HAZMAT
(AVENGERs ACADEMY)
For 2016’s Fwoosh Secret Santa custom exchange, I receive a whopper of a list.
While my first reaction was, “Holy shit I want to make a Devil Dinosaur!” Sadly, that dream was squashed as I couldn't find a decent 12”+ T-Rex toy. They’re all either too short, made of some floppy foam rubber, or ruined by a terrible chomping, stomping, roaring, parent annoying gimmick. For half a second I thought I could sculpt it from scratch but at my production rate it wouldn't have been ready until the Secret Santa 2025!
So my next choice was a character I’d never even heard of, but her design was eye catching and she offered some new challenges I’ve never taken on before. So, I present to you HAZAMT. Immediately I wanted to make a removable helmet but had no clue how to do it. My original plan was to sculpt the helmet, then cut it in half and cast both halves in clear plastic. Sadly, after 3 different resins and about 6 failed attempts I could simply not get the clear plastic to cure properly or reach the clarity I wanted. I tried heat, pressure, mold release, no mold release but nothing worked. So I scrapped that idea and ended up taking the original sculpt and carefully gluing in a piece of clear plastic. I made sure that I cut the helmet where black paint would be applied so the seam would not be quite as noticeable . I then sculpted on all the extra details and hid magnets along the top bar and in the ear pieces so that the two halves would come together with an oh-so satisfying "snap"! There's a handful of WIP pics at the bottom of the page so get check it out!
To give her teenage proportions, I used the Spider-Girl body and, while it's not exactly Asian looking, I was lucky enough to find a cast of a Toybiz X-23 on Casting Cave which had the right shape and size I was looking for. I sculpted her hair and made sure it had some volume without impacting how the helmet would fit. Special thanks to a customer and good friend Wolvie9 for help on brainstorming the recipe.
As if the helmet wasn't a big enough pain in my ass, the real challenge with this figure was the yellow paint thin black striping throughout her design. For the base I primed everything using the Zenithal method (of which I had no clue it was called that until I read through ActionfigureToronto's tutorials. He's badass btw, go check his stuff out) to apply the shading. Once the base was set I custom mixed a handful of yellows and oranges to give her another layer of shading. After a failed attempt at free handing the black lines (lots of failing on this custom), I decided to use LMF (liquid masking film), silly putty and very thin strips of masking tape to mask off every little area of the figure. I also sculpted in some subtle wrinkles here and there as I like my figures to actually look like they're wearing clothes rather and not like they're some sort of painted genitalless mannequin.
So there you go. I'm pretty happy how it turned out and I'm extra happy that it went to ethansuplee, the fine gentleman that organizes the event every year and a fantastic customizer as well.
As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
- Jack of Hearts (Disassembled costume)
- Ant-Man (Disassembled costume)
- Cullen Bloodstone (Avengers Arena/Avengers Undercover)
- Death Locket (Avengers Arena pajamas costume)
- Mr. Hyde (Thunderbolts costume)
- Julie Power/Lightspeed (Runaways costume)
- Hazmat (Avengers Arena costume)
- Molly Hayes (Runaways)
- Devil Dinosaur (Nextwave version, 12" or taller please)
- Lockjaw
While my first reaction was, “Holy shit I want to make a Devil Dinosaur!” Sadly, that dream was squashed as I couldn't find a decent 12”+ T-Rex toy. They’re all either too short, made of some floppy foam rubber, or ruined by a terrible chomping, stomping, roaring, parent annoying gimmick. For half a second I thought I could sculpt it from scratch but at my production rate it wouldn't have been ready until the Secret Santa 2025!
So my next choice was a character I’d never even heard of, but her design was eye catching and she offered some new challenges I’ve never taken on before. So, I present to you HAZAMT. Immediately I wanted to make a removable helmet but had no clue how to do it. My original plan was to sculpt the helmet, then cut it in half and cast both halves in clear plastic. Sadly, after 3 different resins and about 6 failed attempts I could simply not get the clear plastic to cure properly or reach the clarity I wanted. I tried heat, pressure, mold release, no mold release but nothing worked. So I scrapped that idea and ended up taking the original sculpt and carefully gluing in a piece of clear plastic. I made sure that I cut the helmet where black paint would be applied so the seam would not be quite as noticeable . I then sculpted on all the extra details and hid magnets along the top bar and in the ear pieces so that the two halves would come together with an oh-so satisfying "snap"! There's a handful of WIP pics at the bottom of the page so get check it out!
To give her teenage proportions, I used the Spider-Girl body and, while it's not exactly Asian looking, I was lucky enough to find a cast of a Toybiz X-23 on Casting Cave which had the right shape and size I was looking for. I sculpted her hair and made sure it had some volume without impacting how the helmet would fit. Special thanks to a customer and good friend Wolvie9 for help on brainstorming the recipe.
As if the helmet wasn't a big enough pain in my ass, the real challenge with this figure was the yellow paint thin black striping throughout her design. For the base I primed everything using the Zenithal method (of which I had no clue it was called that until I read through ActionfigureToronto's tutorials. He's badass btw, go check his stuff out) to apply the shading. Once the base was set I custom mixed a handful of yellows and oranges to give her another layer of shading. After a failed attempt at free handing the black lines (lots of failing on this custom), I decided to use LMF (liquid masking film), silly putty and very thin strips of masking tape to mask off every little area of the figure. I also sculpted in some subtle wrinkles here and there as I like my figures to actually look like they're wearing clothes rather and not like they're some sort of painted genitalless mannequin.
So there you go. I'm pretty happy how it turned out and I'm extra happy that it went to ethansuplee, the fine gentleman that organizes the event every year and a fantastic customizer as well.
As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!