Gamara - nice to see some further progress, should look pretty interesting with the varied flat and shiny finishes.

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Tim - a fine mini project you have going with the wood chest.   Thanks for sharing your memento of the past with the D&D figurines.  

The Ironman by your son looks great!  Seems he has a pretty steady hand to have achieved good edges painting the red and gold.

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In about another week I should be done sculpting the extra bits for Red Sonja, but here is where it's at now:

I had a sheet of lead foil on order, but that has yet to arrive, so decided to forgo it's use and rely on the putty entirely.  The guys at Planetfigure gave me a few tips and I used that as best I could.  The green stuff was mixed with epoxy sculpt 50/50.  Oddly, both products smell like tortilla chips, but yea, the apoxy sculpt is added as it also better facilitates any sanding required afterwards.

Pretty much all of the work started off with creating a ball of putty, about a thimble size worth, and then rolled out flat.  It's very tacky, so a plastic ziploc baggie is used, with a bit of talc powder shaken around to cover the insides.  The ball of putty is placed inside, and then rolled out.  I just used a large empty pickle jar for this, but some prefer an empty beer bottle, drinking a few to find that right one - lol!

The downside of the powder is the adhesive quality of the putty diminishes greatly.  So I used super glue to tack one edge down and worked it from there.  

Did the Harry Houdini act to her torso.  This was to make it easier to clean up the vest like top.  Also took this as an opportunity to add some height, scale wise 1/8" equals 1.5 inches in actual height, which brings her closer to the 5'11" that she should be standing.  Since the arms are already separate pieces, I'll likely do the same thing and add about 1/16" as well.

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

Tim - a fine mini project you have going with the wood chest.   Thanks for sharing your memento of the past with the D&D figurines.  

The Ironman by your son looks great!  Seems he has a pretty steady hand to have achieved good edges painting the red and gold.

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Hi Jack,

Thanks, on Kid Kidwell's behalf. The kit was Revell's new PRE-PAINTED Iron Man, so no airbrushing required. He's chomping at the bit though. He has a Viking long ship made of Popsicle sticks that I think I'm going to turn him loose on for his first model painting project.

Excellent progress on Red. I love the detail you've added to her boots and the artistic flair with the gloves. Also, I don't think many people would think about, let along have the guts to chop apart a figs torso to get a couple inches in scale height. Well done, sir! 

I've never tried mixing Apoxie Sculpt and Green Stuff. I take it you mix the Green Stuff first, and then add the Sculpt? What does it do to the curing time? 

I hope to have the base done this week. 

hey Tim, thanks!

Yes, the lengthening of the torso wasn't planned, but the more I looked at it and after having sawed it in half, decision was made to lengthen it.   Confirmation of Red's height was through some kind of Marvel database found online.

I prepared the two brand products separately before combining them together.  Both have identical working times and full cure in 24 hours.  I still found it workable after 2 hours.  As mentioned, the addition of apoxie sculpt (as I was told) is for easier sanding and better pliability (without tearing) when rolled really thin.

regards,

Jack

Jack,

Your research really shows with what you're doing. The gloves are a perfect example of your attention to detail and the comic art, both the Marvel material and the new via Dynamite. You're definitely setting a high bar. 

As I make plans for Conan proper, I may have to give this mix a try. Though, I don't foresee any modifications as complicated as yours. Replacing a belt (which I may to with lead foil), filling the seams around the arms, and possibly giving him a new sword.

Tim: Hey thanks for posting the photos of your old gaming figures. The first ones I painted back in the late '80s looked pretty much the same though I did use matte paint! I wish I had preserved some of them but ended up stripping and repainting them. They still look kinda bad but not as bad as the first paint jobs.

Looking forward to seeing you build up the treasure chest, I assume it's going to be sitting there open? I remember opening too many of those in various fantasy games using an axe for a key...

Jack: Very impressive work so far! I've modified some gaming and 54mm figures but it's always been something simple like replacing a head or the arms. I've tried using Green Stuff for storage on tanks but the stickyness I find a little hard to work with.  

Hey guys,

It seems to me I forgot the obligatory "parts" shot when we started this whole thing. Therefore:

And ...

You'll notice that the base and the treasure chest are missing, because I'm working on them.

Gamera - Glad you enjoyed the blast from my past. I actually was planning on keeping the chest closed to mimic the Marvel comics cover it's based on as closely as possible. We'll see though. It depends on how ambitious I get and how good the chest looks when it's put together.

OK, so, though I've gone about this all the wrong way this time, I should be caught up. Now, off to tape an installment of the NPRD.

Seems I have a bit of catching up to do, its been really hectic the last couple of weeks trying to meet GB deadlines. But thankfully, that all done. Going to be getting Darth out later and make a start.

Jack, that is awesome work your doing there. I may have missed it, so forgive me for asking, but what was the reason of adding height to the figure.

Thank you Gamera and Bish.

The lengthening of the torso was just a personal choice -  her being a heroine, i think she should be taller.  When I measured the figure's height, it scaled out to about 5'9".  With the addition, she is closer to 5'11" now.

Handling the tackiness of the putty can be addressed a couple of ways, either use talc powder or vaseline.

Happy New Year!

regards,

Jack

My first problem is now solved. Some may recall I said mine was a copy and that for some reason the feet were to close together, the heals were almost touching, and that I was going to try a soak in hot water to try and spread them out. Well, I have just tried it and, working to the measurement Stephen gave me, thanks buddy, it worked a treat.

I was surprised at how little time it needed in the water, just a few seconds. And then it only needed holding in place for a minute before it had hardened again. My main concern was that the crouch area might have deformed, but its worked out great.

Now I can get on, if this had not worked, the build might have been a no go. I am going to fill the legs with plaster of Paris, this will add some weight and give me something solid to drill into and add some rod to secure it to a base.

That sounds like a good reason jack. I imagine it not easy to do, if you add to much it would look out of proportion, but she looks spot on to me.

Bish: Good to hear that Vader is coming along- looking forward to photos!

Just finished some test-fitting of Conan and Belit. I believe I am going to need more Green Stuff and a quick enrollment in Sculpting 201.

Tim, is it just joints to fill in or you have to recreate detail too?

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The past week finished up detailing Red Sonja.  Not too much putty work, mostly Evergreen sheet styrene and little bits found around the house.

I had a 1/35 PE vehicle buckle set from Aber that scaled well as a strap for her top, the rest being made from sheet plastic and rod.  For the smaller size eyelets, metal wire from a twist tie came in handy. 

For the solid round detail bits I had bought a punch set from Waldron (miniature set), but while trying it out I realized the end result was something I've seen around the house.  One of my ankle weights had a slight tare, inside of which are tiny round (lead or iron?) pieces of various sizes - so ended up using that.

The large sword was scavenged from an unbuilt Imai knight, while the dagger was completely scratch built.  The pommel is shaped putty from Tamiya, as is the sheath, which was wrapped around plastic for some initial strength.   These will be added after the figure is painted, and in the meantime will look for some scale chain as the attachment point to the belt, which also will be added at the end.

regards,

Jack

Hi Jack,

Both filling and creating detail ...

DEAR GOD! You're killing me with the blaze of Red Sonja's AWESOMENESS! I'm tossing Conan in Lake Michigan. Forget it. I'm through. It's basket weaving for me from now on.

Beautifully done, sir! You made the hoops where the photoetched-metal belt attach to the chain-mail bra in back with a punch-and-die set?Did you heat the sheet styrene to shape the armlet on her right upper arm?

Yeah, that's awesome work Jack!!!

Only question is are you going to file off the loincloth/bikini bottoms that were molded on the figure since you're replacing them?

Tim and Gamera, thanks!

There is no punch and die work on the figure.

The loops were made from Evergreen rod.  Simply wrapped around a drill bit, like creating a spring.  A proper segment is then snipped and glued together.  The rod is pretty resilient, even coaxing it around a sewing pin is doable, but i think .020 is the smallest diameter available.   That's why I went to metal twist tie for the smaller loops.

No heat on the armlet.  This was .010 sheet, super gluing about half into position.  After a few minutes drying, other half is glued in place.

Plan is to leave the molded g-string in place, to keep this family rated?  I also thought it will provide some extra colour to the figure, probably a green shade to somewhat match her eyes.  It's pretty much the only item I've deviated from, even cosplayers seem to have done a good job of hiding their undies, or are they going commando style?

Do you guys think it should be removed?

regards,

Jack

Thanks for the tips, Jack.

I think you should keep it. Even though Gamera points out the classic (or neo-classic as it were) comic version of Sonja, I don't think it deviates too much.

As an aside, when Gail Simone took over Red Sonja for Dynamite in 2013, she gave a great interview for ICV2. At one point, she was asked:

Why do you want to write a comic about a scantily-clad, sword-wielding female “She-Devil” who has historically attracted an almost entirely male readership?

If that was all Red Sonja was, I wouldn’t want to write about her at all. She’s a lot more than that to me, and to her fans, I’m sure. A thousand imitators showing more flesh have come and gone, and Sonja is still here. [...] But I also think it does a bit of a disservice to lump all male readers together like that, as well. I have found the male readership to be remarkably supportive of great female characters again and again, with Birds of Prey, with Wonder Woman, with Batgirl. I want a Red Sonja that isn’t just a cult title, with every character I love, when I take them over, I want to preach their gospel, I want people to know why I love them so much. Red Sonja kicks a megatonnage of [butt], that’s what she does.

Read the whole interview here.

Conan update ...

The bottom of the treasure chest is built. I've moved on to the lid, but have found sticking with shape as presented in the kit problematic. So, I've been researching "treasure chests". Yeah, you can imagine all the stuff I've had to wade through. Then it dawned on me that it's really a trunk--a domed trunk to be exact. Now, I have a plan. It won't be an exact duplicate of the chest from the kit, but I think it will look nice.

It looks like I'm going with 1" planks for the deck to get a scale 6". I'm toying with using thread for oakum since the scale is so large. However, for ease, I'm also considering using 1/16" thick black plastic strip. Full-sized tree nails ranged from 3/4"-2" in diameter, thus I figure 1/8" should be fine for my purposes.

Pics soon ... 

Ahhh, sorry I really don't know anything about the character- just seemed odd to me she's wearing two sets of panties. But as you point out it is more G-rated!

finally back from my vacation so I can now get some work done. I can not say enough how truly impressed I am with all the work going on.

I started putting Spidey's limbs on starting with the legs. Have some gaps to fill. What is a good product to use that will fill the gaps but dry slow enough so that I can shape it to the figures contours?

Shiv - from my experience on this currant figure build, I'd highly recommend the green stuff, or more technically known as Kneadatite.  it has a minimum 2 hours working time, and you can easily spread it with your finger tip, just have a cup of water beside you.  It can be  spread out, smearing it thin to keep sanding, afterwards, down  to a minimum.

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Tim - thanks for those links, interesting read about the new writer at the helm of the Red Sonja series.

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Gamera -  that's likely my fault.  Presently, the way I have her loin cloth could be considered as underwear, but it will be painted to look like leather, and afterwards it will be covered with metal  studs.

regards,

Jack

Welcome back, Shiv!

Some more planning on my part.

Here's the sword I've chosen as a template to replace the kit's sword. I'm going to make it out of 2mm sheet styrene--or that's the plan at least.

This is Mr. Grumpy with his face on.

There's some work to do in the neck area.

The fur kilt in the back will need some help too. The sword belt will disappear and be replaced. 

Oooooooo, looks cool Tim!

I've cut the ends to the treasure-chest lid from 2mm birch plywood and roughed them down with a 100-grit sanding block. That's as far as I can go on these bad boys until I get home.

Part 1 of Conan's two-part hair piece. You can see a spot where the resin chipped away. This is the first time the part has been out of the bag, so, for once, I didn't do it.

Parts 1 and 2 together ... 

And the test-fit. Now for some planning, application of Green Stuff, and sculpting hair.

PROGRESS!

The local hobby shop has seen more of me for this chest than I think they've seen of any other customer in the last two weeks. Mostly because I suck at putting together a bill of materials ... oh, and wastage. Measure once, cut 13 times. One more strip of basswood for this sucker to complete the top.

Working on the hair with Green Stuff.

And the neck. This is roughed in and hasn't been sanded yet.

Test-fit, test-fit, test-fit ...

Heck of a chest!

I like that wood box too...

You may laugh, but a trick I learned from my model railroad days.

When scratch building an object like this, or the quad turret on a bomber, or a station building;

build three or four at the same time. That amortizes all the time spent, and you get a good one out of it. The labor cost far outstrips the materials cost. Plus you never know it may be good to have a few stashed away.

Looks good Tim, great work on the chest and when painted I'd never know his hair was chipped like that.

Gamera

Looks good Tim, great work on the chest and when painted I'd never know his hair was chipped like that.

Thanks! I hope so.

How are Capt. Picard and the Romulan coming along?

Well, now that Aaron and I are emerging from a particularly busy time here at the office, we'll get back on the vlogs. We've got plenty to talk about, with two builds done, and ours now starting to pick up. 

How about the rest of you? How are the builds coming along?

Tim: Weeeelllllll, was going to do the pants for both figures last weekend and then the airbrush kept gumming up. I work as the lab guy at a water treatment plant and the cold snap Monday burst so many piles and damaged so much equipment I've been too frazzled to do anything but take a nap upon getting home. Hopefully I'll get something done this weekend.

Tim- looking good there. are you going to have the chest open or closed? Really nice work on the hair. I am starting to think you missed your call as a hairdresser.

Jgeratic- went to my LHS looking for Kneadatite but didn't have any so they suggested using Mr. Surfacer 500. Just have to build it up and it seems to have done the job.

Have one leg on and seam filled than did some test fitting to see how he would sit on the statue.

going to start on the other leg next.

Shiv - Nice work on Spidey. It looks like the Mr. Surfacer has done the job for you. Are you planning on weighting the base?

Regarding the chest: Thanks! I'm going to have the lid closed--already glued it on. Just got the plastic for the iron straps I intend to put on it. Who knows, maybe this weekend I can put the box behind me.

Hair dresser? Hmmmm ... If people wanted their wives to look like this, then yes, I missed my calling.