Executive Replicas 2001 Space Odyssey Astronauts

[Anthrapoid]

Still excited for the Clavius suit but...

Aren't the empty suits stitched shut? How would you get head / body into the suit?

Also, per posts here, Clavius was supposedly about to go into production in April, then it was purely delayed b/c of backup at ports (which implied it was on the boat), then back to approving final tweaks back in October, then "coming soon" in mid-January - and still nothing.

Seems like an inordinate leap of faith that we should commit to a headsculpt for a project that has been on pre-order for years now, until we actually see it AND confirm it can be used without cutting the suit open.

Jroug, I do freelance design and research for the ER company, including this item. During the process, I have received many photos of various stages in production; some of them quite recent. I've seen it being improved and made more accurate over time. The suit is NOT "stitched shut". It's the same as the previous suits, with a zipper running from the abdomen, under the crotch, and up the back to a closure flap under the backpack. A body will fit inside just fine. I wish I could post a bunch of photos, but I have been specifically instructed not to do so... yet.

The long delays have been due to a few issues: First, a long wait time and greater expense to renew the license from Warner Bros, then the covid lockdown, and finally the resulting slow-down at the ports. The port issue slowed items coming out and going into China. That caused delays in shipping raw materials into China from other locations, which affected production.

The final changes have been completed, and the suit is being manufactured at this moment. The port issue didn't slow down shipment of the item, because it wasn't yet finished and ready to ship. The cost to renew the WB license was unexpectedly high, so I know ER won't just let this whole project die after so much time, work, and money has been invested. Even the factory in China has been paid, so this item IS coming, I assure you.

I understand your skepticism and caution about ordering the head before seeing the suit. If you don't want to jump on board with myself and the others, you might be able to buy the head at a later time, but I can't guarantee that with absolute certainty.

I am trying to gather enough people to make this head sculpt more affordable for everyone, and the timing I chose isn't accidental. Getting a good number of buyers together will take a while, maybe months, so perhaps the suit will be released more or less concurrent with the completion of this head sculpt project.

 

[kindofblue]

Let's do this.

*bump* WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO JOIN THE
HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT PROJECT

READ MY POST ABOVE

Hello~ Anthrapoid
Thanks for your beautiful project of HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT!
and....We need his body ..... what is target body, you think?
Thanks again and Best Regards.

 

[Anthrapoid]

Hello~ Anthrapoid
Thanks for your beautiful project of HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT!
and....We need his body ..... what is target body, you think?
Thanks again and Best Regards.

I'm really not sure what kind of body would be best. I'm going to experiment with a few different types. The suit comes with two gloved hands, but I plan to make a custom hand that is positioned to be touching the monolith with the palm semi-flat against it and the fingers spread out a bit.

*bump* WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO JOIN THE HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT PROJECT. (read post #927)

 

[kindofblue]

I'm really not sure what kind of body would be best. I'm going to experiment with a few different types. The suit comes with two gloved hands, but I plan to make a custom hand that is positioned to be touching the monolith with the palm semi-flat against it and the fingers spread out a bit.

*bump* WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO JOIN THE HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT PROJECT. (read post #927)

Hi, Anthrapoid~
Again, Thanks for your beautiful project of THE HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT & HAND !
I'm looking forward to birth of this beautiful Art.
And...... one more question.....
I have ER red & yellow Discovery Astronaut suit .
But they don't have antenna (helmet antenna).
I can get antenna only, or helmet with antenna only?
I want antenna, very much!!

Thanks again and Best regards

 

[Anthrapoid]

Hi, Anthrapoid~
Again, Thanks for your beautiful project of THE HAYWOOD FLOYD HEAD SCULPT & HAND !
I'm looking forward to birth of this beautiful Art.
And...... one more question.....
I have ER red & yellow Discovery Astronaut suit .
But they don't have antenna (helmet antenna).
I can get antenna only, or helmet with antenna only?
I want antenna, very much!!

Thanks again and Best regards

After the Clavius suit is released, maybe someone will make a mold of the antenna and sell it, but it would be difficult and expensive to make it metal.

 

[Sc0tty]

Just had an e-mail from Monsters In Motion to say my Bowman Suit is ready for shipping!

 

[kindofblue]

After the Clavius suit is released, maybe someone will make a mold of the antenna and sell it, but it would be difficult and expensive to make it metal.

Executive Replicas don't have idea about selling antenna or helmet with antenna for customer of ver.1.0 (Red & Yellow suit)?

 

[Raymond F.]

I preordered direct from executive replicas the re release of the red suit no warning nothing at all all 6 that I ordered (we are doing a custom bowman run) showed up randomly on Monday

 

[FlyAndFight]

I preordered direct from executive replicas the re release of the red suit no warning nothing at all all 6 that I ordered (we are doing a custom bowman run) showed up randomly on Monday

"6"?! I can't wait to see what your custom Bowman looks like. If it involves a new head sculpt, I would be interested if you were offering that separately, as I have the original release with the "shocked eyes" head sculpt...

 

[Raymond F.]

Thanks bud! Yeah the new head is going to look great I just finished paining the first one. sadly I’m not offering it as I’m not the organizer I was just a part of the run so I can’t speak to any being available but I have volunteered to paint the sculpt and assemble the figure and provide any needed modifications for the others in the run which I think will largely be just repainting the chest box the right color (why do they keep making it so red/orange?) and replacing the hands with soemthing less cartoonish.

I will post where I land here so those who are interesting in modding their own can do so!

 

[FlyAndFight]

I understand but still look forward to seeing your work and following your "how-to"! Thanks, Ray!

 

[Raymond F.]

I opened this up today and from what I can tell it’s identical to the old release right down to the missing antenna

so if you were worried it would be an upgrade, rest easy

 

[Indiana Fett]

What, that’s crazy. I thought the whole deal with this re-release was to actually include the antenna. Hopefully Anthrapoid can weigh in.

 

[Anthrapoid]

Thanks bud! Yeah the new head is going to look great I just finished paining the first one. sadly I’m not offering it as I’m not the organizer I was just a part of the run so I can’t speak to any being available but I have volunteered to paint the sculpt and assemble the figure and provide any needed modifications for the others in the run which I think will largely be just repainting the chest box the right color (why do they keep making it so red/orange?) and replacing the hands with soemthing less cartoonish.

I will post where I land here so those who are interesting in modding their own can do so!

Yeah, the color of the chest box and back pack always bothered me, but repainting them comes at a price. The tiny black printed text on the orange/red plastic is so small (but extremely crisp) that it would be impossible to mask and preserve it; you would just have to paint over it and it would be covered forever. I researched and reconstructed that text myself, so I couldn't bring myself to paint over it on my own suits.

 

[Raymond F.]

Yeah, the color of the chest box and back pack always bothered me, but repainting them comes at a price. The tiny black printed text on the orange/red plastic is so small (but extremely crisp) that it would be impossible to mask and preserve it; you would just have to paint over it and it would be covered forever. I researched and reconstructed that text myself, so I couldn't bring myself to paint over it on my own suits.

That’s the exact dilemma I had Anthrapoid.
I could always make another decal but to be honest the back pack is so inaccurate to the screen prop not the decals that you worked on but the sculpt… that I sort of think if I sacrifice it to make the box less red it won’t mean it’s any more inaccurate than the back.

however after much humming and hawing I decided to scuff up the packs a bit but not necessarily repaint them. The issue I found in most cases where the box looks very yellow the suit looks orange. This suit is so cherry red that some of the reference shots I found like that do show the chest and back units being a lot more orange.

I’ll see if it bothers me enough once assembled and if so I’ll do the repaint and have to sacrifice the writing on the front

 

[Anthrapoid]

That’s the exact dilemma I had Anthrapoid.
I could always make another decal but to be honest the back pack is so inaccurate to the screen prop not the decals that you worked on but the sculpt… that I sort of think if I sacrifice it to make the box less red it won’t mean it’s any more inaccurate than the back.

however after much humming and hawing I decided to scuff up the packs a bit but not necessarily repaint them. The issue I found in most cases where the box looks very yellow the suit looks orange. This suit is so cherry red that some of the reference shots I found like that do show the chest and back units being a lot more orange.

I’ll see if it bothers me enough once assembled and if so I’ll do the repaint and have to sacrifice the writing on the front

There are supposed to be tiny black text lines on the backpack too, but unfortunately I joined the project after the backpacks were already in production. I compensated for this by researching the HELL out of the chest boxes. My issue with the chest boxes and backpacks isn't so much the inaccuracy of the color, but the translucency; they look like the thin plastic that they are. I think a layer of matte spray would make them look more opaque and solid.

 

[Raymond F.]

 

[Raymond F.]

 

[Raymond F.]

 

[Raymond F.]

DR. DAVE BOWMAN

PAINT: #RFCustomFigures (me)
SCULPT: @kubisiart produced by @onesixthelite
BODY: Coomodel 007 modified by #RFCustomFigures
SPACESUIT: Executive Replica modified by #RFCustomFigures (me) - hands replaced, chest and back unit weathered, all chrome dulled
HAL: USB Drive


This is a holy grail figure for me

As good as the likeness was in the custom sculpt I found the sculpt lacking a bit in detail and texture so I made up for it with paint. This took awhile to get right. I had to over index on skin texture and painting in his distinguishing features such as his eyebrow shape and crows feet…

Ultimately I think I’m going to be very happy with this and while the exec replica suit has its it’s issues, it gets the job done. I have done a lot of research and I find that the suit varies in different photos or scenes… it’s hard to get something that is ultimately accurate as there may be no such thing.

The things I knew I wanted to address were

1. fitting the right body in the suit
2. Dulling the chrome so it looks less cheap and more like aluminum (used testers dull coat paint with a brush)
3. Repainting the chest and back units less orange and more yellow ish
4. Replacing the hands
5. Replacing the hose on the helmet with a clear ribbed tube (thanks to the discussion earlier in the thread that pointed this out)

after much deliberation I decided ultimately not to repaint the chest and back units. As I mentioned prior, the issue is in most instances where the box looks yellow, the suit looks a lot warmer red...However the suit being a more cherry red for example the scene where he goes into the pod, the units appear more orange. So I guess the combination they gave us sort of works.

I might argue it should still be more yellow then they painted it, but if I repainted them we would lose some of the small lettering on the units as Anthropoid mentioned. I did weather it and “chip” it a bit in addition to dull coating the whole unit . Some props photos don’t look like they are scuffed, but I prefer it as it makes the whole thing appear less cheap looking in my opinion.


The hose I gave up on… it’s supposed to be a ribbed clear tube… so it will have to be like this. It’s fine.

The second issue is the hands, I approached a few artists who were too busy to do it but I found gloves hands that I think work exceptionally well. The hands they come with are very cartoony and not usable.


To be honest the boots could be better too but again I can live with it

For the body I landed on a coomodel 007 body with some cotton padding.