TSCC: Custom Action Figures PART 5

[roxybisquaint]

<< As you can see, I couldn't be happier about how well Sarah's hair turned out. Seriously. I'm proud. And yeah, I know I was all about doing Cameron's hair, but when it came time to start sculpting, I choked. Since Sarah's hair is a big ol' mess, I figured it'd be best to start with hers in case things didn't go so well. But they did. It wasn't perfect by any means, but I did some obsessive Dremeling and damn, I think it's good. Hope you guys think so too. Keep in mind I had to make the bottom flare out a bit to I could get the head into the body and also allow it some movement. And of course there's really no consistent style to Sarah's hair to go by. It's different in every scene of every episode!

You may recall (I think I mentioned before) that this head had kind of a shelf on the forehead above the eyebrows to help hold the original hair piece. If I didn't get rid of that, Sarah would have looked like Frankenstein's monster. I tried sanding it down, but it was too close to the eyebrows to make any headway. I filled it with Sculpey instead and that worked quite well. So I had a nice smooth head to start with and didn't need to worry about covering any more of her forehead than what I wanted. Next, I went to town on the hair, piecing it in in sections and then boiled it to harden the Sculpey.



I know, boiling it seems weird, but it's a common method for doing this. Technically, you're supposed to bake it in an oven, but when you have it molded onto a plastic action figure, you'd melt the figure. Boiling is an alternate method. You can still melt a figure, though - I did that with Cameron tonight. Yeah, melted her torso, which is why she's not ready. There's work to be done and I'll explain that story when she is ready. In the meantime, I'm sleeping with a loaded Glock under my pillow. I think the damage has messed up her programming and she's reverted back to "KILL ROXY" mode. Maybe action figure John can fix her for me ;)

Anyway... Once Sarah's hair was fully hardened and dry, I did a lot of work Dremeling and sanding as usual (I'm never satisfied). I thought the hair was kind of big, so I took the overall size of it down and then had to add a lot of detail back in that I lost when sanding. But as I said in the beginning, I'm very pleased with the end result.



Aside from hair work, I also had a few other sculpting tidbits to deal with. Previously, I had Sarah in pushed up sleeves to be her brown leather jacket (from Queen's Gambit), but now it's going to be a black leather jacket. And that meant new arms with full sleeves. One of the arms I needed had a broken thumb, though (if you know Joes, you know that's a common problem). Anyway, I fixed it with some Sculpey. Sarah also had a knife on her boot that I hadn't yet gotten rid of yet. I wanted these boots because they have a knife holster on them like her mission boots, but since she doesn't actually carry a knife in it, the visible handle had to go. After grinding it off, I reshaped a small section of the leg.



And there you have it. Sarah can now join Ellison, John, Derek and Cromartie in the ready-to-paint pile. Charley is almost ready. I just need to sculpt a tiny EMT badge onto his shirt. Cameron's hair is ready for final shaping, but I have to replace her torso now and that means more work. The backup torso for her has a grenade on it that I'll need to grind off. Grrrrrr. Neverending process, it seems. I just want to freaking paint!!!! Soon.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10: The Unveiling

Comments

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

That's looking great, Roxy.

That's the one part of modelling I've always sucked at -- sculpting. Just don't have the knack at all. The best I've ever done with putty is fill in gaps and mold lines or holes.

Oh well.

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Thanks. With all the action figure repairs I did over the years, I never tried any thumb repairs, much less any sculpting. So this was new territory for me. That's why I was so excited it turned out well. Cameron's hair would have been good too, but it's she's trash now. I'll be more or less starting over with her. And since I have no work today, I'm forging ahead!

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

Forward harch!

[nanewt011.livejournal.com]

Gosh Roxy, that os so cool! I think Sarah's hair looks wonderful, these are really starting to look good. I am especially amused at the thought of Cameron "going bad" reminds me of the TV movie "Trilogy of Terror" where the little Devil Doll threatened poor Karen Black. Best watch yourself as you're grinding off that grenade from Cameron's torso, she might take offence!

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

I'll explain the whole Cameron ordeal in more detail when I have her ready, but let's just say the situation got even worse after I posted about Sarah's hair. Good thing I had that Glock. Cameron is not happy. I did, however, already get that grenade off her new torso. Whew!

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

In my completely bored at work and wanting to see Batman so bad I'm chewing nails state, I've been meandering about the net (work's too busy to get into a good rhythm to write, so I'm goofing off every ten minutes) and I realize belatedly you posted a RL pic of yourself holding the model.

And what do I think of about this?

It's a good idea you're using the hand with the wedding band on it to hold up the Sarah figure for all the creepy stalker types out on the web to see the ring.

Why do I think of these things? I dunno.

I'm just here to make you all the more apprehensive about ever loading IE/Firefox again. ;)

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

Paranoid much? Heh.

<< Me again. I've had a couple of icons of me in play for a while now. And I've got a photo in my TWoP profile.

Maybe this will ease your mind:

1) I mention my husband enough that I think everyone knows I'm married whether or not you can see my wedding ring in a photo.

2) Roxy Bisquaint is a fictitious name.

3) I'm not a hot chick. Cute maybe, but not a stalker-worthy hotty.

4) I'm old enough to be Metroid's mother.

5) I use Safari. ;)

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

6. You own enough firearms that Sarah Connor is considering asking for information on your supplier. ;)

(and I think *I* am old enough to be Metroid's mother, aside from, well, having man bits -- ok, well, maybe not but he's young.)

And Roxy's not your name? *GASP* My illusions are shattered. You are, hereafter, Jane Doe to me!

J/K

I was in a messed up mood this morning. I blame a) not enough coffee, b) too little sleep (only about 4 hours last night - guh, I look like one of my zombies right now... actually, they just told me I look like crap), c) BATMAN, d) all sorts of weird things in my head from bizarre kicks in fanfic I've been working on, e) BATMAN, f) I like lists, g) I'm not really sure what I'm going on about anymore, h) BATMAN, i) What was I saying?, j) and squirrels.

In summary... what?

[roxybisquaint.livejournal.com]

6. You own enough firearms that Sarah Connor is considering asking for information on your supplier. ;)

True :)

I'm looking forward to Batman, but I'm not quite as excited as you are about it. Mostly it's because the Joker seems so creepy *bites nails*

[cisaac.livejournal.com]

Wait, wait. We just got finished discussing that the national guard stores their weapons at your place, and you're worried about creepy clowns?

In all seriousness, even the bad reviews have said that Heath Ledger's performance as Joker is something special and should not be missed. And yeah, it makes it kinda creepy, but I have to see something like that. What is probably the greatest performance of his career is also his last - truly tragic.

And I grew up as a wee lad on Batman. I pulled Detective Comics labels out of nickel bins at flea markets and read them over and over and over again. Superman was always a chump because he cheated. Batman was just better than the badguys and kicked butt. So yeah... I'm revved up. Like right before the 1989 Batman (first time to be taken seriously in a movie) revved up and I've been bouncing in my chair all day and chomping at the bit to LEAVE!

And the first Batman I ever bought? He's fighting the Joker.