The Energon Pub

just a small update here. i still can't put any more $$ into this now, but i found a really cheap plastic modelling clay. Its called proto. I must say it is not so good. It starts out as hard as a rock and ends up like bublegum (minus the stickyness). It gets a good texture after kneeding but tears if left for a few minutes. it never dries but goes hard if you cook it. When it gets cooked it becomes hard but not strong. all in all I would say it sucks, but it was only $2.50 so it was ok for that price.

I gave the head a try and you can judge the sucksess. I will have another attempt with clay(dirt clay) and if that don't work another attempt with themeo (its about $8 for the proto size pack here).



I will make the face plate detachable, but I had no aluminium to do it with. The proto was not capeable of forming a sheet thin enough for the face plate.

The face looks really good, ORD. Pity the clay's not much cop; although to be honest you're best off avoiding ovenbake clays completely. The trouble with them is they tend to warp slightly when they're cooked, so while they're fine for sculptures, they're not much good for mechanical working parts, since by the time they're hard they've changed shape and don't fit anymore. A decent epoxy might be a better bet when you've got the cash available.
This fig's looking better all the time.

Word up Ramrider. I've used products called "sculpy" and "fimo" with less than desireable results. The warping is considerable once baked and, although the durability is better than you might think, it's still not up to par for a transforming bot (even if it does still fit after the warping).

Anyway, the head looks awesome. You're a great sculpter ORD!

I mean fimo, my brain starts to freeze up when it comes to spelling. I want a recognizable shape and face but with some "techno" edge to it. The fine lines could not be put in this stuff.

You know ODR, you could try cutting thin pieces of styrene to shape and glue them flat onto the head for detail and texture. It's usually a tricky technique because of the small size of the details but can work quite nicely if you can keep excess glue out of the picture. Also at the larger scale you're working at it shold work really well. Just a suggestion.

I believe you, the proof is in your mirage . When I get arround to skyfire i will use it. here is a shot of attempt number 2. I tried to make him look a bit less cute and a bit more samuri. I increased the size in relation to the body to get closer to bbs proportion, but that means i may need to shave off the back of this head to fit the transformation.

I really like your second attempt, you're a great sculpter ORD!

Wow, that's an almost PERFECT likeness! Very cool ODR.

That is amazing work Ord! Simply amazing!

thats does look pritty cool, maybe u could repro them for alternators lol

ive used fimo and found it fine for Tf's but only for a short time it tends to lose detail after a while unless you coat it with the gloss

how long do you think itl be till you finish

OdeeanRDeathshead wrote:I believe you, the proof is in your mirage . When I get arround to skyfire i will use it. here is a shot of attempt number 2. I tried to make him look a bit less cute and a bit more samuri. I increased the size in relation to the body to get closer to bbs proportion, but that means i may need to shave off the back of this head to fit the transformation.

IMHO everything about the second head looks perfect except the horns.

Kinda makes him look like a retarded ArmadaCron figure KO or something.

For a bit of a better look raise the horns a bit more and shorten them.

Those kinda horns looked bad on Unicron...

...Otherwise I think the head looks perfect.

And don't worry about trimming down the back of the head, do what is needed, the main detail you want will still be there.

TFM

but maybe make a mold of the head as is for alternators before trimming the back off it.

OK, I think TF-Master's critisism about the horns was acurate. I made a new one. This time I reduced the size a bit so I should get away with not cutting it. I made the horns more stubby and moved them up. I kept the rim arround the helmet and the circle thingies but I changed the face. I tried to give him that big jawed baby face look he sometimes had in the cartoon.



I still can't say I am happy with it. I think the helmet has lost too much of its shape and looks a bit too round. If I make any more I will try a plain g1 look nex.

the thing about the g1 babyface is that its both wider and shorter. You had the length from eyes to bottom of the chin right on atempt #2, just needed to move the cheek bones down.

I liked everything about your second attempt except the horns. I say trim those down and make a mold of that one.

The horns on #3 look great, and every thing else on #2 looks perfect, what are the chances you could cut the horns off 3 and mount them on 2? I think that would give you the perfect head.

*step's in line*

I agree ! Horns of no3, the rest comes from no2.

Every time I do one of these it takes about 5 hours. this is plain g1 bumblebee. The look is entirely based on the cartoon. I think the chin/face on that palisdes statue of bb is too wide so I have not gone that far. I am happy with the work and will keep it. If I do modify it, it will only be to a cast because I am sick of doing heads for a while.




after looking at stills I have taken from a range of g1 I realise that the face we know as bb is different from time to time. This one is an average.

hows this project going?

It has been sitting in my living room gathering dust. I will finish... eventually. here is a list of excuses:
1- had to buy a new computer with the money i ended up getting paid
2- too many comitments compared to time
3- my other time consuming hobby, programming has taken off. I decedid to move from olde style mfc using c++ to c# on dotnet. Its cool but I needed to learn a lot. Specifically I am working on a project that runs on my pocket pc. It keeps in contact with my home via a web service and monitors/controlls my server. Thats the theory anyway but in practice there are many things that go on.
4- cybertron hit the shops and i have been caught up with the new toys instead of my own stuff
5- I have no(working) hosting for my pics. I want to put this project on a page of its own but my isp is crap. Any images you can still see of from me are no longer paid for on that isp so I can't add to that space.
6- I am lazy

OdeeanRDeathshead wrote:5- I have no(working) hosting for my pics. I want to put this project on a page of its own but my isp is crap. Any images you can still see of from me are no longer paid for on that isp so I can't add to that space.

You know we are always looking for new content for our site, so I'm sure we can set up a special page to showcase your project.

indeed, you had quite a few impressive wip pics, should be something to work with

I have been doing some work on this. I have created molds for about half the parts so far including the head.



This is the head with three different paint apps, I can't decide which oone looks good. I based it on this.



BB has an all white face in the cartoon but that dose not make for a good looking toy. The dry brush look also dose not fit with a normal toy appearance. I am thinking the one on the right but with some fine black lines around the eyes.

I have found the best thing to make dimensionally accurate molds out of is epoxy resin. As opposed to even a stiff rtv the resin is rock hard and holds the fine detail well. I have been brushing the mold surface with Vaseline to stop the cast sticking to the mold. For some difficult parts that are hard to get out I find it good to pull the cast before it is 100% hard. Alternately the mold can be put in hot water for a couple of minutes to make it flexible enough to bend and release the part. Epoxy is also very resistant to other things sticking to it (a down side when painting casts made from it).

When I complete a limb I will add to the wip shots. Dose anyone have some experience with dying an epoxy mix to cast black pieces?

Remember, white and greys are used to represent metalics in animation. BB?s face would have been silver in reality. As far as which looks best, I like the middle one the best.