Thorssoli's MkVI Costume Buildup
- Thread starter thorssoli
- Start date
- Status
Sepheus 13
Active Member
looking epic.
Quite a while since I've updated this project, so I guess it's due.
The other day I decided to call the chest armor good enough and spray it with a coat of my standard prototype shade of light red:
I also did the same thing with the back armor:
As is always the case, the pieces that looked just fine in flat black turned out to look absolutely terrible with a glossy finish. So today I ended up doing some fine sanding on both parts. I also had a friend of mine making the insert for the lower back, so at the end of the day it looked about like so:
The only other thing I got done was a lot of sanding and a little bondo work on the shoulder boxes:
Monday's goal was to have the four main parts completely ready to mold. Unfortunately, my car broke down and cost me half a day worth of workshop time. I still have more work to do on the shoulder boxes, but the main chest and back parts are ready to go. Now I've got a bit more sanding to do on the shoulder boxes. Then I'll build the mold walls and finalize the smaller parts on Tuesday, mothermold and small part molds on Wednesday, jacket mold for the big parts Thursday, and hopefully have my first pulls coming out of the mold on Friday.
Stay tuned...
The other day I decided to call the chest armor good enough and spray it with a coat of my standard prototype shade of light red:
I also did the same thing with the back armor:
As is always the case, the pieces that looked just fine in flat black turned out to look absolutely terrible with a glossy finish. So today I ended up doing some fine sanding on both parts. I also had a friend of mine making the insert for the lower back, so at the end of the day it looked about like so:
The only other thing I got done was a lot of sanding and a little bondo work on the shoulder boxes:
Monday's goal was to have the four main parts completely ready to mold. Unfortunately, my car broke down and cost me half a day worth of workshop time. I still have more work to do on the shoulder boxes, but the main chest and back parts are ready to go. Now I've got a bit more sanding to do on the shoulder boxes. Then I'll build the mold walls and finalize the smaller parts on Tuesday, mothermold and small part molds on Wednesday, jacket mold for the big parts Thursday, and hopefully have my first pulls coming out of the mold on Friday.
Stay tuned...
Torso Moldmaking Step One, prepare the workspace:
Step Two, build the mold walls and sprues for the chest armor:
Step Three, run out of time before finishing the same work on the back armor:
Tomorrow I'll be finishing the mold wall on the back armor, then layering clay over the whole thing before building the mother mold.
Stay tuned...
Step Two, build the mold walls and sprues for the chest armor:
Step Three, run out of time before finishing the same work on the back armor:
Tomorrow I'll be finishing the mold wall on the back armor, then layering clay over the whole thing before building the mother mold.
Stay tuned...
JediStumpy
Well-Known Member
Do a smell a Mini-TUT coming to life...Please say YES!!!
Sanding is always a time killer. But it's in the those details you have pull off!
Keep the good work!
Sanding is always a time killer. But it's in the those details you have pull off!
Keep the good work!
Apologies for not updating sooner, but the weather's been sketchy, so my pirate internet connection on the boat wasn't working and I haven't had time to stop and log on anywhere else. Enough of that, here's what I've been up to for a couple of days...
First, I finished building up the base around the back and chest pieces:
That done, I built a clay wall to keep the silicone from running all over the place once I started brushing it on:
I did this with both pieces:
The little pink and purple pegs spaced around the edge are there to form holes in the rubber. Later, when I build the mother mold, they will be removed to form keys in the holes. This will all become clear as progress continues.
With both parts ready to mold, it was time to mix some rubber:
This is a pretty physical task with a full bucket of silicone, but it gets easier every time.
The first batches were mixed with a purple catalyst that makes the uncured rubber pourable. Once it's mixed, I brush it on to pick up all of the surface details:
Here's what the back looked like with about four pounds of rubber laid on:
All of the pink parts are where the high points of the prototype are almost poking through. These parts are paper thin at this point and will need reinforcement if I want the mold to survive the removal of the prototype. More on that in a moment.
Here I am brushing rubber into some of the chest details:
Once the plurple silicone had cured, the next step was to mix a few batches with the thixotropic (pink) catalyst. This catalyst makes a much more viscous uncured rubber that will cling to a vertical surface while it cures. This way I can build up a lot of thickness without having the rubber dribble away from the high points:
After a solid day of frosting my armor with noxious chemicals, it was time to knock off before I started getting goofy:
The problem with the thixotropic catalyst is that you end up with little ridges and spikes all over the outside of the mold. When you build the mothermold these are likely to lock the rubber into the rigid mothermold in ways you don't want, so the next step is another coat of pourable plurple rubber. I did this this morning:
The back has lots of unique shapes that will keep the rubber jacket mold properly aligned in the mother mold. There aren't as many to the chest, so in order to keep the rubber jacket mold from moving around in the mother mold I added these little bumps to the chest:
Right now I'm on a lunch break while I wait for the rubber to cure. Hopefully I'll have the mothermold done today sometime.
Meanwhile, I've finalized the shoulder boxes:
Here's a shot of the rear details (because I'm proud of them):
And I've also finished the lower back detail insert:
I've used up about half of the rubber I've budgeted for this mold, so I think I'm just about right on track. Stay tuned...
First, I finished building up the base around the back and chest pieces:
That done, I built a clay wall to keep the silicone from running all over the place once I started brushing it on:
I did this with both pieces:
The little pink and purple pegs spaced around the edge are there to form holes in the rubber. Later, when I build the mother mold, they will be removed to form keys in the holes. This will all become clear as progress continues.
With both parts ready to mold, it was time to mix some rubber:
This is a pretty physical task with a full bucket of silicone, but it gets easier every time.
The first batches were mixed with a purple catalyst that makes the uncured rubber pourable. Once it's mixed, I brush it on to pick up all of the surface details:
Here's what the back looked like with about four pounds of rubber laid on:
All of the pink parts are where the high points of the prototype are almost poking through. These parts are paper thin at this point and will need reinforcement if I want the mold to survive the removal of the prototype. More on that in a moment.
Here I am brushing rubber into some of the chest details:
Once the plurple silicone had cured, the next step was to mix a few batches with the thixotropic (pink) catalyst. This catalyst makes a much more viscous uncured rubber that will cling to a vertical surface while it cures. This way I can build up a lot of thickness without having the rubber dribble away from the high points:
After a solid day of frosting my armor with noxious chemicals, it was time to knock off before I started getting goofy:
The problem with the thixotropic catalyst is that you end up with little ridges and spikes all over the outside of the mold. When you build the mothermold these are likely to lock the rubber into the rigid mothermold in ways you don't want, so the next step is another coat of pourable plurple rubber. I did this this morning:
The back has lots of unique shapes that will keep the rubber jacket mold properly aligned in the mother mold. There aren't as many to the chest, so in order to keep the rubber jacket mold from moving around in the mother mold I added these little bumps to the chest:
Right now I'm on a lunch break while I wait for the rubber to cure. Hopefully I'll have the mothermold done today sometime.
Meanwhile, I've finalized the shoulder boxes:
Here's a shot of the rear details (because I'm proud of them):
And I've also finished the lower back detail insert:
I've used up about half of the rubber I've budgeted for this mold, so I think I'm just about right on track. Stay tuned...
L05T V1K1N6
Active Member
This is amazing! How the hell did I miss this?!
Makes me wanna give making armor another go
Makes me wanna give making armor another go
A Guardian
Well-Known Member
Dude, your beast.
I would say i love you, but im one of the people that would snigger at it.
I would say i love you, but im one of the people that would snigger at it.
Brandon McClain
Well-Known Member
Loving it Thorssoli!!!! Can hardly wait to see what you accomplish next! Every single update of yours is a treat!!!!! Plus, it helps to know that I will be able to get my hands on one of your masterpieces!!!
Kaya Tetsu
Well-Known Member
Hey Thorssoli, I finally got all caught up with your build. Looking great, as always. Can't wait to see more. When you're finished it will be amazing.
Gustav 092
Jr Member
when i grow up... i wanna be like you... amazing wob
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