Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - NEW SUIT DONE Pics on p.17

[stevechewbacca]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Thanks
Well, my bad, I didn't want to read all the 25 pages ^^"

 

[panterateama]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

You should lol it's sooooo worth it!

sent from my Galaxy S3 usong tapatalk

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

You should lol it's sooooo worth it!

I do aim to keep my posts entertaining and informative.

Yesterday I spent more time than I'd like to admit trying to perfect the casting process for the gemstones I'll be including on the Space Wolf suit. Here's three of the castings that were generated in the process:


The one on the left is a smooth-cast product (325 I think). The 325 cured way too fast for all of the bubbles to evacuate, so it came out opaque. The middle one is cast in "crystal clear" casting resin from TAP Plastics. The one on the right is the same crystal clear resin. In that case, I pre-treated the mold with a coat of clear gloss lacquer to prevent the silicone from screwing with the resin's curing. The end result had a much better surface finish and hardly any internal flaws in the casting.

I also started the mothermold for the pack vent yesterday, but I neglected to snap any pictures.

 

[panterateama]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Someone should call the sheriff! That level of neglect affects dozens of people... Namely those subscribed to this thread lol

sent from my Galaxy S3 usong tapatalk

 

[Alpha Proto]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Everything is coming along fantastic.
How did you get the big knife to look so shiny?

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

How did you get the big knife to look so shiny?

It's vacformed in clear plastic. The inside is sprayed with Mirrachrome before the two halves were bonded together.

After a brief distraction, I'm back to work on the Space Wolf suit. Yesterday I spent some quality time filling in seams:


I also got started on details for the shins:


Here's the right one in primer:


Then I did a quick test fitting:


They'll look great once I get them painted up:


Stay tuned...

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Double post. Oops.

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

I made a bit more progress on the Space Wolf yesterday. Here's the forearms in primer:


And the knees and a thigh:


I've also started installing the straps that will hold everything together:


Today I'll be detailing the shoulders. That should be fun.

Hopefully I'll be in the painting stage soon. Stay tuned...

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Didn't get nearly as much done as I'd hoped yesterday, but I did manage to get the mothermold for the pack vent finished:


I'll be casting those today, so that's good.

 

[panterateama]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Can't wait to see the paint job!

sent from my Galaxy S3 using tapatalk

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

It took more getting around to it than I'd like, but once the mothermold had set up, removing the original sculpt happened in a hurry:


Rotocasting the first copy happened just a few minutes later:


The second one too for that matter:


In a mad rush I went ahead and cut out the mouth area for both of them:




Once the teeth were cleaned up a bit, I went ahead and mounted them to the pack:


It's a bit tough to spot, but inside the top of the pack is a piece of plastic pipe:


It's capped on both ends. Once I've got the vent glued down to the skin with a good, watertight seam all the way around, I pour a bit of casting resin into the mouth of the wolf-head vent and tip the pack so that it cures at the base of the vent. The resultant block of resin holds the vent onto the rigid pipe instead of the very flexible plastic skin of the pack. It's much stronger this way.

So here's the pack with the wolf-head vents on both sides:


A few days back I spent some quality time casting faux gemstones in clear casting resin with a bit of red transparent dye. One of those gets mounted to the middle of the chest. In order to get it to catch as much light as possible, I started by mounting a piece of acrylic mirror as a background:


Then I glued on my favorite gem out of all of my casting attempts:


Then I used some Bondo to build up a sort of "setting" to hold the whole thing in place:


Today I managed to get primer on a few more of the parts:


I also got a basecoat on the leg parts:


And painted and strapped together the arms:


Then I screwed around a little:


And spent more time that I'd like to admit just staring at the shiny part:


Next up: mounting the stilts into the boots and basecoating more pieces.

Stay tuned...

 

[CLOTHAR]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

As always your work is amazing. That gem is stunning!

 

[Nessy]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

I hate to think how many cans of spray paint one of these suits would use...
Great work as always!

 

[Alric]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

I know you posted on another thread how you spend your time but I still marval how you find enqough time to do all your projects at the speed you do.

This will be grat addition to your collection.

You material suppliers face must light up when you ture up to start a new project with the amount of casting material you get through

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

I hate to think how many cans of spray paint one of these suits would use...
Great work as always!

If memory serves, it's three and part of a fourth. I'm good like that.

I installed a pair of drywall stilts in the boots yesterday:


Then I decided that they're too tall and I'll need to hack them down a few inches in order to keep the character's proportions from looking lanky and awkward.

In other news, I spent some time messing around with the hammer:




I'm thinking I need to scrap the hammer and start over. I still need the other half of the head and it's already impractically heavy. I can hold it at arm's length, but not for very long:


I've gotten a good start on the shoulder pad paintjobs:


Once the weathering dries, I'll make the borders grey and get started on the heraldry:


While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I spent some quality time cleaning out the vent details on the wolf pack:


I also started the mold for the belt detail:


I'm trying a new moldmaking compound called "Composimold." To use it, you heat it up in a microwave until it melts, then pour it over the part to be molded. When you're done with the mold, the material can be melted down and re-used. We'll see how it goes. You can get more details by clicking HERE.

Here's the mold about halfway made:


Other than that, I got a good start on the sculpt for a little skull to go above the gem in the middle of the chest:


So that's where that sits right now.

Stay tuned...

 

[drjag]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

I've heard that the heat caused by casting resin or whatever else you use that generates heat used inside a Composimold warpes it because of it's heat sensitivity, although I guess you never know how well things work until you try it yourself. I use something quite similar at my college, it's called "Gelflex" and you heat it up to 130°C then pour over what your molding. It can be reused and can easily withstand heat generated by casting resins. Best thing this, it's cheap! Here is a link to that product if you're interested. Remeltable PVC Flex1kg White (Gelflex) - Fred Aldous

 

[Alric]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

A reusable molding compund could save you a fortune with the amount of work you do and the size of your projects

 

[thorssoli]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

I've heard that the heat caused by casting resin or whatever else you use that generates heat used inside a Composimold warpes it because of it's heat sensitivity, although I guess you never know how well things work until you try it yourself.

You were right. The Composimold stuff is garbage and I won't buy it again. I was able to get one good casting:


Unfortunately, the melted parts of the mold seeped past the mold release and tried to bond to the casting resin. Add to that the fact that the mold tore very easily and I think I'd've been better off making the mold out of Jell-O. I suppose I only needed one casting, but the time wasted in setup, applying release agent, and cleaning up the final part far outweigh the cost of the silicone that I would've used to create a much better mold. Live and learn, I suppose.

In other news, I've finished modifying the drywall stilts for the boots. Here's a test-fitting with one of the guys that was helping me in the workshop yesterday:


Today I'll be finishing up the pack and hopefully vacforming the last few pieces of the diaper section. If nothing else, everything will be in primer by Friday and I'll be in the painting and weather stage next week.

Stay tuned...

 

[Bloo]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Thorssoli, Have you ever cut yourself on accident and found there's a titanium endoskeleton under there? Dude, you're a machine!! You just keep churning it out!!!

 

[AzurasStar]

Re: Vacformed Warhammer 40k Space Marine Armor - Finished Suit Pics on p.17

Your work is absolutely incredible... just the scale and accuracy of it. Though, I'll admit, I giggled at the little drawn skull sticker on the current chest piece.