The Energon Pub

by **Beachbot420** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:07 pm

OK, so I started working on the skeletal frame for a custom IDW LSotW Overlord. So far I'm using a G Gundam 1/100 skeleton and other pieces for his skeleton. Gonna go pickup a model plane and tank. I'm thinking about a Sukhoi S-47 Berkut for the plane and a Russian T-62 for the tank. But I am running into a problem...I don't have a head, and I've never made one before

So any tips ya'll can give me for sculpting/building an Overlord head would be appreciated. Note: I would like to LED this head, I don't know if that makes a huge difference in scratch building techniques or not. Also, any suggestions/comments on plane/tank models would be appreciated as well.

by **Chupacabra Convoy** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 12:27 pm

Well, I am scratch building an Ironfist head right now. I use some plastic sheets and Apoxie sculpt. The most important thing after those materials is the right tools. I'm using a combination of wax carving tools, a knife set that has a lot of carving blades, and most importantly, a good filing set. The wax carving set should have several bladed edges as well as several flat dull blades. The filing set needs to have the basic square shape and the triangle shape for the length of the file. Forget the circle shaped one. As for the knife set, try to get one that is used for wood carving. And yes, this entire list should be aimed for fine detailed work, so everything has to be on the small side.

I would read up on face proportions just to limit the amount of guess work needed, and study the human face from the front and side view. I mean seriously study the hell out of them. Nick Roche made his TF face very anthropomorphic. Also, have a ton of references, and if it all possible, try to stick to one artist's interpretation of the figure/face.

I used the plastic sheet as a base to put my Apoxie sculpt on. Get your general dimensions of the head first, and yes bear in mind how you are going to store the head when not in robot mode. I cut the sheet into what I considered to be general shape of the head as if it was in the middle of head, from the side view. Think of it the same way you would chop a carrot or a cucumber.

I started with the actual face first. The helmet parts come later. Roll up some apoxie and create the general or basic shape of the head first. It's okay to use a lot of apoxie, as you'll want to carve/file away the excess apoxie to get the face out. Apoxie usually isn't workable for fine detail until at least 12 hours after being mixed. However, you can save yourself some work by gently molding the apoxie into the general features of the face while the apoxie hardens. Use the dull end of the wax carving tools or blades. Or any consistently flat surface you can find. Bear in mind you just want the basic shape of the features, nothing else. So the nose should just be a smaller rectangle on top of the large rectangle that is the face. From the side, you can make a gentle slop on the nose for later. Make a light indentation for the general area surrounding the eyes. You'll carve/file the eyes out later. I haven't worked on a mouth yet, so this is all a guess: Just make a mound for lips/mouth area. Make sure it is not just for the lips, but for the area between the upper lips and the nose, and the area between the lower lips and chin. I think Overlord had something of a soul patch, so you may want to add that in now, but if you feel it is too much, you can add it later. Do not try to mold the shapes as closely to the final product as possible. If you push on one side, your pushing the over the entire apoxie. You want it to be a little bit larger than the final shape. Getting down to proper proportions is what the tools are for.

by **Frodoro** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:09 am

I definitely agree with Chupacabra Convoy. Those are the typical things that are needed. The important in working with this is you have also your prototype or blueprint.