Monday 31 March 2014

Tutorial (sort of ;p) custom G3 Rising Titan Form


I have always love G3 G4 designs and have already made 4 variant customs out of them so far (with another 3 more planned but stalled for the moment due to lack of materials). The latest I have done is the G3 Rising Titan form.The theory for this G3 form is that Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department Unidentified Lifeform (M・P・D/S・A・U・L) has secretly upgraded their G3 designs based on Kuuga's Rising Titan Form as a contingency plan. And bla bla bla you can continue to create the back story for this guy however you like bahahaha.

Ok the BIGGEST problem for this particular tutorial is that I was so excited in making this custom back then, I hardly took any photos at all D:

So yea you will just have to try to understand my crappy descriptions *yeek*

For this tutorial (and those that will follow maybe), I am also going to try another form of describing the steps required with an aim to make the tutorial shorter yet comprehensive. So any comments on this method would be most welcomed especially suggestions on improvements.

Also I will be dispensing with descriptions on how to shape putty as I have described that quite a number of time in all my previous tutorials.Thanks! On with the show then.

Workstreams:
1) Long sword
2) Head Sculpt
3) Chest Sculpt
4) Scabbard
5) Belt

Materials required:
1) Epoxy putty (Bondite from hardware stores)
2) Water and a cup to hold water
3) Blade from stationery shops
4) Line engraver from Tamiya
5) Sand paper
6) Metal wires
7) Clear putty (devon 5 min epoxy putty syringe type)
8) Oyumaru resin
9) Some templates such as gundam exia's sword (this is not always necessary. You can always sculpt your own sword hilt)
10) Spare G4 figure plus 2 G3 chainsaw weapon (again one will do but makes things a lot easier and faster if you have 2) I used G4 shoulder pads and head, G3-X chest armor.
11) Tamiya black liner
12) Mr Color paint: Brass, metallic blue, matt black, and metallic silver
13) Some brush and thinner
14) Handdrill

Long sword sculpt
a) Use a Gundam Exia 1/144 sword handle as a template and replicated it with oyumaru resin and putty for use to make the long sword handle. Extend the handle with metal wire as skeleton and epoxy putty to turn it into a 2 handed sword.  Also use metal wires as its skeleton so that the hilt wont break easily from usage or rough handling

b) Cut off the chainsaw blades from G3 weapon and glue 2 of these chainsaws together with a metal wire connection between the chainsaw blades. Use the handdrill to drill holes in the surface where the blades will be connected to allow metal wires to slot in and act as support.

c) Replicate the elongated chainsaw blades with oyumaru resin and putty to double the length.

d) Connect the putty chainsaw blade with the original blades with skeleton wire frame and super glue.

e) Use putty to smoothen the connection so that the crack between the connection is hidden

f) Connect the putty chainsaw blade to the hilt with metal wire frame again.

g) Use a line engraver blade to create designs on the hilt.

h) Use a handdrill to drill some bolt holes on it

i) Sculpt a half globe using putty and use it as a template to replicate a clear globe using oyumaru resin and clear putty. Glue the globes near the hilt.

j) Sand the sword

k) Color the blade with metallic silver. Color the hilt with brass. Color the clear globes clear red and clear blue on either side.

l) Do linings using pen liner on the chainblade.


 





Head sculpt

1) Cut the horns off a G4 head. Position and glue them a little backwards on his head (see photo below).

2) Cut off the ear muffs from the head

3) Resculpt the facemask and the crown in his head using putty

4)  Add details using line engraver

5) Add a button on the middle of his forehead by putting a tiny ball of putty on the surface of his forehead and then push the end of a twisty (from SIC boxes) on it to form a round button.

6) Cover the ugly cut where the ear muffs used to be with smooth putty

7) Sand the head

8) Color the horn metallic brass, the head matt black and the face mask metallic silver



3) & 4) Chest and shoulder pad sculpts

a) For the chest I cut off one of the lower portion of his 6-pack G3-X looking armor to show the lower abdomen more.

b) I cut off the star symbol from his right chest to be used later on once i added layers of putty on his chest

c) Add layer of putty on his chest and sculpt it with line engraver and blade.

d) Re-glue the star symbol back on his chest.

e) Note that I used different type of putty for the chest piece so I can see properly to engrave those intricate lines on his chest.

f) Sand everything

g) For the shoulder pads, add a layer of putty on the front and back sides of the original shoulder pads and let them dry. This act as the foundation for th next few layers.




h) Start adding details to the shoulder pads

i) Use a plastic sheet and glue it on the top part of the shoulder pads as foundation. Add more details on the shoulder pads




j) Engave lines on the shoulder pads with line engraver

k) Add some putty on the inner sides of the shoulder pads and then let it dry. Once its dried, add lines to the inner sides as details (see photo below)


5) Scabbard

a) Cut 4 pieces of plastic sheets as the foundation for the scabbard

b) Cut small pieces of resin/rubble and glue them to the bottomw piece of the plastic sheets as support stubs to glue the side plastic sheets on the bottom piece.

c) For the top piece of plastic sheet, use metal wires as support and glue the metal wire to the top plastic sheets then glue the metal wires on the side plastic sheets, see photo below.

d) As design, I replicated parts of a rotary gun using oyumaru resin and putty and glue it on the scabbard

e) I covered the gaps with putty

f) Sand everything

g) Spray a coat of primer on chest and scabbard

h) Cut off G3's backpack and create some putty designs on the surface and glue the scabbard on his back

i) Repaint the figure with the color scheme you find in hte photos below.

j) Spray the entire figure with a topcoat. I made a terrible mistake here. I should have sprayed with gloss top coat but i sprayed it with matt coat instead which took the shine out of the metallic color scheme :(

6) Belt

Nothing much here except i glue a clear vinyl button on it (something that came with my previous purchase as a gift from taobao, not even sure what it was for but it sure is suitable here).

Repaint the button with clear yellow to form the orb in the middle of his belt.




Here is the finished product photo gallery :)

I am not sure if people will like this new way of describing the process but its a lot simpler and people dont get tired reading long winded paragraphs ;p It did get impersonal though so Im not sure. Any comments on this are most welcomed!





Darrnn after posting this photo below i realised i totally forgot to do lining on the top of his right shoulder pad ;p

Ah i forgot to mention that I added a slot at the side of the scabbard to hold the SAUL shield. The slot is actually part of the nozzle of a used tube of super glue that i cut off.






Please tell me what you think of this custom, tutorial or what nots by leaving a comment on this post. If you have any questions on sculpting etc, do let me know as well ;) See ya!

Monday 24 March 2014

Tutorial - fast way to make SIC Banki's double guitar blade weapon :)

All right this is a very short tutorial just in case you are interested to make your own double guitar blade weapon similar to Banki's. Its not EXACTLY the same mind you but its close plus its real easy :)

First you need 2 zanki's guitars and a random chinese weapon you can buy from novelty, game or toy shops. I bought this blade below for SGD2 which is a fine deal for a full diecast blade.



Next remove one of the wings from each guitars like the photo below. You can just slot a blade below the surface of the guitar and cut away the joint connecting the wings to the guitar body. The joint itself is made of resin and hence easy to cut off. Slot the blade on the guitar like the photo below.

Recolor the whole thing into a metallic yellow color scheme like the photo below. Bear in mind not to glue or putty in the guitars and blade yet at this point.

Now to create some simple details on the guitars such as adding the putty details below:


These details are formed using tamiya quick putty which is softer when hardened compared to hardware putty. You can easily cut and form designs on them with your blade such as the cog wheel below.

Cut the aforementioned cog wheel into the design below on your guitar and blade:



Before you glue it in, paint it with super metallic silver paint. I use Mr Color paint for this.


 
Now use putty to extend the curve of the side of guitar like so:
This is actually a hard step to do since the guitar wings are made with metal and hence you can't drill it to add in wire support for the extension curve. Sand the wing to allow some very slight friction. Patiently form the putty around the 'tail' of the guitar wing to let the putty support itself on the metal wing.

Drill a couple of holes on the extended curve as details. On hindsight I should have remove the metal wing entirely and remade a full putty wing with an extended curve with wire support underneath the putty. This way you can properly form the putty extended curve without fear that it will break off from the metal wing.

Use putty to connect the 2 guitars and the blade together. Once the putty dried, use super glue to further compound the connection. Paint the edges of the guitar with metallic silver to cover the glue and putty.

I also added a small puttysculpt and glue it in between the guita to hide the large gap between the guitars. See photo below:








 
And there you have it, your own Banki double guitar blade weapon :D





There are many alternatives and combination to make a guitar weapon. You can use different types of swords to connect with the guitar.

Or you can simply go crazy with the guitar weapon thingie like so:
 

 
And thats it for now ;) see you guys next time. As usual, appreciate any comments on my tutorials and if you have any questions feel free to ask ;)

Sunday 16 March 2014

Tutorial on Custom Ohyja Survive Part 3 final

Finally the last instalment for the custom Ohyja Survive is here!

By now, you would have realied that we are actually almost done, just a little bit more touch up and that is the shoulder thorns/claws and his lengthened staff.

(5) Shoulder thorns

Before adding on putty, use metal wires (hard ones) and pierce them into Ohyja's soft chest armor as shown in the photo below. This act as skeletal frames for the putty to latch on later and it makes the sculpt harder to break later.


Now, use putty to form those thorn/claw-like sholder pads. See photo below.

To form the sharp end of those thorns/claws I have to go through 3 putty layers. The first layer just to form the rough shape of the thorns and the sculpts nearer to the shoulders. Once that layer is dried, I add another thin layer of putty to form the claws themselves. I form the claws as exact as possible and let it dry. After the putty dried, I used my blade and sand paper to make them more sharper and distinch. The 3rd layer is to form those details you see right before the claws nearer to the shoulder pads. The lined sculpts are formed by using pushing my blade on the semi-hardened putty to form lines. After the last putty layer dried, I sand the whole thing carefully.

The shoulder pads are then painted with super metallic silver and lined with a black marker.


(6) The staff

I felt Ohyja's original staff was too short and since I got 2 spare ones I thought it will be great if he has a longer staff. I also wanted the staff to be cooler so I added that ring-like sculpt around it's snake staffhead.

for the staff head, I used metal wires to form the ring-like structure. I used my handdrill and drilled tiny holes into the staff head and glue in the 4 metal wires around the staff head. I then shape a moon-like shape using another piece of metal wire and glue it onto the 4 metal wires embedded on the staff head. See photo below for what I meant. All these metal wires have been previously sanded before i glued them in. I then add a very thin layer of putty on the wires and form lines on them using my blade (see the photo after the one below). I let everything dry and then added some super glue between the metal wires and the thin putty layer to add more support so that the putty layer wont flake off the metal wires.


In order to lengthen the staff, I used the upper portion of the 1st staff and the lower portion of the 2nd staff and connect them together. How I did this is to use my handdrill and drill holes onto the surfaces where i cut off the staffs' parts. I then inserted a metal wire in those drilled holes and connect them together. I glued the parts together. To hide the connection, I used putty to form some shapes around the connection and let it dry.

Once everything dried, I added more details on the snake staff head by adding a horn and tail sculpt on the staff head. See photo below.
 
We are truly and ifnally done! The color schemes as usual are super metallic silver, brass and super metallic purple. Always paint a primer coat of metallic silver first before adding on the super metallic purple layer. Allow each l;ayer of paint to dry completely before adding the next.
 
I have also added an alternate shape for Ohjya Survive, I call it the Python Form which you can see below at his gallery. Enjoy ;)
 
I didnt mention this since its a very minor part of the custom but I repainted Ohyja's sword into purple and brass as you can see from the photo below to better suit his Survive form color scheme. Also notice from the photo below how the changes made on his staff head did not hinder the card slot gimmick behind the staff's snake head :)
 
Note the photo below on those plugs on his back that connects to the snake appendages. I used putty to shore up the cracks between the plugs and the armor. I have also extended the 'tail' end of the armor into a triangle shaped tail with putty to make it more edgy and less or a normal Ohyja form.
 
I have tried to reduce the weight of this custom by using various paddings such as rubber and soft plastics beneath putty sculpts. However, the figure will still be quite top heavy especially with the snake appendages and the putty sculpt at the front of his chest. It is very advisable if you ever make one to display him with a stand to hold him up otherwise it will strain the knee and feet joints over time.
 


I would have liked to position the heads on the snake appendages so that they are horizontally correct but it was hard as although the snake appendages are poseable it sometimes refuse to be positioned in the way i wanted it ;p


I must admit, adding the snake appendages on his back makes the back a mess. It was a good thing I did not attempt to stuff 6 snakes on his back instead ;p It could be done actually but the weight will be incredible and the 5th and 6th snake will be very unsupported and probably lolled about unless I remake his entire chest armor from putty or some other resin to create better support.

Notice that I used a base figure with a broken left elbow. I have replaced the broken elbow with a 8mm revoltech joint. You can check out my other tutorials on joint repairs for Ryuki series in my earlier posts.


This is the one biggest mistake I made while making this customs: Somehow made his shield too small ;p


And here is his Pyhton form, easily formed by using Mcfarlane's Medusa's lower body. I didnt made another adjustments to it but it is possible to reconnect those snakes appendages onto the Mcfarlane Medusa's lower body again by drilling holes onto the end of Mcfarlane's Medusa's snake tail and reconnect them there. I should have done it, would have made him a lot more interesting hehehe. If i did it I'll update this post with new photos of it ;)

One day when I am free and i somehow managed to get Ryuki, Ryuga and Knight sets together with these I am gonna take photos of all 6 Survive forms :D


With another year of doing customs after I made this Ohyja Survive custom, I can see where I can improve this figure with my existing skills but i doubt I will do it unless I have plenty of free time... which I never do ;p So thats it for this tutorial, hope you guys like it and as usual appreciate any comments from you. Or any questiosn you wanted to ask about the custom, I will be happy to address them. Cheerios!!






Some more photos on the work in progress stage: