Animatronic Elite

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

Just a few pics of a pair of maquettes that I sculpted to rough out the form. One of them has a bit of battle damage from moving it around a bit.

 

[demo084]

nice work. So any takers on hiring you to do props for another Halo movie?

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

So I have some good news and I have some bad news. The bad news is that I've realized that the plaster mold I made is pretty much garbage and it's not worth the trouble continuing with it. The good news however, is that because I cored my mold, I don't have to resculpt that much. I should be done resculpting by the end of the week. I'm going to mold it with fiberglass this time around. It will be much more light weight, and will have a bit of flex, making demolding much easier. On my next update, I'll talk a little bit about coring, because it's not a commonly used technique on the 405th and I'm sure there are a lot of folks that have no idea what I'm going on about. lol.

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

And we're back on track... for the most part. Got my fiberglass mold done. It's a 3 piece, just like the first one. I've definitely got some cleaning up to do, but it's good to be back on schedule. I also got a chance to clean up my core. Here are some pics.

If any of you are wondering what the core is for, I can explain it a bit. Basically when making something that needs to be hollow whether it be to fit someone's head or allow for room to house electronics (in my case, it's both), you need a way of making the thickness of the skin controllable. We achieve this by making a core. You make it by taking the mold of your sculpt, and laying in a layer of clay. Any type of clay will do, but I like using water clay because it's cheap and disposable. The thickness will depend on how thick you want your skin to be. I will be making a latex foam skin, and I want it to be sturdy and less likely to tear. By laying the clay down, you're essentially sculpting the space between your mold and your core. After all the clay is laid, you put the mold together and start building up plaster on the inside surface. After it's thick enough, you can demold and you have your core. After you remove all the clay, there is now a determinate amount of space that the casting of your skin will take up.

There's a lot more to come in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. If you guys have any questions drop me a line.

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

Ok, so I'm molding the core at the moment. Once the core is molded, I will cast an underskull in fiberglass. The underskull is exactly what it sounds like. It will give the latex foam skin its shape and it will house all the electronics. I'm molding the core out of latex and plaster bandages. It's a quick and dirty way of molding, but because we don't need any detail in the core, it will work fine. I brushed on 3 layers of latex, then put two layers of latex soaked burlap strips for some strength, then another layer of latex mixed with cabosil to give it a smooth paste-like consistency. After all the latex was dry, I put on 2 layers of plaster bandages so the latex will hold its shape after demolding. Here are some pics.

This is the latex side, you can see the layer of burlap underneath the final coat.

This is one layer of plaster bandages on one side.

I folded over the edge to give it some strength and also to give it registration for the other side.

Let me know if you've got any questions or comments, thanks.

 

[Zercon]

It is interesting to see the process of hard molds for use in softer castings. I myself always end up going the other way with a rubber mold and a hard rotocast casting. Either way this is brilliant and your sculpting work is very clean. I look forward to see how this comes out. I know you said that you are just working on the head for now, but it's hard to not daydream for the future ;D are you thinking of using stilts at all to give that hefty height to this?

 

[joshtried]

sculpting work always seems so awesome.i really need more time for this hobby!

 

[Thugzz Deluxxxe]

It is interesting to see the process of hard molds for use in softer castings. I myself always end up going the other way with a rubber mold and a hard rotocast casting. Either way this is brilliant and your sculpting work is very clean. I look forward to see how this comes out. I know you said that you are just working on the head for now, but it's hard to not daydream for the future ;D are you thinking of using stilts at all to give that hefty height to this?

I am. As a matter of fact, my thesis project (graduate project) for school is to make a pair of low profile digitigrade stilts. I haven't started construction yet, but I will be in the coming months. I also want to make a pair of hand mechanisms for it too. I figure I can sculpt the hands and hide the mechanics in the Elite's gauntlets.

@joshtried: Sculpting is probably one of the most therapeutic hobbies there is. I try and sculpt all the time, whether its for a project or for fun.