Interest?Hot Toys DX 08 Custom Hat thread

[sueworld]

Hmm, not sure how good that would look myself. It would depend on how good the fabric was.

Do you remember the Asmus Mask they did. That had the same kinda hat and that was just sculpted and cast out of hard plastic.

 

[batfan08]

Do you know what I'm saying, though? use the vac-formed crown as a structure (skeleton, base, etc.) and then use fabric, you could potentially even use wire to build a structure for the brim, if need be.

 

[sueworld]

I think It will be very fiddley and I'm not all that confident what the results would be at that scale. If anyone else wants to try it or can suggest a suitable fabric then by all means have a go though.

 

[TheFiend]

If this is sculpted, that looks great. Does anyone know someone who has it in hand? batfan, I want a fabric hat as much as anyone but if we can't find a way to do it sculpted may be the best route. I did't even think of it until Maglor said something. The thing is that it has to look real and not a shiny mold.

 

[batfan08]

Well, those are issues that I'm also curious about. I like the idea of a sculpted hat, but I also like the, shall I say,"authenticity" that fabric brings with it, and thus, I'm trying to brainstorm various ideas. I feel like the more input we get, the quicker we can get this thing moving, but I also would like to make sure that we get the best product possible.

 

[S. Griffin]

I think a sculpted hat would work if it fits that head perfectly, but at the same time fabric would (could?) give the hat flexibility to sit in slightly different positions. A sculpted hat with room to move probably wouldn't fit all that great in any position.
Maybe I'm jumping ahead here.

 

[batfan08]

I think a sculpted hat would work if it fits that head perfectly, but at the same time fabric would (could?) give the hat flexibility to sit in slightly different positions. A sculpted hat with room to move probably wouldn't fit all that great in any position.
Maybe I'm jumping ahead here.

I get what you're saying. There's one pic where this is especially present, as his brim has something of a downward tilt on one side; this doesn't seem like it'd work with plastic. What I'm hoping for is a hat that maintains the structural integrity of plastic, while providing the flexibility, look, and feel of fabric. That's why I suggested using a vac-formed, sculpted endoskeleton, so to speak, and a fabric covering, Basically, a plastic crown with a wire structure serving as the skeleton for the brim (as it seems like this could support the malleability of fabric, while maintaining the structure of the brim), and sewing it all up in a fabric "skin" with a nice, authentic band.

 

[small_studios]

Not sure if it has been mentioned but I would try getting WGP to make it in Zbrush. This should be fairly easy and accurate since it will be done with a computer. With an added texture it would look really nice.

 

[TheFiend]

Maybe a sculpted hat with with just some cloth on the inside to hold in position? I dunno....Maybe we can at least do what small_studio said just so we have something. At least get the ball rolling a little bit.

 

[batfan08]

Well, here's a quick concept sketch I created to try to illustrate my idea, but if sculpted is what you guys want to go with, majority rules:

 

[Maglor]

^^^ Seems too complicated maybe?

What about just the top of the hat(I.e. the crown and the top half of the brim) with fabric and a fabric band?

It would have to be all fabric or all sculpted to look uniformed. However, I like the idea of a sculpted hat with a fabric band. Could go with a nice silk band like that one that comes with the DX08. Having a fabric detail (the band) would fill that need for something "real" I think.

If this is sculpted, that looks great.

Not bad at all. The crown is too wide of course.

Does anyone know someone who has it in hand? batfan, I want a fabric hat as much as anyone but if we can't find a way to do it sculpted may be the best route. I did't even think of it until Maglor said something. The thing is that it has to look real and not a shiny mold.

And that would be more about the paint than the sculpt. Sideshow's Indiana Jones hat is sculpted and it looks great:

Only the band is shiny.

I think a sculpted hat would work if it fits that head perfectly, but at the same time fabric would (could?) give the hat flexibility to sit in slightly different positions. A sculpted hat with room to move probably wouldn't fit all that great in any position.
Maybe I'm jumping ahead here.

What about the Medicom Sparrow hat? Even fits great on the Hot Toys DX figure:

I think if the plastic used has a little flex to it, it could have a nice close, tight fit.

 

[Maglor]

Not sure if it has been mentioned but I would try getting WGP to make it in Zbrush. This should be fairly easy and accurate since it will be done with a computer. With an added texture it would look really nice.

I think a well sculpted hat with the right texture and paint plus a real fabric band would be awesome.

That's where my vote is anyway.

 

[batfan08]

I could see how it could seem too complicated, I'm just trying to figure out how we could make it more versatile. All of the wires could be fed in and glued to little holes in the plastic crown and from there, it's just a matter of getting some fabric and sealing the sum_____' up. I'd like to make a prototype to see what you guys would think, but I don't have the resources. I do think sculpted with a nice silk band could be a viable option. My only problem with sculpted is that, in my opinion, it seems like a step backwards from what Hot Toys did. Granted, the shape and color were off, but just settling on a sculpted hat seems like it'd be taking the easy way out. Maybe that's just me, though.

 

[Maglor]

Medicom's Jack Sparrow sculpted hat looks miles better (and more accurate) than the "fabric" Hot Toys hat.

It seems that the DX line is trying to be more "real", but in my opinion that's not always the best looking.

 

[batfan08]

The only thing that I'm thinking is that, if it were fabric, it would have to be thick enough so that wires weren't showing through, but thin enough that it doesn't look ridiculous and oversized, and that could prove difficult, unless a thinner fabric was covering the crown with a thinner fabric covering the brim, the stitching could then be covered by the band...pardon me, I'm just thinking aloud here. lol I'd like to maybe see about a poll being instated.

 

[Cocoboloboy]

Personally I don't think a wired brim is the way to go. I like the idea of it being sculpted out of a more flexible material like Indy's hat though.

A felt hat isn't completely out of the question either. If someone wanted to try it I'll spill how I made the old Joker's hat from back in the day.

Buy the cheap purple felt. Lay them on wax paper and soak it in fabric stiffener. After it's dry you can trace a pattern on it and use an exacto to cut the pieces out. You can now bend the pieces and assemble them all with superglue. If you want to reshape the brim you can either bend it dry or mist it with water to make it more plyable.

The fabric stiffener takes away that fuzzy look to the felt and also allows you to paint it if you want to get the color just right. It is thicker than HT's vacu-plastic, flocked hat but I've always wanted to try and get a rolling pin and flatten the felt just after I soaked it. I think you could take a 64th or so away from the thickness by doing that.

Just some thoughts that might help.

 

[batfan08]

Would you be interested in maybe showing a prototype or a test hat with the felt?

 

[TheFiend]

I'm leaning toward Mags on this. Sculpted with a nice silk band.
But yeah I'd like to see a test hat too Coco, if you're interested of course.

 

[batfan08]

I looked at Coco's previous hats, and honestly, the only issue I see is that the crowns are a little too wide, but they look pretty great from what I've seen.

 

[TheFiend]

Got a link?