GIMLI Customs...

[Entropy]

I know I haven't shown my stuff here, but I'm not too shabby at sculpting, went to art school after all, and I'd like to take a stab at sculpting a Merry & Pippin once I finish up Gimli.

 

[Blu Falcon]

Cool he has two PMs now.

When he responds we should set up an official custom thread (assuming he accepts.)

Actually, I've been corresponding with him via email as well. I'm commissioning him to do some work on my Aragorn and Legolas. I'll shoot him an email and direct him over to our discussion. Not sure how often he visits the forums, but I'm sure he checks his email at least once a day.

 

[thenammagazine]

I know I haven't shown my stuff here, but I'm not too shabby at sculpting, went to art school after all, and I'd like to take a stab at sculpting a Merry & Pippin once I finish up Gimli.

I'd be interested to see what you can do. With Sam and Frodo having "wigs" hair shouldn't be an issue with them just needing a blonde repaint.

Though I'm torn between using one of the two extra Hobbit bodies on making an articulated 1:6 Yoda or keeping them for Merry and Pippin since I don't think we'll see any of them from Sideshow.

 

[Entropy]

As for Merry and Pippin, I think if we get a "well done" sculpt of each, then half the battle is done. I'll take a great sculpt with so-so outfit over the reverse, any day.

A creating a good sculpt is easy compared to the detailed clothing work. Sourcing the proper materials, creating patterns, cutting & sewing, etc. is much more labor intensive and difficult than sculpting, molding & casting. But the sculpt is the focal point and gets all the attention. I bet it must make the cut & sew people at Sideshow a bit irritated that their work doesn't get more recognition.

As far as Merry & Pippin wigs there are a few options.
1) reusing Sam & Frodo's wigs cast as separate pieces just like the SS ones.
2) casting the Merry/Pippin heads with Sam/Frodo wigs attached so the head & hair would be 1 piece.
3) sculpting new wigs on the Merry/Pippin heads and casting as 1 piece.
4) sculpting new wigs as separate pieces for Merry/Pippin.

#4 would be the most work but would look the most like a factory piece since that's how SS would've done theirs.

 

[thenammagazine]

A creating a good sculpt is easy compared to the detailed clothing work. Sourcing the proper materials, creating patterns, cutting & sewing, etc. is much more labor intensive and difficult than sculpting, molding & casting. But the sculpt is the focal point and gets all the attention. I bet it must make the cut & sew people at Sideshow a bit irritated that their work doesn't get more recognition.

Then again, maybe the costume designers feel that same way about the sculpt. Where to start, matching up character likeness and personality, keeping it to scale with the rest of the line, etc. Personally, I think both aspects are integral though the sculpt is a tad more important as it can ruin a well tailored figure but can save one with a shoddy costume.

A creating a good sculpt is easy compared to the detailed clothing work. Sourcing the proper materials, creating patterns, cutting & sewing, etc. is much more labor intensive and difficult than sculpting, molding & casting. But the sculpt is the focal point and gets all the attention. I bet it must make the cut & sew people at Sideshow a bit irritated that their work doesn't get more recognition.

As far as Merry & Pippin wigs there are a few options.
1) reusing Sam & Frodo's wigs cast as separate pieces just like the SS ones.
2) casting the Merry/Pippin heads with Sam/Frodo wigs attached so the head & hair would be 1 piece.
3) sculpting new wigs on the Merry/Pippin heads and casting as 1 piece.
4) sculpting new wigs as separate pieces for Merry/Pippin.

#4 would be the most work but would look the most like a factory piece since that's how SS would've done theirs.

Number 1 keeps them consistent with the rest of the line. Again, all they'd need is a blonde repaint. And they'd already come with the bodies needed anyway, so that's a bonus. Just two bald headsculpts.

 

[Entropy]

Then again, maybe the costume designers feel that same way about the sculpt. Where to start, matching up character likeness and personality, keeping it to scale with the rest of the line, etc. Personally, I think both aspects are integral though the sculpt is a tad more important as it can ruin a well tailored figure but can save one with a shoddy costume.

Again, it's the focal point and the first thing one notices and comments on about a piece so it's very important. It takes skill do doubt, but not nearly as much time & work as the cloth costumes. That's one of the reasons it's so much easier for SS and others to churn out statues rather than costumed pieces.

Well, #1 or #2 would be easiest since the hair is already done. I'm just not sure how it would look on a shelf with the exact same hair on 2 figures displayed together. I have to be honest that i'm leaning towards #4. Guess I'm just detail obsessed, though.

 

[pixletwin]

I wouldn't want Sam or Frodo's wig on Pippin or Merry since they all had different hair styles.

 

[Blu Falcon]

I know I haven't shown my stuff here, but I'm not too shabby at sculpting, went to art school after all, and I'd like to take a stab at sculpting a Merry & Pippin once I finish up Gimli.

Do you hav any samples of your work you'd like to share? I'd be interested in seeing some of your work as well.

Since we don't have a pre-existing Merry and Pippin figure to steal clothes from we can probably just steal the pants, plain white shirts, elven cloaks, and weapons from the DiD Sam and Frodo bodies. From there we'll only need to fashion a yellow vest and brown jacket for Merry, and a green jacket and scarf for Pippin.

EDIT: On second thought, it looks like we'll need a white sweater for Pippin as well.

 

[Entropy]

great pic. Really shows off how different the hair & costumes are, though you can't quite make out the corduroy material Pippin's pants are made from.

The Sam & Frodo shirts and elven cloaks definitely can be used, esp. if people buy an extra Frodo and Sam to use the bodies.
And the pants also after a dye job. At least the Sam/Frodo clothes can be used as a great starting place for patterns that can be altered a bit.

The last thing I sculpted was a starving dragon, and before that a Malcolm McDowell Clockwork head, but they're at my parents currently. Will try to scrounge up some pics.

 

[Entropy]

some comparison pics of bodies.
Truetype, Buck, DiD, SS Hobbit.



Surely, SS would've used the Hobbit body for Gimli, though his proportions seem too small for the dwarf. Perhaps they would've used a fat suit and taller boots to give him some height?



Frodo has a 2 part wig. This is with the front piece removed.

 

[icruise]

I wouldn't want Sam or Frodo's wig on Pippin or Merry since they all had different hair styles.

Just judging by this picture, the styles actually don't look that different, with the exception of Sam's, which is shorter. If you painted Frodo's hair in a different color it would look very different.

 

[pixletwin]

It would be worth experimenting with for sure.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Though I'm torn between using one of the two extra Hobbit bodies on making an articulated 1:6 Yoda or keeping them for Merry and Pippin since I don't think we'll see any of them from Sideshow.

You'd really have to do some major butchering of ANY figure to make a Yoda. He's only 3' tall or so. Might as well butcher a readily available normal scale body to do that and not the rarer hobbit body, IMO.

 

[thenammagazine]

You'd really have to do some major butchering of ANY figure to make a Yoda. He's only 3' tall or so. Might as well butcher a readily available normal scale body to do that and not the rarer hobbit body, IMO.

A normal scale body is just too big, all the way around. Besides, it's really not going to be that difficult. I'd plan on keeping the torso in one piece and chopping out the middle sections of the arms (humerus/radius & ulna) and legs (femur/tibia & fibula) then gluing the shorter parts together and see what type of scale I can get out of it. If he's still too tall, then I'll just remove the abdominal section like I did with the DiD Gimli body. If I go that route, I'm also planning on utilizing a Hobbit body for a 1:6 Gollum.

Both characters have more than enough versions available to kitbash, things like headsculpts, hands, feet, clothes and accessories, much the same way as we did with Gimli. If I go that route, I might poke at Pix to consider doing another How-To and menu for those interested.

 

[thamesvalidude]

This project seems to have some momentum now. I'm starting to get excited.
Must order another Frodo and Sam ready for decapitation!!!

 

[Blu Falcon]

This project seems to have some momentum now. I'm starting to get excited.
Must order another Frodo and Sam ready for decapitation!!!

Oh yeah. And with the Fellowship figures complete, we can finally start re-creating those memorable scenes from the films...

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[The Ween]

Even though I'll be working on Gimli, Merry and Pippin, I'll still buy them from SS WHEN they have them. ("There's always hope").

 

[icruise]

I really wish Gentle Giant hadn't done such a half-assed job on their "Classics" busts of the hobbits. I'm thinking they would be around the right size, but the likenesses are not great...

(For reference, here are Sam and Frodo)

 

[pixletwin]

Are those pee stains on the base?

 

[El Skutto]

Wow, those face sculpts really suck. And the same goes for the Toybiz action figures; very little attention seems to have been paid to capturing accurate likenesses of Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan. A shame, really, since they had some decent head sculpts for some of the other principal charaters.

Hey, couldn't we use the McFarlane Lost Charlie figure's head as a basis for Pippen, up-size it a bit and swap over SSC's Frodo wig? Not sure what we could use for Merry, though.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that my search is pretty much done. I just snagged my rotocast Gimli off the 'bay (in a lot with the Toybiz soft Aragorn and Legolas) so I've basically got everything I need to make the ultimate Gimli kitbash. Probably won't be able to start until the holidays, but at least that'll give me something to do during those two weeks off, other than playing Fallout 3.

So I guess the only things I still need to snag are an elven cloak from one of the other SSC figures, and one of their stands. Are there differences in size between the stands for the human characters versus the hobbits? And am I correct in assuming that the ideal elven cloaks would be the ones that came with Aragorn and Legolas, size-wise?