Somewhere in time

This is where I'm upto, a fully painted figure, moulded coin, and some ideas for the packaging. This is a variant edition blue suited JFK, normally he would be in black, with no red tie. I'm feel as if I'm still far off my vision, but I also feel I have learnt so much. I started off as just an admirer, now I know how to make my own.

This box needs rounded edges, a hole for hanging, and more detail to the layout and design, like a square portraying the name of the figure, and the title needs more energy.

 

To paint the figure, I primed it with Games Workshop Citadel Skull White spray, otherwise the paint doesnt stick. Then I applied Games Workshop Citadel paints. They were highly recommended to me as some of the best on the market.

 

I've been resorted to still using poundshop DS packaging for my display plastic as our uni has no vacuum former. But I'm still on the search. Here is the wooden base for which I will mould from

 

I did some moulding at Marylebone University, but they were unsuccesful.

 

 

 

Early Christmas

A good friend of mine gave me these amazing presents, I was extremely touched.

 

This is RYU from CAPCOMS hugely successful fighting franchise, STREET FIGHTER. The detail on this figure is exquisite, like what I dream of at night in my bed. I would love to attempt to sculpt this, just look at his billowing belt, powerful.

 

He's walking away.

 

My childhood favourite, GOKU from Akira Toriyama's DRAGONBALL phenomenon. He's like bye! These figures are not just awesome because I can learn so much from them, but because they are gifts from my friend.

 

He also let me have this, all the gifts are from Japan, so there's no way I could get these anywhere, apparently in Japan, things like this cost around £2!

 
 

It's even boxed.

Two piece moulding

I needed an answer, and it came in two piece moulding. Two piece moulding produces greater depths of detail, but takes twice as long to do, as each side needs to be made.

This method leaves two mould lines down the pieces, but it doesn't matter as thats what they're meant to look like.

 

I switched to an expensive resin that only takes 10 minutes to dry. The quality of the resin proved invaluable as the detail that I recieved was amazing!

 

I was blown over that I had made this.

 

The resin also adds a shiny smooth quality that the other didn't.

 

Each piece must be sanded and smoothed before being pieced together.

 

 

The factory

It's been quite a while since I've put anything on here, I've been so busy! trying to get my action figure finished. Here's what I've been getting upto...

 

Using my pieces made from scupey, I produced one piece moulds using Silicone rubber, but before that I had many failed attempts where the silicone didn't dry after 20 hours of waiting.

failed silicone meant that I had to clean every little piece, twice!

I decided then to produce each piece individually, as if one didn't dry, then only that piece would have to be cleaned. One piece moulds are where the whole piece is submerged in silicone, when dry, a small slit is cut into the silicone to remove the piece. This prevents the join lines found on most figures.

Here is two moulds for a leg and an arm, the slits down the side reduce marks on the finished pieces. unfortunately this way of working was not successful, as the silicone could not get into every cranny and produced pieces that were very poor, and alot of detail remained uncaptured, which is essential to the piece.

I used RESIN, a type of plastic for the limbs, I added black pigment for colour. Here is a mock assembled from the pieces I produced, sadly none of them came out good enough to use. I think it was because the resin I was using was quite cheap.

Details such as the nose, and fingers were not captured correctly in the moulding process, meaning all that time was wasted.

PACKAGING

Here are some ideas for the packaging of my figures. Below is heavily influenced by Kenner's Star Wars packaging of their figures, with the figure on the left, and a picture of the character on the right.

I want the feel of the box to have the essence of a conspiracy, secret documents plastered all over it, hidden messages, typewriter codings, I feel collectors have alot in common with conspiracists, as they are both obsessive subjects.

  Alot of action figures come with gimmicks to encourage collectors to purchase them, such as trading cards, statistics cards, and the most common - coins. In 1964, just three months after his assassination, the Kennedy Half Dollar was minted as a tribute to the president. I bought this one, which is from 1964, and would like to make casts from it, including one in every box for the collectors within us.

 

 For this prototype, I used a Nintendo D.S. case box from the local poundshop to make the plastic encasing. The figure is held in place with dental floss.

Another example of packaging, a box standing up with figure visible through a narrow sheet of plastic, this is a very interesting idea, but I think it suits larger figures such as action man.

J.F.YAY!

Here are pictures of the finished JFK figure, it took over two weeks to carve, and i'm really pleased with the way its turned out. I think it does have a resemblance, what do you think?

Since you last saw it, I've sanded everything down, I've finished engraving the suit, and added flaps to the hips to look like a jacket.

The head was the hardest part as I felt there was so much pressure to get this right. You can't see, but there are lots of folds and wrinkles to the face, as I wanted to show an aging gritty kennedy.

 Alot of the detail was applied through layering thin pieces of sculpey onto the joints, and gently indenting into it to make folds and marks, then baking to lock in the detail. It's a very good way of doing this, as if you make a mistake, its very easily correctable.

 

 I made the hands have two different grips to add variety. One could hold a flag, the other could hold a briefcase, or something that isnt straight.

 I'm most happy with the legs, and I'm really pleased as all the joints move correctly, even the head spins all the way around.

 I've added alot more detail to the legs, more waves and folds, and smoothed it all out.

'How It Works'

I found aload of old Ladybird books today, 27 in fact! I bought them because when I was a little boy, me and my brother had loads of these, my memories of them are of really detailed illustrations, and excellant cover art.

I've selected a few covers that I love. These books show the varied range of subjects that Ladybird tried to cover, so that children could learn just about anything.

This cover really sticks out, it's about such an interesting subject.

The range is so varied, books all about jobs were made. This is great, I always wondered what my dad did at work.

Here are some amazing inside art from ' The Customs Officer' I love how these books were aimed at children, yet, they were still treated as serious things, and had such a high professional standard of art, they really invested in the idea that kids can be advanced and creative.

A few of my favourites...

STAR WARS: The Vintage Collection!

These figures arrived in the post today! Their both from Hasbro's new STAR WARS VINTAGE COLLECTION. Hasbro has re-released Kenner's 1977 line for 2010 with figures that are extremely detailed, but with original packaging, which is a nice touch.

2010 Boba Fett, with variant foil backing card. Everything about this is retro, even the sticker 'FREE BOBA FETT' It's wierd though as the company Hasbro has a rivals name on its own product, their practically advertising Kenner.

1977 Boba Fett. I myself prefer the old packaging. Its not as dark, but that might be due to fading. Look how basic the old figure looks. This figure was originally not sold in stores, and the only way to get it was to send off 4 proof of purchase seals from other Star Wars figures. I love how they've included the sticker on their new figures, and it works! If you send off 4 tabs you'll get a free Boba Fett figure! I've seen it!

Original catalogue advertisement for Boba Fett figure and promotion. The missile in his back was intended to fire, but a kid died from swallowing a missile from a MATTEL Battlestar Galactica figure, so Kenner scrapped the idea. But, apparently, somewhere, there are Boba Fett figures that do fire the missile, but its just a legend. Someday...

Probably my favourite character, the 2010 Darth Vader, with price sticker. (I'm sending this back)
This packaging is amazing. Figure on the left, Still of character on the right. It's all very simple, with very little text. You can see why between 1977 and 1984, 300 Million Star Wars action figures were sold! I can!

Really nice detail. The packaging design of this whole series is something that deeply inspires me.

Sneak Peek

Here are the first pictures of my JFK action figure. Halfway through sculpting. I made these by forming sculpey into the basic shape of the part that I wanted, I then baked it till hard, and then carved into that, adding more sculpey, then baking again to work over. I created ruffles by laying a thin layer of sculpey onto the part, and with a rounded tool, gently rolled it into that.

This picture shows how the limbs are connected, CUT JOINTS, these are specially cut circles that interlock into specially shaped joints. They provide a secure hold and also allow full rotation of the arms and the head.  

I've made the hand open grip, so he can grasp accessories. The arms have a slight bend in, to make the figure look more natural.

Torso without suit carved in, I think I got the shape right

This head needs to be larger, and thickened out, Kennedy's head was quite round.

This picture shows all 9 parts. The final figure will have only 7 parts as the two hip parts will be attached to the torso and back.

I have tried to create trousers that have ruffles

The legs have a slight bend in to resemble realism of posture