Legolas (Almost Ready)!

Ooooh! So close, but still not done! As I mentioned earlier, I realized once I started gluing the parts of Legolas together, that I had completely mis-sculpted the angle of the bow-hand and ruined the mold. The part fit at an odd angle and the string and arrow just didn't look right. I am not sure why that happened, as I was very careful as I worked. But, nevertheless, it happened.

So... I glued and painted all that I could, then using the glued Legolas as a reference, I resculpted the bow-hand. As it happens (and to my good fortune), the casting resin weapons (in this case the bow) comes back out of the mold rubber in one piece because it is hard and sturdy. So, all I had to do was remove the ruined clay hand and clean the bow, then re-sculpt the hand only to match the completed model.

To date, I have finished the re-sculpt and have re-molded and re-cast the parts. I need only apply the paint and glue, string the bows, then mount the models on the stained and finished bases. I'll post completed photos and bid listings in a later post.

Till then, here's the model thus far... Notice my mini-production in the last image. Both my Gimli(s) and Legolas(s). Or is it Legolai?

Legolas From the Mold

And I had just about enough money left on my project budget to mold the Legolas parts.

Since the models are screw mounted down to the rough wood bases that I sculpted them on, the feet come all the way through to the top of the mold (remember that the models are poured upside down). That gives me two giant pour holes to send the resin down into the mold. I, of course, prepared this mold like I did the Gimli mold (2 posts down) by adding chase tubes to get air out of trouble spots. See the "stick" or tail that forms on the Legolas body (3rd image) to ensure that resin flows up into the ends of his tunic. These extra bits and the flash (mold seams), are removed and sanded to clean the part up before painting.

Notice again that I created 2 Legolas's (like the Gimli) so that I would have one for me and one to sell. My finished and painted Gimli makes an appearance in the last image.

Gimli Painted and Ready!

Alright! It is truly a wonderful feeling, that after putting so much love and work into something, it turns out better than you were expecting!

You can see from the images the unpainted model, with the arms glued on, and the axe kept separate during the painting to make getting the brush in and around his arms a little easier. I sanded and stained the wood base myself.

And then, the completed kit looking very cool and awesome. And, did I forget to mention... I have a mold and can make more than one of them? As of this post, I have 2 Gimli(s). I am keeping one (of course) and will be posting a bid on eBay (hopefully as early as this weekend) for the other one. See the final VR spin (at the top of the page) for a complete look at this custom model and keep a lookout on this blog when I list the first one up for bid.

(More to come)...

Gimli From the Mold

Well I finally found the time (after 2 years of work) to buy some mold material and resin and start the final phase of my project.

After assessing any areas that might trap air in the mold (when I poured in the resin), I added chutes to the model to create air "chase holes" in the mold. Since the model would be poured upside down in the mold, areas of concern for me were the draping chainmail (which would be pointing up and catch an air bubbles). Air bubbles mean that those pieces would not get any resin into them during the pouring, and thus not form right.

Satisfied that I was ready, I built a cardboard container around the body and parts and poured in my liquid rubber. The rubber I'm using is a more "amateur" friendly version, but good enough to do what I needed.

Mold rubber is a two-part mixture of latex/silicone and an activator compound. Which, when mixed with a spoon or stir-stick, gets a lot of tiny air bubbles in the rubber which threaten to degrade the quality of your mold as you will get pockets all over your part. A professional grade rubber requires a vacuum chamber (into which you place the mixed rubber container) to pull the air out of the rubber before you pour it. The stuff I am using is less costly and doesn't require the vacuum. It is a lesser quality rubber (won't last as long), but is designed to greatly reduce the chance of bubbles settling against the part. Thus, I get a good mold, with less cost and equipment, but I won't be able to make as many parts from it.

Also, the reason I had to be so careful about getting a good mold the first time around is that you inevitably destroy the original part when you are removing it from the mold (see last photo). One shot, baby and months of work are destroyed. But luckily, I can now replicate Gimli in resin and I see that the mold is good! If I notice any irregularities, or pieces not forming because of a bubble, I can jump right into that area of the mold with an exacto knife and carve a chase-hole myself and usually straighten out the next casting.

I am now ready to make my final Gimli (s)!

Aragorn (Not Done, Yet!)

As I mentioned in the earlier post (below), I have actually been sculpting and working on Aragorn for the longest of all of the models. This one has been plagued with problems since I began it right after finishing Gimli.

The first sword that I carved out of the resin snapped on me and I could not successfully glue it back together straight enough to work. So... I had to re-sculpt it.

I went through nearly 6 head sculpts on this model (at the start of the project) and had trouble capturing a like-ness that I was satisfied with. Although I finally got it and am happy.

I got nearly all the way finished with the body sculpt and realized that somewhere at the very beginning, I had gotten my proportions off and he came out with small legs and large head/torso and he looked ridiculous standing next to Boromir and the others. So... I salvaged his upper torso and head (by breaking them off of the model), and re-sculpted him all the way back to re-doing the armature. Once I had a new properly proportioned armature, I re-connected the upper torso to it and added the new clay to start his legs and jacket again.

So... Here I am with Aragorn still not completely finished, but heading in the right direction (finally). The image below shows that his tunic, jacket and arms are not yet finished, but should give you an idea of what his pose is like. Stay tuned for details about his progress and the completed model.

I plan to get back to completing him after I run up a few more molds of the others. I have had some of them finished and sitting around for nearly a year and a half, and would just like to see them finished before something happens to them!

Aragorn stands at 12" inches tall.

Boromir, Blow your Horn!

No, I haven't forgotten about Aragorn. I have been working on his sculpt off and on this whole time. Since I had finished Legolas and began work on Gimli. But that is a story for the next post (above).

For now, feast your eyes on Boromir "Man of the West" and Son of Denethor!

Sporting a sword, sheath and his famous horn (a separate piece at his feet in the photo), Boromir is complete down to the embossed leather bracers and the fine fabric weave on his tunic sleeves and collar.

As the 8th model finished, Boromir stands 11 1/2" inches tall (he's sort of crouching).

Took Long Enough

The last of the hobbits I sculpted was Peregrin (Pippin) Took. As I mentioned in the earlier post (just below this one) Pippin was sculpted at the same time as Merry as they were positioned to work together.

Pippin had one crazy distinctive weave on that shirt of his, but as crazy as I am, I captured its texture into my sculpt. Notice the knit weave on his scarf, as well!

Pippin stands 8 1/2" inches.

All is Merry and Bright!

Are we still keeping track? At model number six, I present... Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck!

A very prim and proper hobbit, he can be seen sporting a very intricately embroidered vest, cloak and sword. He stands at ready and was sculpted together (near simultaneously) with Pippin (see above post) so that their poses actually work together as they are posed to protect each other.

Merry stands 8 1/2" inches tall.

Frodo Lives!

Frodo is modeled clutching at the ring and staring off under its spell! He has sting held by his side and will be completed with an actual aluminum chain and brass (gold-ish looking) ring link at scale with him (see the bag of shiny stuff behind the model!).

Also, just because I was insane and on a roll with the project, I went wicked crazy on the details and engravings on Sting (see photo). Using a large jeweler's magnifying light (and lots of patience), I scratched the elvish runes along the blade from a very large close-up I had of the movie prop.

Frodo stands very erect at 8 1/2" inches tall. Sting is 4" inches long and is molded with hand on the hilt.

What in the Sam Hill?

My fourth sculpt (and first of the hobbits) was Samwise Gamgee. I started with Sam because I was still working out my ideas for Frodo, yet I wanted to at least get a "Hobbit" scale model to compare to the others for size.

Sam comes with backpack, water skin, pots, pans, etc. He is fighting ready with his sword and skillet! See the earlier concept sketch post for a full idea of the pose.

I am looking to start molding and casting Sam in the next batch of models I take to completion.

Sam stands at 8" inches tall.

Dwarfing all Others

The 3rd model that I sculpted was Gimli. I had a lot of fun being very meticulous about all of the fine engravings and details all over his leather and armor.

My only problem was that for a long time, I had difficulties getting the boots right and that the armature inside the sculpy clay was loose. This meant that I spent a LOT of time on the boots. If they weren't breaking because of the model wiggling on the base, I was re-sculpting them because the details were not close enough to the film version.

The boots in this early photo are not the final ones, and in fact, his feet on this early version were too small in proportion to the body. See the coming post of the finished model for the final boots.

Gimli was the first model I took all of the way to finish and will have ready to sell. He stands 10" inches tall to his head (12"inches overall due to his raised axe not seen in these images).

Just Pulling your Legolas

The second character I worked on was Legolas. I was still in the mode to work on the large-scale characters.

This one ended up having many pieces due to the more dynamic pose and the bow, arrow, and quiver. And... as it turned out, I would come to realize that I had made a mistake on the hand I had sculpted holding the bow. I got the angle wrong and did not notice until I had made the mold and cast the parts. I have since re-sculpted the part and re-molded it to make it correct.

Legolas was the second of the 2 models I have completed to date. See newer posts (to come) for more about this model.

Legolas stands 12" inches tall.

We're off to see the Wizard!

The first character that I had in a completely sculpted state was Gandalf.

Notice how I sculpted the most that I could of the body into one piece, but made any pieces that stuck off the main body as parts to be molded separately. This was due to making the parts easier to cast and remove in the molds.

I used wall putty to hold the pieces together in the last couple of photos to give you an idea of what the finished model would look like. The hat is meant to be removable and just sits on the head and never glued.

Gandlaf stands a little over 12" inches tall (plus hat).

Roughing out the Bodies

After I have the heads sculpted and the weapons started, I began attaching the heads to the new clay bodies and getting a rough figure going.

The clay was sculpted around a wire armature (skeletal structure) that was screw mounted to a rough wooden base. (See the concept sketches post for the idea of the armatures as most of the sketches have the armature shape drawn on them in red).

I wish I had stopped and took more photos of the other characters in rough form, but here is Frodo:

Carving the Weapons and Items

The next hurtle that I was interested in was to find a way to sculpt all of the cool weapons that the characters would be holding.

I had a problem. Sculpy clay, by its nature, is very "plaster-like" when hardened and was brittle. It was not able to stand up to being sculpted and hardened to less than 1/8" thickness and I broke several of the weapons in my first attempts before I realized that I could not use Sculpy.

I thought of shaping metals or plastics... and eventually found the best material. Simple casting resin. The stuff you get at a craft store and use to make stupid paperweights with bugs or coins in them. I poured out cakes of the resin and found that the hardened blocks could be ground and polished with a dremel tool and sandpaper with ease, yet was sturdy enough to hold up to the 1/8" thickness I desired. *Plus the end result were these "clear-plastic" looking swords and weapons, which I could sculpt clay hands onto to make the molds.

I apologize for the bad quality of some of the images, as my camera found it hard to auto-focus on the clear weapons. The focus laser was passing right through them.

Sculpting the Heads

The first step was to make sure that I could capture a good likeness of the character based on the actors playing them in the films. Once I started sculpting the faces, the first thing I realized was... "I had to become a better sculptor in order to pull this off".

By the end of my troubles, I end up with what amounted to a bunch of doll-heads modeled in hardened Sculpy clay. These were the end product of several sculpting attempts and "bad" heads that I threw away. I kept at these until I had 9 character heads that I was happy with:

Creating a Size-Chart for Proportion

After I sketched the poses, I created a single drawing that contained all of the character sizes at the proper scale. The tall (human characters) are slightly over 12 inches tall, the dwarf about 10 inches and the hobbits 81/2 - 9 inches.

This sketch was used throughout the scuplting process to measure everything (arms, legs, heads) to ensure proper porportions within the character, and between each other.

Concepts and Sketches

When you begin any project, you have to get an idea of what you are going to do.

In addition to screen captures from the trilogy, I used the "Art of" books and "Big picture" books that were published. Anything I could get my hands on that I could see every costume and character detail.

And then I decided on my poses. I kept these loose and sketchy, just as a guide to what I wanted the character to look like. I knew that most of the decisions would be made as I began the sculpts. See images below:

	Gandalf
	Frodo Baggins
	Samwise Gamgee
	Merry Brandybuck and Perrigrin Took
	Gimli
	Legolas Greenleaf
	Boromir

Welcome and About the Project

Welcome to my custom model blog! A few explanations might be in order as to who I am, what the project is about, and what I have planned for it.

My name is ADAM Fox and I am, among many things, an artist. I am formally trained as a Sequential artist (comics and storyboarding) and as a 2D Traditional Animator. I am currently working as an E-Learning Web Developer in Macromedia/Adobe Flash. I have done illustrations, designs, logos, comics (writing and art), web development, animation, and maquettes (prototype sculptures). I enjoy video games, comics (reading and rare collecting), and working on vinyl/resin movie models. If you are curious about some of my other works, please check out my portfolio site at: www.foxtoons.net.

My crazy custom model project had its origins a little over a couple years ago when a very big trilogy of fantasy films, based on my three favorite books of all time, were released and blew us all away. I began looking around for a complete set of models for the 9+ characters, but was disappointed with what I found. My favorite vinyl model company had long since gone belly-up (or I am sure they would have produced great kits) and the official company associated with the films were only producing ready-made and pre-painted statues. I thought, what was the fun in that? I enjoy assembling and painting my own models and the satisfaction I get from the time I put into them. That was when the crazy idea struck me!

Through my many experiences in art, I had become a decent sculptor. I have also learned the art of mold making and resin casting from an accomplished stop-motion animator. I had previously used this knowledge to achieve one of my life goals to create my own poseable action figures (see the "maquette" section of my aforementioned website). So... "Why not make my own @W%$%$@ models??!!" Not only would I get the satisfaction of assembling and painting my own models, but I get the bragging rights that I sculpted the freakin' things from scratch, as well! And with the knowledge and experience from the earlier sculpting and castings, I knew that I could do much, much better on these! How little did I realize the monster I would create...

Over 2 years later, I am nearing completion of my crazy-mega model project! It took so long due to the fact that I never stopped working full-time and putting the project aside and on hold for additional freelance opportunities I found along the way. But I am now within a mere month or two from completion! AT LAST! AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!

And... then I hit a snag! As fun as it has been to create, mold, and cast my own models, it has been very costly in materials and supplies. After completing 8 of the 9 sculpts and molding/casting 2 of them, I am desperate for money to complete my crazy project!

And that is where this blog and you comes in... As it happens, when you have a mold of something, you can make more than just one of them. That means (on a very limited basis) I can offer someone else a chance to own a limited edition un-licensed original hand-made, hand-painted resin model of these very popular movie/fantasy characters! Be one of the few to own these by subscribing to my blog, or sending me your contact email, so that I can let you know when I have a model to sell. I will be posting these on eBay as I have them, and may even start taking requests, or votes on the next one I post a copy of... so keep a lookout on this blog for a poll, or survey tool and let yourself be heard!

In the next coming posts, I will be catching this blog up to date with the photos and steps I have taken throughout this project and photos of some of the completed models. I will also be posting links to the bids for the items on eBay. See the top of this blog for VR spins of the completed models available and detail photos. I will be adding more VRs as I earn the money to buy supplies to complete them.

See you round!

My First Blog Post

This is my first post on my first ever blog. Now I have to get to work and start fixing this up and posting images of these crazy models I have been working on these past 2 years!