June UFO Sightings in the Workshop

 I've run behind on bloggage again.  While we can't share the main projects we're working on until the non-disclosures run out, what we can share is the scattered collection of UnFinished Objects (UFOs) in the hobby section of the workshop.

First off, after my copy of the Sidon Ithano helmet met an unfortunate end in the midst of unpacking for the Maker Faire a while back, I decided it was time for a re-do.  Here he is in the middle of the painting process:

On a completely unrelated note, I got to feeling a bit nostalgic the other day when I was reminded of the "Hydro Viper," one of the last figures I bought before I lost interest in G.I. Joes as a kid:

For no particular reason, I decided I needed to make the helmet for those guys.  Here it is in its base color before the details were picked out:

Now I need to talk myself out of making the rest of the costume.  Though an underwater cosplay photoshoot might be fun...

In other news, I came across a 3D model of an Ironman themed Samurai Yoroi helmet (LINK).  So I had to make one:


The Genestealer continues to see steady progress.  That's mostly just because Jeff is stopping by once a week to tinker on the hand sculpting.  Last week he dragged Walter Welsh along to offer some pointers and lend a hand:


I'm also making good progress on the Techpriest costume from Warhammer 40,000.  Here's the printed collar nearly ready to mold: 


I'm finishing it up just in time, because Jeff is nearly done with the model for the backpack:


This thing is going to be pretty great:


On the subject of Warhammer 40,000 stuff, I also decided to turn out a few more purity seals:


So much purity.

We're also revisiting some of the Masters of the Universe stuff we did a while back.  More on that later, but for now, here's the shield of Teela all prepped for paint:


And finally, an updated Statue of Liberty which I printed from this file (LINK) and painted:


Because I needed that.

So that's just a few of the UFOs in the shop at the moment.  There's a bunch of other awesome in progress, so stay tuned...

March UFO Sightings in the Workshop

While I've been posting a lot of progress updates on the ongoing Genestealer build, I don't want people to think that's the only thing we're working on the shop.

With that in mind, here's just a handful of the UnFinished Objects (or UFOs) currently rolling around on the to-do list that we can talk about publicly.

First off, the Genestealer isn't the only 40K project we're tinkering with.  While I've been churning away in the workshop, Jeff has been hard at work on the digital models for our Techpriest based on the versions you see in the background of the Space Marine 2 video game.  Here's the current state of the model:

And this is it with a digital me wearing it:


We've also been making a few scenic elements, starting with these nifty servo skull wall sconces:


Then there's these two banners, part of a series of them we're putting together:


Of course, it's not all 40K stuff.  A while back I got a wild hair and decided to build myself a First Order AT-AT Driver costume.  And of course, I never build one of anything:

Over the next few days I'll finish the last couple of details, then I'll be posting finished pics and a step-by-step from that build.

Since we had the First Order armor molds on the bench, I went ahead and made a set of armor with red gelcoat so we can build a Captain Cardinal costume:
 

With the news that there may be a Starship Troopers reboot in the works, I've gotten pretty excited to finish the last few things from the classic 1997 film.  First, there's Lt. Rasczak's prosthetic arm:


Then there's a stack of grenades:


Andrew the Intern has been learning to make molds:


So it seemed like a good time to start him on making molds for the pieces of the M-55 Tactical Nuke Launcher:


Current goal is to have it done in time to deploy with my squad at WonderCon next week.  Which means I had to churn out a few more of these guys:


After Wondercon we've got a few other events to look forward to.  But that's a whole 'nother ball of worms.

Stay tuned...

January 2025 UFO Sightings in the Workshop

I've been posting somewhat regularly about the Genestealer build.  It helps to have the head hanging on the wall above one of my printers to serve as a reminder that it needs more work:

But that's not all I'm working on.  We also have a handful of things on the bench that I'm not allowed to talk about (yet).  But I still feel compelled to post an update about something other than the genestealer build.  The good news is that with my industrial strength case of undiagnosed ADHD, I always have at least fifteen other projects going on at any given time.  Some are getting a lot of my attention.  Others less so.  All of them are in the shop, in the way, and in progress.

So here's the current roundup of UnFinished Objects orbiting around the shop...

First up, a while back I made a handful of Mobile Infantry costumes from Starship Troopers:

While it's okay if you have a fire team running around all armed with the same model of assault rifle, if I'm going to outfit a whole squad (or maybe a platoon) I need to make a wider range of armaments.  So for starters, I hacked up a cast of the Morita assault rifle to make the Morita carbine.  It weighed a ton though and I'm probably going to want to make more than one, so we pulled a mold.  Here's the first casting when we were demolding it:


Since I'm on a roll with Starship Troopers builds, I decided I also needed to make a replica of Lieutenant Rasczak's prosthetic hand:

The hard parts are all printed and painted.  I just need to mount them onto a glove and call it done.

I'm also in the process of making the masters for the M55 Tactical Nuke Launcher:


Somewhere in the shop I have a stack of the grenades piling up too, so I'm almost done making Starship Troopers props.

On another front, while we're making the Genestealer happen, we're also working on a host of other Warhammer projects.  First off, there's this stack of scenery parts:


To go along with them, I have the beginnings of some servo skulls:

These were made from a mold we just pulled off of a human skull I've had kicking around the shop for years now waiting for me to do something with it.

I also took advantage of some down time on the 3D printers to turn out this amazing Chaplain helmet from Space Marine 2:


A while back I also printed and assembled the Saviour of the Free helmet from Helldivers 2:


Soon I'll finish masking it and painting the gold details on the way to making the rest of the costume to go with it.

On an unrelated note, a couple of years ago I picked up a Captain Cardinal helmet: LINK

If you're not familiar with the character, I wouldn't be at all surprised.  He first appeared in the novel Phasma where he turns out to be a rival of Captain Phasma within the First Order.  While she wears a custom suit of chrome armor, his is bright red:

So, while I was in the middle of laying up a new set of Phasma parts, I decided to also mix up some red gelcoat and make a batch of First Order stormtrooper armor in red:


I've got the boots already and the cape is on the way, so once I trim, prep, and paint these parts, I'll have that full suit ready to wear.  For the past couple or three years, it's been a running joke whenever we're about a week away from an event and I'm in the middle of crunch time I'll say to the crew, "you know, we can probably get Cardinal done in time for this thing..."

They scoff.  We laugh.  It's a good bit.

But now, the next time I say it out loud, it won't be a joke.

On the subject of insanely niche Star Wars costumes, I've also decided to build a cosplay of the First Order AT-AT driver. I'm almost done with that build, so there will be a more detailed blog article forthcoming, but for now, here's a picture of the shiny white helmets: 

I'm also making me a new set of Halo armor.  I started making Locus from Red vs. Blue a few years back and every time the printers have nothing to do I add another part to the stack.  At this point, the printing is done, the helmet is painted, and with a bit more prep work, the armor will be ready for paint as well:

Then all I need is to sew up the very involved undersuit and it's done.  Finally.

On a completely unrelated note, I decided to add a sexy one-sixth scale statue of Disney's Evil Queen from Snow White to my collection of things I don't need.  Here's a shot of the statue parts shortly after printing them:


So that's going to be a thing.

There's a lot of things in the shop seeing genuine progress every single day.

Then there's the "someday" stack of projects.  These are the ones that have gathered a bit more dust than most.  Chief among them is the War Machine from Ironman 2 which I really need to knock out and get together:

It's close, but it'll need a couple or four weeks worth of work I haven't managed to set aside yet.

Also on the someday list are these Massiff Taxidermy mounts:


And tucked away a little deeper in storage is the Super Battle Droid that I started making molds for:

I still need to mold the thighs and the arms, but it's only a matter of time.  Then I can create my own army...

For now, I'm just glad to be maintaining a steady flow of things getting finished.

Stay tuned.  Much to come.

November UFO Sightings in the Workshop

 Forgive me readers for I have sinned.  It has been eight weeks since my last blog entry.

A lot has happened in that time.  Most of it in my personal life and world travels.  But that's not what you're here for.  Instead, let me present to you a series of UnFinished Objects that are currently scattered around the shop.  I've been on a bit of a Star Wars kick lately.  As a result, there's a lot of that in this post.

First up, there's my version of Captain Enoch:

As soon as this guy popped up on screen, I knew I'd have to make his helmet.  So I got to work on it almost immediately.  Life's been happening pretty heavily since his on-screen debut, but I should have the whole thing ironed out and ready to mold in no time.

Then there's the Paz Vizla Heavy Mandalorian jetpack:

This thing is a big chunk of rotocast parts that will all be painted separately, then glued together to make the final piece.  It took me forever to get around to making the mold for the main body, so now that that's come together, I should be able to build and paint myself one of these guys in no time.

Speaking of molds that are taking forever, I'm still making slow progress on my B-2 Super Battle Droid:


The main body, waist, and pelvis will all be cast in hand-laid fiberglass and I have all of those molds done.  I also have molds for the feet and the right lower leg.  Now it's just a matter of molding the arm parts, the thighs, and the left lower leg and we're off to the races.

I have no idea what I'll do with the finished droid once it's built, but I'll have molds, so I'll probably make more than one.

Speaking of making more than one, here's the current state of my Jedi Temple Guard masks:


These were modeled after the live-action version seen in the Andor series so I should be satisfied to just have them sitting on a shelf on display like in the show.  But since I'm some kind of twisted completionist, it's only a matter of time until I have to build the rest of the costumes to go with them.

Then there's this guy:


This is the early, rough assembly of the first of four or five Jawas I'll be building.  That project has been a lot of fun and should come together pretty damned quick once I get a wild hair and decide to finish it.

In that same vein is the clonetrooper armor:

I've had two of these kits sitting in storage for years and this year I finally finished one.  The second one isn't finished yet because the guy who made the kits is retiring from building them and has given me permission to pull my own forming bucks off of the untrimmed kit that I still have from him.  At this point I have molds for everything except the parts pictured above.  Once I mold these parts, I can clone myself an entire army!

Finally, there's my next book!  After the success of Make: Props and Costume Armor, the good folks at Make: have asked me to write another book to cover even more materials and techniques.  So in another three or four months when none of the above things are on the "done" list instead of the UFO list, it's because I'm burning the candle at both ends to share even more of my hard-earned knowledge with the world.

So that's all the latest, greatest, not at all finished stuff in the shop.  Stay tuned for more updates as we make progress wrapping up a few other things!

April UFO Sightings in the Workshop

 As usual, I'm way behind on bloggage.  Part of that is due to the fact that most of the past few months worth of finished projects are covered under non-disclosure agreements, part of it is because I haven't finished any fun new hobby projects in a while, part of it is because I'm missing a few key photos I'll need to re-stage in order to document build processes, and part of it is because I'm just plain lazy.

So, rather than make you wait until the one day someday when I get around to actually finishing a project and it's obligatory blog post, I've decided to once again round up photos of the UnFinished Objects scattered around the shop and show you what I can show you of what I've been up to.

First off, longer ago than I'd care to admit, a friend of mine asked for some help upgrading his Winter Soldier cosplay.  While it was pretty awesome-looking, his one gripe was that his left arm (the metal one) was a rigid, resin cast piece.  He wanted to upgrade to rubber, so we've tuned up his resin arm in preparation for molding it and casting it in rubber for greater flexibility.  Here's the shiny master just before we molded it:

That particular project has been fraught with weird little technical challenges and I'll be glad to have it off my plate soon.

On a more frivolous note, I decided I needed a more convention-safe weapon prop that my Cobra Infantry Troopers can carry around in public without frightening the normals.  To that end, I printed, molded, and cast a handful of XMLR laser rifles from the original GI Joe cartoons:


The original 3D model was digitally sculpted by the amazingly talented Sean Fields.  You can see more of his work and buy other files from him in his Etsy shop: LINK

While I was on a roll with updating my GI Joe projects, I also had Sean model these upgrades for my Cobra Baroness build:



Somewhere along the way, he made me the digital model for a taxidermy mount of the "massif," the lizard/dog thing from the Book of Boba Fett (and Star Wars Episode 2 for a moment):


And the B-2 Super Battle Droid I printed out while working on a classified project back in February:


It's impressive, and for some reason I'm contemplating molding the whole thing so I can make multiples.  Even though I have absolutely no place to put such a thing:

You'll also notice the little Pit Droid in those last two photos.  Here's an earlier shot of some of his body coming together:

This bot was printed from files available at the Droid Division Etsy shop: LINK That much smaller droid may get molded and cast first if I decide to make any kind of sense at all.

Since I'm on a continuing Star Wars streak, I've also decided to make a new and improve Phasma helmet:

I was happy with the old model, but after five or six years of noticing little things I'd gotten wrong, I figured it was time for an overhaul.

I also decided to make a few more copies of my ARC Trooper helmet:

This way I can have a few more paintjob options.

Continuing the Star Wars trend, a friend of mine picked up a rough lifesize cast of Han Solo in carbonite:

We're in the middle of reinforcing the thin fiberglass pull and cleaning up the rough surface:


Next we'll be making the lighted display panels for the sides and painting it up so we can install it in his vintage toy and comic shop.

Finally, I've decided to dust off my Senate Guard project and finish up the Paladin ceremonial rifles to go with it:

This will be one of my options for something to wear at Star Wars Celebration: Anaheim in a month or so.  I'm still making up my mind about what else I'll be bringing.

Stay tuned as the madness continues.