DIY Cliffjumper upgrade kit... a bad idea...

[lcz128]

SO! I didn't come back to the board early enough to get in on the cliffjumper upgrade kit. Seeing that most people got it for something like $25+ or so, and how now they're going for something like 150+ --> 300 odd dollars, I thought I'd make my own.

Well, I'm not that experienced with sculpting so I've run into a fair few problems already. Nope, I won't be able to do proper bumper things nor a proper spoiler (as they're very straight and industrial like and I don't know how to make that with sculpey) - BUT I thought I'd be able to make my own CJ head with interchangeable expressions, right?

WRONG

Or so it may seem anyway. <_<; For starters, I lack any good kind of camera to take proper work-in-progress pics- then! I discover that sculpting in general : That's kind of okay. Sculpting in such a small scale: Oh shi-....

So. Up till now, I've done something like 4 different versions of the one facial expression and a few versions of the head, but they've all come out TOO BIG. oh jeebus. That said, I've finally come to an alright size for the face:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/18052008001.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/18052008003.jpg

... So. What do y'all think? Any tips? Ideas? :) Thanks guys :D:D:D

(Going to be coating the face with a coat of silver shortly and will post that too :))

[kup]

That looks good as its nice and straight. However the base of it may be a little too square, it should angle downwards.

[STL]

If you want reference from my CJ set, lemme know. It's looking good though, man.

[Pulse]

As they say... Even though you may screw up the first time - try, try & try again :)

Only when you get frustrated enough that you wanna completely destroy it, it's time to put it down & go do something else for a while. :D

[autobreadticon]

CJ biggest t/f regret of 2008 :(

Cool , keep it coming :)

[Kyle]

Looking good. :)

[gamblor916]

Nice one.
What are you sculpting with?

[lcz128]

That looks good as its nice and straight. However the base of it may be a little too square, it should angle downwards.
Dude... I didn't even think of that till you mentioned it. Damn! XD


If you want reference from my CJ set, lemme know
I wouldn't mind taking you up on that offer to be honest :) Even observing it through its plastic mint-ness would be awesome :)

Pulse: Oh too true :D

autobreadticon : Lol- did you miss out too!? :o

Kyle: Thanks :D

Gamblor: SuperSculpey, believe it or not! On the one hand it's nice to sculpt with, on the other I would like it to harden a little so that I can have something of more rigidity... BUT! I've tried a bit of this job with miliput and it's pissin' me off that I just end up leaving finger prints all over it! <_>;;;

Oh well- now! An update! :D



http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/22052008003.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/22052008002.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/22052008004.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/22052008005.jpg

:) I've silvered him up and blue'd the eyes :) Tell me what you think, guys! :D (I am using my phone camera- damn, it's a pain! <_>)
Also, here's a line up
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/lcz128_photos/Transformers/22052008009.jpg
Phailed attempt (where I remembered to give him a bit of a proper jawline) , current one (the weird eye stuff is actually shiney reflections (his left eye)) , and the original head :)

[liegeprime]

werent you suppose to heat it a little in the oven if its sculpey? It will set but yeah its still a little soft plasticky thing after. I tried it once to do a G1 Bludgeon helmet, took me 2 tries to get something Im content with. First one I overdid and it came out rather brittle.. Good on yah lcz that looks great, just adjust ( if you still can) the square jaw to an angled one. That must've been really a pain to make, knowing how small the faceplate is for CJ. It would've taken me ages.

[lcz128]

werent you suppose to heat it a little in the oven if its sculpey? It will set but yeah its still a little soft plasticky thing after. I tried it once to do a G1 Bludgeon helmet, took me 2 tries to get something Im content with. First one I overdid and it came out rather brittle.. Good on yah lcz that looks great, just adjust ( if you still can) the square jaw to an angled one. That must've been really a pain to make, knowing how small the faceplate is for CJ. It would've taken me ages.

I actually boil it - work here has one of those instant-hot-water things and so I just put it in my lil Toybiz figure factory crate (which I use to hold water while painting- it's filthy with all the paint now :b) and leave it in there for a good few minutes and it comes out solid :)

The thing with this is if I make a mistake, it's 'start-from-scratch'. <_<; And I don't think I can cut the jaw to make it angled - once cured, cutting=doom. :(

I go now to make me a helmet :D

[gamblor916]

I agree with liege, sculpey needs to be baked to harden.

[lcz128]

I agree with liege, sculpey needs to be baked to harden.

Boiling seems to have worked for me thus far :) I've boiled my Hand Ninjas and they turned out fine... (I have pics somewhere - will dig them up :))

Fingers crossed... :)

*edit with a mini kinda-guide to boiling super sculpy*
Helpful ish links:
http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?t=126180

http://www.becircle.com/modifying_your_munny_sculpey_modeling_clay

Personally, here at work I have one of those instant boiling hot water dispensers and so I just dispense some into my plastic container (that I use to hold water for paint as well) then add the piece I'm curing in, cover it and wait for a while. Usually by a few minutes it would be harder, but I tend to leave it and go away for a while. After that, I drain the water and repeat the process just to be sure. :)

It's worked for me thus far, and I don't really want to put my toys in anything I would use to cook food - like a pot. :b

[lcz128]

O yeh! :D

Found an upgrade idea while trolling the custom boards and now I've done it for myself. :) Nope, I haven't got a dremel yet - this was done with just lots and lots of effort using a frickin box cutter.

Head was made from parts of that jetski-thing of his with the paint stripped, and the gun is from a micromaster playset thing- the blue APC looking thing with a giant cannon. (I'm sure someone here knows what it's called). It's really just a placeholder till I get my Big Guns from that Landcross set :D (There is if I recall a nice small gun and the combination of guns can be his 'big' gun :D)

Tell me what ya think! :D

[Pulse]

Great work Macgyver! :confused::D

[kup]

It looks Fantastic!

Excellent work!

[Kyle]

Nice! :)

[Soundwarp]

Wow, nice work!

[STL]

Wow. That looks awesome. u were almost done on Sunday but the final touch of the ears is amazing. You're doing this w/out a Dremel, imagine if you actually had one!

[lcz128]

Now! More CJ goodness! With big gunz!!! :D

Woohoo!
I nabbed the BIG gun off landshaker or quake or something like that (that same blue APC like thing :D:D:D WOO! :D

The small gun is from a Landcross fig... anyone know which gun goes with who? :) Thanks and lemme know what you think!? :D

[Kyle]

Nice work! :)

I need to find my Landcross box and instructions from storage...

[Robzy]

Looks great! :)

[Soundwarp]

Nice dude!

[iceburn]

The Landcross (bulky) figures and their guns are rather confusing. it's hard to match up too. I just store them together.

great work btw....love a better close-up pic of cliffjumper's head mould. pic's abit blurry. moreover, i think we can post pics up on each posting the normal way now...

[Pulse]

Moreover, i think we can post pics up on each posting the normal way now...

Nah, we still can't :(.

I just tried it & I got:

"500 - Internal Server Error - The web server cannot process your request. Please try again or contact the admin of the website you are attempting to access." :(

[sifun]

looks good.. Would you happen to know where to get sculptey sculp stuff from melbourne?

[lcz128]

Yes! Finally caved in and thinner'd all the painted silver away (except the stuff on top as that would kill the red paint too; Will then spray paint the rest :D WOO! Stay tuned! :D

[STL]

Dude, that's hawt!