Before I go any further, I want to say a
massive thank you to everyone in the 405th who helped with this build - whether it was giving advice or giving encouragement, it really does mean a lot.
Here's a couple of photos from Brisnova with Grunther - these are a some of my favourites (excluding the shots with everyone) taken by
Barrel XXL .
Yes, that first one is me trying to Jojo pose.
So what's next for him? Gold Coast Supanova will be in April next year, and there's a number of improvements/fixes I want to make.
-Firstly, I seriously need to improve the strapping. Unfortunately I was only able to make it around the con hall twice, and do the shoot, as there was a lot of pressure on my spine. The main plan is to add some padding with foam, and I also need to fix how one of the buckles that adjusts the puppet's tilt straps to my body
-I need to add more cushioning to the back PVC. The upholstery foam that is on there kept sliding down, which meant the pipe was pressing against my spine a lot (somehow I didn't even bruise!). I also want to add a cushion above where the straps feed through the PVC for more comfort
-I'm looking to bring the feet in even closer. I actually reduced the length right before the con, cutting the wooden dowell connection and using a 3D printed socket to hold the two parts together with some Shoe Goo. If it doesn't affect the stance of the puppet too much, I'll bring my feet right up to his.
-Travelling with the body armour was quite a pain. I'm going to separate the tank section from the rest of the armour, and attach it likely with a buttload of magnets. This will also make attaching the armour to the spine much easier (I already have a flap on the tank that opens up)
-I'd like to change the connection between limbs. Instead of using keychains, I hope to use elastic, like the Olaf puppet I have previously shared. This will reduce the distance between the limbs when they're not stretched, and reduce the effect of any "sagging" of the thighs/biceps due to gravity. I'll still need to make them detachable too
-I want to repaint the orange on the body armour. You may or may not be able to notice how the paint on the hips or biceps are a lot more reflective. This is due to how the Leak Seal came out smoothly on those parts, but not the body. My plan is to smoothen out the orange parts on the body with Flex Bond, and then go over it again with the orange paint (Plaid FX Orange Mutant Shift), which out of fear of not having enough, I have three times the amount I originally needed. Along with this, I want to try my hand at adding some highlights, to give more contrast to the shadows.
Let's take a break! Here's a photo by
bishopmilitaria after the meetup of the first time Grunther has seen the top of people's heads.
-The hip armour is attached to the puppet simply with a large safety pin. The original plan was to use buckles to attach it (same with the chest armour), so I will install buckles on the inner stuffing pouch to clip onto those parts of armour.
-The toes held up surprisingly well, and really only got scuffed up when walking on the concrete on the roof. I can salvage the toes easily enough, but I also want to find a durable, clear protective layer of some sorts to stop the scuffing.
-I need to make the neck seal wider and longer. I didn't notice until later on that sometimes it didn't cover and hide the spine to the head.
-I want to paint the PVC pipe into my back black, or at least charcoal grey. This was on my list of things to do, but didn't have time to sand the PVC, paint it and leave it enough time to dry.
-Gotta add some storage inside the tank. I carried a backpack around with me which, because I didn't plan ahead, covered the cushion cover on the back with my logo on it.
-Some stitches need to be fixed up (to hide the stitches) or extended
-Of course, if I get time I wanna get the hands working again! I had to ditch them for a number of reasons, but I want to simplify the system to reduce weight and force required to close the fists
I'm not too sure if I will make posts of all the WIP shots and stories I have, but if anyone has questions on any of the processes, please let me know!
