turned out great. As Ian said, being a perfectionist really helps. My problem with being a perfectionist, is I fail to start a lot of projects due to not having the skills to get things the way I know I’ll want them. You, my friend, never fail to impress.

It sucks having to undo all that work, but I'm glad you're happy with the revision!

GubernatorFan wrote:Ah, the price of being a perfectionist... Well done though.

Stryker2012 wrote:Turned out great. As Ian said, being a perfectionist really helps. My problem with being a perfectionist, is I fail to start a lot of projects due to not having the skills to get things the way I know I’ll want them. You, my friend, never fail to impress.

Zes wrote:It sucks having to undo all that work, but I'm glad you're happy with the revision!

Thanks guys! It was just a few hour's worth of work to redo so no big deal.
Mark, just go for it man, you'll never know your capabilities unless you push your skill boundaries and experiment  Sorry if I'm telling my grandmother how to suck eggs! weird expression that one lol.

Ended up using leather and pleather, the pleather has been with me for over 15 years and who knows how long with the little shop I bought it from so I'm not worried about flaking, figure will be in the shade anyway. It's easier to work with since it's so thin. I redo the collar part way through, attached the robes all together, sewed the back of the sleeves and tweaked the odd bit here and there; just need to make the medallion next, don't think I've worked metal the way I plan to before, should work in theory!









All sewn, glued and tweaked.





I've got to stop making such tall             characters!







Skin on the neck works well.



















Medallion to be started..



Generic Ref pics







Argh...just noticed he could do with a couple more bands at the bottom and them all being thinner, never mind, not bothered...I think lol.

Looking very good. Have you considered using thick aluminum foil (or perhaps foil is not the word for it -- the type sometimes used for food containers) that you could easily shape and indent as needed?

GubernatorFan wrote:Looking very good. Have you considered using thick aluminum foil (or perhaps foil is not the word for it -- the type sometimes used for food containers) that you could easily shape and indent as needed?

That's a very good idea unfortunately I don't have any! I am trying something else though, pics tomorrow .

Looking good. I’ve often thought about using tinfoil, but it seems a bit too finicky for my liking (once it gets a crinkle or scratch, it’s useless if you want something smooth; not to mention they stain it leaves on your fingers — which I would guess could leave a stain on anything it touches). Maybe I’m just using cheap stuff…

Stryker2012 wrote:Looking good. I’ve often thought about using tinfoil, but it seems a bit too finicky for my liking (once it gets a crinkle or scratch, it’s useless if you want something smooth; not to mention they stain it leaves on your fingers — which I would guess could leave a stain on anything it touches). Maybe I’m just using cheap stuff…

I was referring not so much to foil proper as to the thin aluminum-ish material used for some food packaging (instead of plastic) at some stores, especially for take-home meals. It is much sturdier than foil, but it can be cut, bended, indented, scratched up. I think of it as super thick foil, but there is probably a proper name for it.

PS That thing over his chest is probably best called a pectoral.

Stryker2012 wrote:Looking good. I’ve often thought about using tinfoil, but it seems a bit too finicky for my liking (once it gets a crinkle or scratch, it’s useless if you want something smooth; not to mention they stain it leaves on your fingers — which I would guess could leave a stain on anything it touches). Maybe I’m just using cheap stuff…

GubernatorFan wrote:

Stryker2012 wrote:Looking good. I’ve often thought about using tinfoil, but it seems a bit too finicky for my liking (once it gets a crinkle or scratch, it’s useless if you want something smooth; not to mention they stain it leaves on your fingers — which I would guess could leave a stain on anything it touches). Maybe I’m just using cheap stuff…

I was referring not so much to foil proper as to the thin aluminum-ish material used for some food packaging (instead of plastic) at some stores, especially for take-home meals. It is much sturdier than foil, but it can be cut, bended, indented, scratched up. I think of it as super thick foil, but there is probably a proper name for it.

PS That thing over his chest is probably best called a pectoral.

Well I guess you guys kind of worked that out between yourselves there.... I went in a different and odd direction! A roadworks sign! The steel backing felt far more malleable than any of the thin aluminium sheets metal I have, not sure why, it must be a very mild steel, but I had to spend a long time on the grinder, sanding and the buffer to make it usable for what I needed. Ended up needing to use a heavy mallet and a flat bladed screwdriver with an incalculable amount of whacking to get the results I wanted. I did try a heavy duty large chisel I'd forgotten I had to try and speed up the process and get more consistent lines but surprisingly it was less effective, I guess physics, same force applied over a larger area results in less penetration or impact inflicted (a dagger vrs a spoon). Then it was a bunch of work with the shears and grinding wheel again with some bending and a lot of faffing to get it to fit and look right. Attached onto the figure now so he's technically finished but I haven't done any comparison pics with appropriate figures yet, that comes later..

 









Sort of shapes itself which helps!







Chisel was useless..





After shears, a test fit, never measure anything lol.



Initial grinder shaping.





Some more tweaks





At last a decent fit.







A reminder of it's humble origins...



Fit for a Viceroy!











Reminds me of that silversmithing course I did years ago!

Wow, you're going hardcore. I hope you didn't have to damage a sign! Impressive.
Looking at the reference photos again, I think I would have cut some plastic sheet material in the appropriate slices, painted them, and then assembled them on some black cloth backing.

GubernatorFan wrote:Wow, you're going hardcore. I hope you didn't have to damage a sign! Impressive.
Looking at the reference photos again, I think I would have cut some plastic sheet material in the appropriate slices, painted them, and then assembled them on some black cloth backing.

Yeah but that's no fun lol! Besides it's one ribbed piece with the protrusions being the 'bars' not the 'plates' so thin strips on a silver backing might have worked with silver paint and weathering but I wanted the 'real thing' (was probably foam or latex in the actual movie though lol).

After looking at it again and again... I decided I'd made it too simple (not intentionally) so I've now doubled the amount of ribs on the medallion/sign of office. Really wanted to curl into a cone this time!



















BEFORE



AFTER

Hardcore indeed! I'm surprised this steel sheet was more malleable than aluminum.

I was thinking you were going to go the plasticard route with some heating to achieve the curvature. But it's always nice to use "real" materials when possible.

Nice work!

Inspired! he looks great.

Your definition of fun is different than mine, but this is definitely an improvement.

Excellent. That turned out great.

I am loving this, your workshop must be amazing.....and are you sure you don't work for George Lucas, clearly you should have!