Re: HOT TOYS : MMS DX 12 - The Dark Knight Rises - BATMAN / BRUCE WAYNE Full Specs &
Well guys, I can guarantee you when you see it in its actual scale it does not look 'sleepy' (thanks mags). Sometimes it's easy to forget that these things are minute in hand, not bown up in macro. But anyway thanks for all the positive responses (except mags).
You may ask, why not try to do it from outside? You could do something from the outside but it won't look smooth and perfect, the detail is so fine any roughness looks really bad.
So anyway, to try and answer some of your questions. To get at the PERS plate. I spent weeks thinking about this, tried twice and gave up, but decided to go for broke today, I have two cowls so I thought I would take the gamble. I took some pics as I went so I will post in future. There are several obstacles to get through..
1: there are two circular metal plates around the inside of the head.
These are to stick to the magnet neck. Wedge them off, but keep them. You will need them again.
2: under the magnets is a very strong black plastic semi circle. This is a bastard to get out. It's the type of plastic that shatters rather than bends and it's in there tight. Once you get it out you can see the PERS control and back of faceplate.
3: the face plate (as shown in previous pic, is a rectangle of flesh coloured plastic, this is soft, to hold the eyeballs. I had to cut this away from the inside of the mask, one slip and you will ruin the eye hole of the cowl or puncture your finger..ahem.
4: Once you get it out, sand down the areas that are messy. Personally I think it's a really bad idea to get rid of the bottom eyelid, as it's painted very well and gives the eye structure. Also it is almost flat so depending on the shape of the top lid can give you different expressions. I wanted tiny eyes, hidden in black, because I love that look.
5: you need to use an epoxy putty, one that air dries very hard. I used black. Now if you haven't done anything at his scale before I recommend you try this before you open the head, it's a very precise job for someone without sculpting experience. Even a finger print ruins the illusion at this scale, it has to be completely smooth, once dry, use a very fine paper, wet as you go. Then paint, i also added gloss varnish to the wet areas of the eye socket, it doesnt show up on thise pics but looks great in hand. Then pop the PERS eyeballs back in and reassemble, this is quite easy. The biggest challenge with this project is to not damage the outside of the cowl, tricky when you are wedging and breaking inside the head.
No more derpy derp.