The Conclave

The Ordos Majoris - Hobby, Painting and Modelling => Painting and Modelling => Topic started by: Vermis on September 01, 2010, 04:03:19 PM

Title: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Vermis on September 01, 2010, 04:03:19 PM
Or Mechister, or techno-administer, or any one of a lot of different variations.

Definitely not a techpriest, though.  Not if I want to find some kindly person or service to cast me up a bunch of copies to sell.  No.

It's also partly an experiment in sculpting with mixes of procreate and apoxie sculpt.  And it's another little project that's been sitting on a shelf for a long time, but I've finally got round to finishing the head:

(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25121-1/Mechister54-02.jpg)

(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25123-1/Mechister54-03.jpg)

Those ribbed tubes are responsible for at least a dozen new grey hairs on my head.  But I have a lot more to do.  That's why I invested in these. (http://modellierworkshop.blogspot.com/2010/05/scifi-tubetools.html)  Forty squid for six little resin plates!  But no-one else does something like them, AFAIK.  Hopefully they'll be worth it.  I'll definitely try to get some use out of them, anyway.

(And just to head off the suggestions: guitar wire's a spiral rather than ribbed.  It makes a difference if you're neurotic enough.  And perhaps more justifiably, I can never bend the stuff sharply without dinging it or having all the loops seperate and spread out.)

So, yeah.  I can go ahead and cover a lot of that detail with a large hood, now.  8)

Lastly, there's pics of a previous stage, but here's the dirty underhanded hook: you'll have to visit Minisculpture (http://www.minisculpture.co.uk/index.php?topic=20.0) to see them.  ;D
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Shannow on September 01, 2010, 06:16:29 PM
Very very cool stuff there, the head is particularly fantastic. Always a little saddening when you cover up detail you spent ages creating.

Look forward to seeing moar!
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Kallidor on September 01, 2010, 07:39:28 PM
Very clean and very crisp, an excellent sculpt so far, kudos.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Kresten on September 01, 2010, 08:27:25 PM
wow... this literally made my jaw drop, excellent work and I'd definitely buy one if you cast it.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: precinctomega on September 03, 2010, 12:22:48 PM
Excellent start!  When can we see an update?

And thanks for linking to those "ribbed cable" makers.  A bit pricey, yes, but they look like they'd be really, really useful.

R.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Vermis on September 03, 2010, 01:02:33 PM
Ta all!

Quote from: precinctomega on September 03, 2010, 12:22:48 PM
Excellent start!  When can we see an update?

Good question.  I went looking for the first stage that I'd posted on other forums, and the topics were over a year old.  :o  Hopefully it won't be that long 'til the next update.

At the mo, I want a couple of cables coming out of the back of his skull, through the hood.  So I'm waiting for the tube tools to make those and get them in place, before sculpting the hood over and around them.

It's taking longer than expected.  Turns out Masqmini's shop isn't hooked up to paypal.  You select paypal, place the order, then you have 'manually' visit paypal and send them the order number in the comments box. ???  It was a few days before I realised that. :-[
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Aidan on September 05, 2010, 03:19:03 AM
Wow, very good quality woork on the head already. I've got plans in the tube for a new techpriest cyber-mage character, and I'll definitely buy this guy (at reasonable price) if cast him.

-A.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Easy E on September 23, 2010, 02:26:33 PM
First off, I love the sculpt. 

Secondly, thanks for the link to the tube maker!  That thing rules, and I can probably find something I can use similar at the local DIY store.  Inspired! 
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: GAZKUL on September 24, 2010, 07:22:02 PM
looks great, if you ever get them cast i'l definately be interested.

incidentally i was having trouble making ribbed tubes myself for the savalr pattern gas mask on one of my characters. eventually i game up and udes thin lead tube as it is easy to bend into shape.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Vermis on September 27, 2010, 07:42:15 PM
Ta all.  I would've added more to this (and my Cadian thing), only there's been a couple of hiccups.  In general, I lost a couple of weeks to a bout of pancreatitis, of all things.  Only a short bout, but it left me sitting around like a puppet with it's strings cut, saying 'wibble' to myself.

The other, specific to this sculpt, is that the tube tools still haven't arrived.  I got a couple of emails only last week to say that my payment arrived and the things've been sent.  And by that reckoning they're still overdue.  Someone must be having a laff.

Easy E: if you find something, let us know!  It's too late for me, but it'll be very handy if there's something that'll forego all this expense and faffing around.  I've heard people say stamped styrene would do the job, though I dunno about the availability and cost of that kinda thing.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: gwrulz on October 07, 2010, 02:20:50 PM
I will be watching this as I want a dozen for my tech city!
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Vermis on October 10, 2010, 08:42:31 PM
Small update.  I finally got the tube tools and played around with them before trying something serious.  Relatively serious.  There are a few little inaccuracies and hiccups in the plate production that make trying to align them - as per the blog instructions - pretty fiddly, frustrating, and nigh-impossible. (Now if they could be mounted in some kind of adjustable harness...)
But I soon found out that you pretty much only need one plate to roll grooves in a tube, using the flat back of the other plate, then roll them 'properly' once, to round off the ridges.

But I digress.

(http://www.cheddarmongers.org/prod/gallery2/d/25325-1/Mechister54-04.jpg)

That's done with the medium-size plates.  The ribs are a little larger than I anticipated - I think my hand-sculpted ribs on the mask tubes are finer than what I'd get from the small plates.  But for this particular tube, it's fine.
I also let the tube rest a little too long, so it didn't want to bend too sharply to meet the back of the head.  But I think I can get away with that, too.  Big flappy hoods can cover up a lot.  And now I can get on with that.  Woo!
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Kallidor on October 10, 2010, 11:52:59 PM
Well that looks pretty damn cool although as you say, you're own tubes are much finer.
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: Shannow on October 13, 2010, 12:02:46 PM
Even though the hand sculpted one is finer, I really like the crisp nature of the larger tubes folds. Superb
Title: Re: WIP cyber-mage sculpt
Post by: precinctomega on October 13, 2010, 02:01:55 PM
Huzzah!  Progress!

R.