Custom Animated Cliffjumper

[Bumbleb33]

This is my first venture into a mild resculpt, but the third Transformer I have painted in it's entirety. So far this project has taken me over 6 weeks of on and off commitment and still has a ways to go but its finally starting to take shape.

I spent countless hours sanding back Bumblebee to get him ready for the enamel spray.

I then taped him up making sure to get the lines tight to the edges to get a nice clean finish.

I then started spraying, all up I think there ended up being around 6 - 8 layers of paint on this little fella.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1328&stc=1&d=1262958557

I then started on the head, exhausts and mufflers.
I knew the head would take the longest, so I built a tripod and cast Bumble's head in a film canister filled with Digger's 2 Part Encapsulation Resin.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1327&stc=1&d=1262958557

While waiting for the resin to cure, I undertook the surprisingly difficult task of building the perfect exhaust pipes for the sides of the car, I ended up after trying countless materials resorted to super heating fencing wire and carefully bending it with a pair of pliers.
The mufflers I nicked off a pair of 1:24 scale Initial D AE86s I had laying around.
After weeks of waiting for the enamel to cure, rub back, cure again etc, I was finally happy with the paintjob and set about reassembling the little fella.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1329&stc=1&d=1262958557

I then finished off with the minor details, I thought the way I painted him especially with the black flares and sideskirts, I thought him to look pretty Billy Bad Ass and as such decided to divert from my initial plan to make him look as close as possible to the show model and decided to give him a harder look. Hence the inclusion of a chain necklace.

Finally came the head, after getting the mix wrong on the initial cast, I recast the head once more and went about shaping this. I still need to add the new horns and add the new mouth.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1330&stc=1&d=1262958557

Hopefully after my new load of Araldite cures of B's head, I will get an assembled pic up.

Let me know what you think so far.

[Bumbleb33]

I forgot I took this photo the other night. Here he is assembled with Blutack eyebrows and toothpick anteneas which I intend to cast in Digger's resin to given them a plastic feel, but it gives you an idea of what it will look like complete.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1331&stc=1&d=1262959886

[bruticus]

Nice work dude.
Mufflers looks really great and the head is coming along well.

Just a few questions though,
-havent tried resin before, so is the resin easy to use and non toxic or is mixing it a pain and it needs a lot of open ventilation and safety gear??
-what is the full brand that you use?
-it looks like you have casted resin on top of an original head and then carved back the shape that you want, is that correct? just curious to know if there is a particular reason (pros) to doing it that way compared to just sculpting with epoxy/putty etc. on top?

[gamblor916]

Looking good so far. I'd like to know more about this resin you're using too.

[Bumbleb33]

No unfortunatley the resin is not that easy to use, its essentially the same stuff you use when fibreglassing, and its always in a liquid state and cannot be shaped when curing. You also HAVE to work with it out doors as it will give you mighty head spins otherwise.
Get the mix wrong and it will never cure or go off in mere minutes. But the great thing about it is it dries clear and when you sand it it turns white. I did think of using putty, but I have worked with it before and it just doesn't give as smooth a finish.
The full brand is Diggers, you can have a look at it here: http://www.recochem.com.au/index.php/products/consumer_products/fibreglass/item/diggers_casting_embedding_resin
Yep, I used the original BB head so the ball joint on the back of the head would still work, plus I still have the original light piping.
The main reason I did it with the resin is because it is drastically cheaper than other putties and because I knew Cliffy's chin was going to be pretty heavy I wanted to make sure it had a very secure bond to BB's chin.

[bruticus]

mighty head spins? damn, sounds pretty nasty to use...
too bad though as i would really like to have used the clear plastic effect for some other work

hmm... well, i suppose if you ever want to give putty a go, you can get Aves 2 part Fixit Sculpt (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310187897242&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.com.au%3A80%2F%3F_from%3 DR40%26_trksid%3Dp3907.m38.l1313%26_nkw%3D31018789 7242%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1), 500g combined weight for ~50AUD posted.
great bond, really smooth finish and can retain edges really well.

is diggers resin cheaper than that?

[Bumbleb33]

As long as you keep it at arms length and don't inhale you should be right haha, just don't put it in a milo tin and hold it under your nose.
Yeah the diggers is a bit cheaper than that, its hard to gauge though because its two part, you buy the resin which is from memory 600ml and then you buy the catalyst which is 30 ml, last time I bought it the resin was $36.95 and the catalyst was around $11.00 but I have been through around 900ml of resin so far and still have 2/3 of a bottle of catalyst left.
The coolest thing about the resin is its allergic to tupperware / ice cream containers, so you can buy really low laying trays and make millimeter thick layers of resin which you can pop out and make windscreens and stuff. You can also mix in chalk, sparkles even paint and change end colour, so in theory you could replicate the blue windscreens you get on the ROTF line for instance.

[5FDP]

Awesome stuff!

[Bumbleb33]

Quick update, just installed the horns and glued on his eyebrows. Going to hit him with the air compressor once the araldite sets and get all the resin particles off him and then melt in the mouth.

http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1336&stc=1&d=1263012260

[Tabias Prime]

Cant wait to see the head turns out, nice job with the epoxy and the paint job, i dont think i would have the patience's to do all that sanding....

Just to clarify something you said earlier about comparing fibreglassing resin to epoxy resin,they are actually very different resins.They do the same job but the 2 don't mix to well. You can put a epoxy resin of polyester, but you cant put a polyester on epoxy resin, its just the way it is, Epoxy is almost a universal glue.I love the stuff, we use it all the time at work for gluing and small quick repairs. fiberglass resin is usually a polyester based resin,and is very brittle without glass matting. epoxy resin on the other hand is quite strong with out the glass matting and has several different forms.Also if you want to make the resin a bit stronger, add some talc (baby powder) to the mixture, it turns it white and it makes the epoxy thicker and stronger. Just a general piece of advice....have fun with it...:D:D:D

[5FDP]

That head is coming along nicely. Great work!

[Scrapper]

you're doing some great work there!

[Bumbleb33]

Thanks for the idea Tabias, I am definitely going to try your suggestion of mixing in some Talc. Have ordered another Bumblebee from Jaydisc hoping to start on another project very soon and will apply all I have learnt second time around. Going to make a Fembot, saw someone out there may a custom Glyph but I think I might just go completely custom.

Pretty much just finished the final detailing on the alternate mode, still to run over it a few times with metho just to smudge the finish a little just to clean up any flaking. Ended up painting the windows as my attempt at tinting them failed miserably.

Here he is complete with exhaust and massive T Wing.

http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1345&stc=1&d=1263709039

[bruticus]

dude, that looks bad-ass. T-wing and exhaust system are "fully sick mate"..

my only comment is that, the paint looks a bit thick in certain areas. other than that, u did a great job!

[loophole]

dude that looks sweet!!, when can i order one :p

[Bumbleb33]

To be honest, I am not completely happy with it as I know I am capable of so much more, have decided to rub the whole thing back and start over.
Bought an airbrush tonight to ensure a much finer distribution of colour and more control than a spray can, watch this space, Cliffjumper 2.0 is on his way.

[Tabias Prime]

Glad to be of service,spending 10 years in the fiberglassing industry you learn a thing or 2 about gluing things together...

[Bumbleb33]

Not sure if anyone is following this thread but I am gearing up to have a go at dip dying a BB to try and shoot for the finish I just didn't achieve with my first attempt.

I watched a wicked video of a dude doing Animated Starscream on Youtube, was wondering if anyone had had any experience doing plastic dyes and what temperature range to use?

One example stated 56 degrees celcius and another said 89 degrees. Of course it would definitely be variable to the type of plastic you intend to dye.

[LordCyrusOmega]

That looks so good. wish i had the skills to do work that good

[Bumbleb33]

So last night I had a go at cleaning off the spray paint to start on CliffJumper 2.0, what a monumental failure, it took me close to two hours to clean one piece and afterwards the chemical reaction turned the piece white and powdery, I suspected it would happen hence the reason I experimented.

So as planned I scrapped the little fella I had completed and moved onto my new idea of Dip Dying which I had seen to very successful on YouTube. I bought a pack of i-Dye Poly Red and a made a load up and was amazed at the results. I will post pictures and instrcutions later, I think you will all be very impressed.
I only ran into one snag, the sections on Animated BB that are painted did not accept the dye as well as the cast plastic pieces which means sections of him are currently pink, but I found that if I repaint the section and redye it the sexy red comes out.

Pictures soon.

[Bumbleb33]

So just finished reassembling Cliffy, I have noticed some very mild distrortion as a result of the dying process, next time I do this, I will have to remember to lower the dye temperature.

Unlike my first attempt, this guy has no problem transforming as the dye offers no resistance.

I have taped the windows and painted the headlights and will do the panel paint tomorrow and then redye those sections. Hopefully I will also get onto detailing his head.

http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=1782&stc=1&d=1274547615

[lcz128]

Props to ya for dyeing him and doing it well!!
Looking forward to the NEW final product mate!