Hot Toys 1/6 Godfather figure arrived.. and wow!

I got this earlier this morning. Opening the packaging was almost like opening an Apple product. Beautifully presented. I kept going "oohhhhh...." my wife was laughing at me 'cause she could hear me from the other room.

I don't need to add anything else than what's already been said on many websites and forums already. Make no mistake, this figure is a piece of art. Hot Toys and Enterbay are spoiling us at the moment. Each version has something that's better than the other... but you know what? ..if you get either of these then you're in for a treat.

This hobby certainly has come a long way (and gotten more expensive!!)

I love the face on this, I love the paint, I love the clothing (although the tux Jacket does look a little like an overcoat sometimes... have to see if I can fix that), love the chair... damn, that chair. I thought it was a molded seat.. but no, padded!!!! and the back.. and the armrests!!! ....padded armrests??? unbelievable!

The carpet base with brass name plaque and rear walls just complete the "oooh...." factor, and take this to being something more than just a well made figure. This does exactly what I always try to do with my customs, which is to get the actor in 12" form... and make a bit of a musem display.

But Hot Toys took that, and ran with it.

Incredible figure. Absolutely incredible. And for my first purchase since..... wow, since probably my wedding last year (!). .... this was a good one to come back to!

(as usual click on the image to see a larger version)

A very special commission....

A while ago I was contacted by a friend in America who had a commission she wanted me to do for her. This would turn out to be something I would spend many enjoyable hours working on.

She had an old black and white photograph of her Grandparents (mothers side) in the 1940s, and she wanted two custom figures making of them... so she could give them as a gift to her Mother. (such a lovely idea)

We discussed it back and forth, and ended up on the idea of having the figures sitting on a park bench. This would make a nice display, and something a little nicer than just having the figures standing upright next to each other.

I set about making the head sculpts, and started buying in the pieces that I would need to put the figures together. (bodies, clothes, wood for the bench etc). Also I had to figure out how to make a park bench that could be taken apart and sent 'flat pack', but easily assembled out of only 3 or 4 pieces. (much harder than I thought it would be! If only I was a carpenter)

Anyway... eventually over time I got the head sculpts made, made resin casts of them, painted them up, put the bodies together, did some sewing work on the clothing (well... got my wife to do it!).. and built the bench.

They looked fantastic all set up (I was really happy how they turned out, I always worry about things like that... and whether or not the customer will like it) - thankfully she did. And so did her Mum (she saw the photos right after I'd finished them).

She cried. In a good way.

So now the figures are on their way over the Ocean to their new home. It's always hard sending something off when you've been working on it for many months. It somehow becomes part of your studio. You get used to it. Also you have the additional worry of "will they like it?" ....thankfully the answer to that has so far always been 'yes'.

I can't wait for the figures to arrive in their new home, and to hear about the reactions... it's such a lovely idea for a gift. Something relaly personal, even emotional.

And I'm happy, and honoured to have been asked to be a part of it.

Here's some photos :)

Darren











This is the original photo I was sent


(the clothes hadn't been re-stitched yet in these early test pics)

Things on my desk.....

Here's a list of most of the items that are on my desk being worked on at the moment. I hope I've remembered everything. I've probably spoken to most of you recently, so if you recognise your piece in this list... then it's being worked on!

Some pieces will be being worked on before others, and once again I've probably told you by email who's pieces I'm working on first.

I'm slowly getting better at squeezing more painting & sculpting into the time I spend at my desk, and thankfully my finished pieces are looking better and better the more I do.

Anyway, for now (as I have sculpting and painting to be getting on with today!) here's the list... (not in order, just off the top of my head)

• 8 Anakin Skywalker heads (4 sith, 4 regular)
• 9 Terminator heads (several for full figures)
  
• MacGyver 7" figure custom
• Padme bust resculpt
• park bench for 2 custom figures (plus headsculpts)
• Obi-Wan head
• 2 Aragorn repaints
• ESB Luke repaint
• ANH Han & Luke repaints
• Hicks repaint
• Old Snake repaint
• Legolas custom
• 4 LOTR figures
• 1/6 Torres from Padme figure
• John Lennon sculpt (soon I hope!)
• Padme hairsculpt onto bald head
• Hudson resculpt
• Anakin hair resculpt into Episode II version

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go.........

Family Guy - The Bird is the Word

I know this has nothing to do with sculpting, painting or collectibles but I had to post this.

We watched this episode of Family Guy last night, and I can't get this damn song out of my head. So if I'm going to be stuck with this? Then so are you!

(the episode basically revolves around an old 50's record that Peter decides is his favourite thing ever. It's repetative, annoying, catchy and hysterically funny all at once)

You *have* to see this episode

1/6 Hot Toys Ripley head resculpted and finally painted!

I've been working on this for what seems forever. A short while back I showed a resculpted Ripley head that I'd been working on. Well it's finally all painted up! (this particular one is for a lucky customer. I'll have to wait to do one for myself! Bah.)

Here's a few quick snaps I just took. Ignore the lighting and stuff, they're just to show what it looks like painted. Sometimes it's hard to look at an unpainted sculpt and picture it painted up.

If anyone's interested in picking one of these up from me (unpainted) then shoot me an email and I'll add your name to the Ripley list.

Ignore the clothes, body etc. I haven't done any of that yet. (will be extending the legs to make her taller, weathering her clothes etc)

Ok, here's the pics... (as usual click for larger...)











and here's one to show what the original head looked like.

Raiders Idol Environment from Sideshow turns up....

This came today with the Belloq figure (which I'm not that impressed with... might resculpt it at some point), but this environment thingy is great!! I took a few quick photos with my customised Indy figure. Oooohhh this looks SO good!!

Makes me want to get that back wall finished even quicker now!! How amazing will it all look when this has the whole back wall behind it?

(as usual click for larger pics)

Raiders idol chamber project....

I posted this photo recently as a tease to what I might be doing next....



A few people guessed it straight away, I'm working on the back wall to the chamber. More specifically the three panels you see at the centre there. The middle one made of stone faces, the two columns on either side, then the two panels made out of boulders, and then the final two columns. This is to go with the Indiana Jones figure I've already shown you, and the golden idol & plinth from Sideshow (with Bellow figure) that should be on its way soon.

I've been doing this in my own time, snatching minutes here and there whenever I can (in the evenings, weekends etc), so as not to slow myself down any further from the things I'm working on for people already. (I'm nice like that)

I've been working on this slowly for weeks now.

First let me say.. when I worked out how tall this would be, and printed out a photo to give me something to work off I realised... this thing is BIG!!!



I wanted to start with the columns, and knew I could make just one... then make resin copies for the others saving me sculpting time. Using some Sculpey clay (but not baking it so I could re-use it saving money) I sculpted the first column. I will be using this as something to work off when I'm doing the rest of the pieces. (unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the clay sculpted column... duh!)

Then I made a clay and polystyrene box around it and covered it with silicone to make the mold. (again, forgetting to take a photo... double duh!!)

As this thing is so HUGE, I had to figure out a way to save resin or it would cost me a fortune just to do these parts. I'm still figuring this out, but it worked for the first one if I make a certain amount of resin, and let it cast on one of the sides. When this is set I can make a little more, and turn the mold on its side and cast another side. and so on. I'm figuring out the best amounts of resin to use to make the pieces strong enough but not wasteful with the resin insides. Here's the silicone mold with the first piece done this way. (you can see the resin inside)



taking it out.....



ta daaaaa!



The insides are messy as I'm still getting used to rolling around the resin like this, but in principle... it works! (plus you never see the back anyway)

The front looks rather good though, I'm very happy with this even if I do say so myself





And here we are with the column against that to-scale print out that I'm using as help, alongside other screencaps from the DVD.



This thing is going to look so cool when it's painted up as rock. (this piece has now been sprayed with grey primer.. just waiting for it to dry)

Next up is casting another one of these colums, (hopefully using less resin) and then starting on with the central panel of faces. Can't wait!

Darren

p.s. I know I'm going to get asked if I'll be able to make these for people, and the honest answer at the moment is I don't have a clue. At the moment this seems like it will use a serious amount of resin, and will be very heavy. (which for me I love, as it makes it feel more like rock) however I don't know if I'd be able to do it cheap enough so people would still be willing to pay for it.

I'll look into it though, maybe the more I do the better I'll get with the casting and be able to use much less resin. I'll keep you informed anyway.

1/6 Hot Toys Ripley head resculpted.

I showed this Ripley resculpt a short while ago, but I thought I'd mention it again as I'm actually having a silicone mold made now so I can get some casts made. I'm not sure how many people would be interested in getting one for their own Ripley figures, but if you happen to have an interest in this then shoot me an email at d.carnall@blueyonder.co.uk for the details.

(note: I won't be able to paint any heads for people, as the list of people waiting for things from me is already too long. Sorry about that.)

Coming up next...?

In my spare time I've been working on something that I'm part-way through now. The first stage is currently having a mold made. I don't know if this thing will be feasable to reproduce in a cost effective way (I know I'll be asked!), as it's large (way larger that I had realised, once I scaled it up) and comes in several parts... so this may just end up being something cool for my own shelves.... but if there's demand I may see what I can do.

I don't have any pics yet... but I'll show this following screengrab, and see if you can guess what I'm doing.

A couple of Legolas painted heads...

Just some photos I snapped recently of some Legolas heads I finished not too long ago. As usual, click the images for larger version.

So, who uses Twitter?

So, twitter.com. Until relatively recently I didn't even know what this was. But now I've signed up, got a few friends on there, a few celebs... and am thoroughly enjoying reading and talking to this mixed bunch of people through the art of 'micro blogging' (under 140 characters per post)

(Imagine sitting in a bar, filled with people you like. Friends, famous people.. whoever. Listening in, and joining in when you felt like. It's kind of like that.)

I won't go into a full description here, as I'm trying to paint some eyeballs (go to the website and read up about it instead), but I have to say I'm loving it. It's fascinating hearing in real time what the celebs that I'm following are up to (some use it ALL the time from their mobile/cell phones), and it's great being able to keep up with friends.

Anyway... I'm on there. If you fancy following me (that's what its called) then sign up, go to my profile page, and click on the follow button.

See you in tweet-land!

Darren

p.s. Once you've signed up and got used to it a bit, go look up one of the third-party applcations that you can use with Twitter. I use TweetDeck, I have this running in the background on my computer while I'm sat here through the day, and it lets me arrange people into groups, gives pop-up notices when someone I'm following makes a post, and it saves me having to go back to the website all the time. Although that does still work nicely.

Once again..... no new orders, sorry.

In September I made a post explaining that because of the amount of people waiting for me to do things for them, that I would not be taking on any new requests for the forseeable future while I made my way through all the painting.

Unfortunately the emails and requests havae started to trickle in again, so I thought I'd head them off at the pass before it became too much.

Here's an edited version of the post I made in September. Thanks.

For the last year and a half, (I've had) people emailing me asking if I can do some custom work for them. Maybe painting an action figure, or something similar. Up until now I've been happy to do this for people as it's a hobby I enjoy doing (I always enjoyed painting and drawing), and it helped pay for painting supplies for myself.

Unfortunately, as I can only work in short bursts during the day due to my epilepsy (had it since I was 12... just don't talk about it much), the list of things I said I would do for people grew and grew, until now it might take me between 6 and 12 months just to work my way through it! (it often takes me two weeks to paint a single head)

Because of this ... I've decided that from now on, until further notice, I won't be taking on any new painting jobs for people, while I slowly work my way through the ones I've already agreed to do.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's gotten in touch just to give me compliments on my painting work and custom figures. I'll still be posting pictures on here of new painted heads as I do them, so there'll still be plenty of stuff to look at.

If you were thinking of asking me to do something for you, then I'm sorry but I'll have to say no for the time being. I'll probably start up again once I've worked my way through my list, I enjoy this hobby far too much to stop it completely. Thanks!

Darren

Re-formatted, re-installed... and working again!

Well I've managed to get Windows installed back onto my system, and I've got all my backup files copied back across... and so far... no virus! Woohoo!

I'm going through the emails that have built up while I was having these problems now, and I'll have them all replied to before the end of the day. Then I'll reply to a few forum messages.... and get some painting/sculpting done!

Thanks for being patient while I had computer troubles :)

Darren

Apologies....

Hi there. I want to apologise to anybody who's been waiting for an email from me. I've been having computer problems (a recurring virus or something), and have only had intermittant access to the internet and anything to do with my customs.

I'm going to do a full reinstall of Windows tomorrow and that will sort the problem out once and for all!

I promise I'll have all emails replied to by the end of this weekend!

Sorry about this folks, stick with me though :)

Darren

Resculpted Hot Toys 1/6 Ripley Head

I've been doing this slowly over a period of many months, and it's finally finished. (apart from some small cleaning up, and a test cast/paint)

I know a lot of people have been waiting to see this... so here it is, next to the original Hot Toys head.

(One pic taken in natural light, and one with the flash, so you can see everything clearly. As usual... click for larger)

Customising the Sideshow 12" Indiana Jones figure - part 3

...continued. (as always click the pictures for larger versions)

After a test fit, I realised that because of the extra thickness of the primer, paint and varnish... the bottom of the neck was rubbing against the inside of the neck socket, causing this to happen....





...so I took the head off again, and dremelled out the inside of the socket a bit, allowing some more space for poses. (but I still have to be careful aboutt he neck hitting the sharp edges of the body, this will peel the paint off if I'm not careful)



Because of the added thickness to the waist, the belt prong/hole no longer works, so I cut off the prong, and shaved down the thickness of the buckle, and glued it firm to the belt, creating a flatter, more scale-correct look.





This was mostly it for the clothes, I snipped off some loose threads on the shirt, and after some clothes adjusting it looks quite good and in scale. (even if I do think the head is *slightly* too large for this body. (or the body is too small for the head - however I still think that the Hot Toys body is far too wide in the shoulders, this sits much more naturally... so I can overlook it easily!)

Finally (until I add some dust/sand, and glue down the fabric to the body to have it hang better... but this is just a small touch that nobody else would notice anyway) .....I realised that the jacket collars were far too long and pointy, so I cut them to the right length and shape, and (because there were now two loose edges of fabric showing) I glued them together.





I wanted to be able to 'pose' the leather collars, so I had the idea or adding wire somehow... so I took these small twisty tie things that you get with sandwich bags



I cut a piece to the right length, and glued it under the collar, using a glue that stays flexible and rubber-like when it's set.



Annoyingly this didn't work as the glue wouldnt stick to the jacket. It just kept peeling off. So i wanted to figure out a way to get wire into the collar... but didn't think i'd be able to as I'd already glued my collar closed along the edges where i'd cut and reshaped it.

Then I figured somewhere it might work, if only the wire would be able to be fed in. So I stripped a piece of the thin wire out of the plastic of the twisty tie, and woohoo... it could (just about!) be fed into the very leading edge of the collar, behind the stitching.

This lets me pose the collar in any shape I like. (a small detail I know, but for me it's the kind of thing that lets me get closer to how something looks on screen)





Then I glued the collar down to the jacket, giving the shape I wanted.



I cut the corner off part of the shirt near the collars that was too big and square (it's in fact completely the wrong shape, the same with the collar on the jacket... but doing this would give the impression that it was a bit closer to the right shape and size) and glued the edge to stop it from fraying





The shirt was glued to the shoulders, in order to stop the shirt riding up too high on the neck, which makes his shoulders look more slope-y and slim than they already are

Also this would mean I wouldn't have to faff around with the shirt so much getting it to look right.



Finally I put it all together. (I havent weathered the jacket yet... I'll get around to that when I have some time, but at least the figure is in one piece again, and I can weather and dust up the jacket while it's on him anyway)









...so there you have it. My completed (apart from when I weather and dust up the jacket) Sideshow Indiana Jones custom.

Darren

Customising the Sideshow 12" Indiana Jones figure - part 2

...continued (click images for larger version)

As the chest might be showing a little through the larger gap in the shirt the chest was painted to look a little more realistic. (better colours, shading and hair)



The trouser belt was painted to be a darker brown in colour.



I've always disliked 2 piece necks on figures, like Hot Toys uses. The break underneath the head is very distracting for me, and ruins the illusion of scale. I always to follow my goal of "the actor in 12" form", so for me these figures should have a fully sculpted neck with no lines across. (although I do concede that the 2 piece neck gives greater movement and posing options)

I first removed the head (using sharp blades, blunt spoon handles, a screwdriver, my hands... and lots of pulling, twisting, swearing and shouting). After about an hour or so, the hat was removed which would allow me to sculpt and paint the head without the hat getting in the way. I figured out what angle I wanted the neck to be at, and glued the plastic neck piece in place. I then used some Milliput to sculpt in the gaps, and to give some additional 'neck' shape to it.





Over the following couple of weeks this new head/neck was painted up from scratch. The hat was also fully repainted.











continued in part 3...

Customising the Sideshow 12" Indiana Jones figure - part 1

(as always click images for larger versions)

I've been working on this figure on and off for quite a while now, and realised that I hadn't posted any of the details or photos on here. (I've been neglecting this blog lately... I'll have to work on that!)

I started with the shirt. The top fastner on the shirt was removed, and it was cut, folded and glued so that it would be able to be posed with the shirt more open if I wanted.



Some fabric was cut out of an inside seam, and this was glued on the inside to proved cover and added strength where the original 'cut' was on the shirt. After that it was soaked in water that was coloured with black/brown paint to give a more correct colour. Then more watered down paint was painted on to age the fabric, then give sweat stains.

I wanted it subtle though. Invisible weathering is what I was after.







I took the jacket (which often looked too big/not creased and folded enough) and cut open the inside seams.



Then I glued a thin ribbon to the inside by the zipper, and made some 'belt loops' on the inside, and threaded the ribbon through these. Then when I pulled on the ribbon, the jacket pulled in like a concertina, creating folds and crumples. Also it made the jacket appear thinner. Once I had it right, I glued the end of the ribbon to the inside, holding this shape permanently.







I realised that his trousers sit low when they look the best, and he has a flat arse... so i created lower, bigger bum cheeks out of cotton wool and glued them on.





The waist/stomach looked too thin, so I took some kitchen roll, glued some cotton wool to it, and then glued this to the body, providing the correct shape I was after.





Because of the low sitting trousers, the fabric had a tendency to fold in (like Jedi Luke's used to) making it obvious this was a toy, so i added some cotton wool for a more accurate.. umm... bulge.



continued in part 2.....

Wow.... it's been a while. (Keanu and Arnie head paints)

Ok... I figured it's been way too long since I posted anything new on here. Since we got back from the Honeymoon I've been getting back into the swing of things, so here's three heads I've been working on for a while. These aren't for sale or anything, so please don't bother asking. These are already taken.

Neo




Terminator (damaged)


Terminator (regular)
(with original toy head on the right)

I'm back...

Hello again folks.

We're back from our (amazing) honeymoon now. Very tired from the time difference. Very worn out from the constant travelling. (6,000 miles driven in all!) ...but totally in awe of the amount of places that we saw. I'd been putting video blogs up on our honeymoon blog, and even though we're back home now there's still quite a few left to get up there... so keep going back to the site. (or just sign up to the email updates)

Once the video blogs are up to date, up to the end of the trip then we'll get started with the full final video... the one that includes the wedding and honeymoon edited in with music and stuff. It'll show everything... but still be short enough to be interesting! So if you're signed up for the email updates then you'll know when that gets done. (might take a while)

As for painting and stuff, once we've had a few days to wake up (!) I'll get started again, and I'll email people to let them know that I'm onto their pieces. If you can bear with me for at least this week (sleep cycles to fix, and lots of mail and phone calls to make to catch up with domestic stuff from while we were away) then I'll get started once that is done. I'll send out emails starting next week.

The honeymoon was amazing (the best thing I've ever done in fact) but I'm looking forward to working on some figures again!

It's nice to be back!

Darren