Figures from scratch

[Malcolm Orr]

When I was last around these parts, I think ? Steve was into casting heads etc. Did anyone ever attempt to make a complete recast figure? I had a thought of making a complete figure to cast, but have never cast anything at all. I know there were heads and parts.

[Malcolm Orr]

Mind you, I might be being incredibly thick as I suppose the Baron and Skeletron figures must have been done as new casts, but were these done in a 'garage kit' style setting?

[Chopper]

Baron was, Skelly was a Black Major production. I know Steve was involved, but not the specifics.

[SteveD]

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Hi Malcolm! Good to see you back around and some of your awesome work!

To answer the question my involvement in the Skeli was as shown above - I recast the Classic skeletron head to make it o ring compatible.

I did, many years ago, try casting a complete figure. It was a little bit brittle, but viable with some tweaks. I then used the moulds to do this, which as cool as it is, destroyed the mould as the transparent liquid is very hard on the mould:

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[SteveD]

Incidentally, the clear head destro is, to this day, one of my favourite creations!! I love it!!

I tried to make a clear head cobra commander, with an original Baron head set into the transparency. Idea was that I could then half paint it to show its the baron beneath there. But the baron head moved in the mould, so I gave up!!!

[wolforrest]

Wow Steve that Baron head was a great idea, shame it never worked out

[SteveD]

Thanks Wolforest!

I've just been having a look, and you know what? I still have the mould, and I still have some transparent plastic, and I have a spare Baron head!! Could this be the start of the first SteveD custom in years? Could this be the rediscovery of my customs mojo??? Watch this space!!!!

[Malcolm Orr]

Thanks Steve!

I should look into the casting side a bit more. I was going to make a 3 3/4" AF scale head of Captain Zargon. I suspect the best way forward with Palitoy stuff would be to make heads, then torso halves that would be compatible with the pre-existing arms and legs. For the Who stuff I have had some success for example with smearing a layer of PVA glue on the figure, using small bits of toilet roll (ie peel off one layer and tear into small parts and place over the figure area, up to 2-3 layers, then smearing with PVA glue. Letting it dry. Then using milliput on the figure to sculpt over, then immersing the figure in warm water to dissolve the PVA and the sculpted bit can be removed. So for example, it could be possible to make a kit for, say, Barracuda, to have a new head (Zargon), a crotch piece that could be glued on, and possibly arm and leg armour each limb's worth in two parts. I do fancy having a go at some original heads, though.

[Malcolm Orr]

Are you casting in two halves with silicone? I wondered if Baron's head was mounted on a long sprue of wire that ran down the neck peg whether that would separate the mould too much?