Grommash Build. Last Page new pics of the silicone glove. 01/25/2017

Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page 23 new pics of shoulder armor sculpt. 05/06/16

Sorry it's been a while. Life stepped in but I am back. Here are some updates on the shoulder armor.
Here is the sculpt sealed with black enamel.
shoulderarmor1.JPGshoulderarmor4.JPG
Sadly this is of some re-sculpting I had to do. I had the sculpt set on edge like it is here and the whole thing popped off the armature and hit the floor. It smashed both lower edges. It was an beginners mistake. I have always placed bolts in my armatures so this kind of thing wouldn't happen. I forgot. They got screwed in after this. It cost me about 7 hours of re-sculpting.
shoulderarmor6.JPG
2 thin coats of silicone, 1 heavy coat thickened with cabosil , 2 layers of epoxy/fiberglass.
shoulderarmor3.JPGshoulderarmor2.JPGshoulderarmor5.JPGshoulderarmor7.JPG
The mold minus the clay. Strangely the black paint stuck to the silicone so I left it in place after cleaning out the clay and used a mold release.
shoulderarmor8.JPG
Next was 2 thin coats of Epoxacoat, Free Form Air to fill in low spots to make fiberglassing easier, 2 coats of epoxy/fiberglass, edges of piece dremeled in the mold, fiberglass back filled with Rigid foam, foam carved, piece removed from mold and finished shaping of foam, foam sealed with coat of Epoxacoat.

shoulderarmor.JPGshoulderarmor9.JPGshoulderarmor19.JPG shoulderarmor10.JPGshoulderarmor11.JPGshoulderarmor14.JPGshoulderarmor18.JPGshoulderarmor12.JPGshoulderarmor13.JPGshoulderarmor15.JPGshoulderarmor17.JPGshoulderarmor16.JPG

I know some of this seems like over kill but I can't help myself. If I had it to do over I would have only done one coat of epoxy/fiberglass. I am please with it so far. They way it will sit I think you will be able to see up under it a little so I wanted it to look good under there. I felt like that second layer of the sculpt under the iron is was some sort of heavy woven mat. Before I paint it I want to finish the leather work under it so it is onto that. Thanks for looking.
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page 20 new molding photos 05/21/16

How did you pop it out of the mold with out breaking the mold (or the pauldron)?
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page 20 new molding photos 05/21/16

One quick pic of the paint. I will post more soon when it is complete.
View attachment 633492
Holy cow that metal looks absolutely stunning! Please tell me how you made it look so... Real! Could the same technique be applied to foam? Cause if I could recreate that effect on my space marine armor, that would be like... perfect. TELL ME YOUR SECRETS DAMN YOU!
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page one sneak peak at the final shoulder piece. 06/08

Ok I have been doing things. Slow and steady wins the race.
This is the leather base I started with attached to the bandolero. I sat the armor up there and built up foam under it until the space was full.
shoulderarmor23.JPGshoulderarmor20.JPG
Once I had that right I started on the fur. I found this Mongolian goat rug on line for 55 bucks.
shoulderarmor26.JPG
I used scotch tape to keep the hair down while I did the gluing process.
shoulderarmor27.JPG
The fur all in place ready to be died and stained.
shoulderarmor25.JPG
Here is the leather "saddle blanket" that goes under the armor. The is actually 2 layers. I did not take pictures of the second one.
shoulderarmorpaint11.JPGshoulderarmorpaint4.JPGshoulderarmorpaint14.JPGshoulderarmorpaint13.JPGshoulderarmorpaint5.JPG
The buckles ready to be molded
shoulderarmorpaint3.JPG
The finished piece.
shoulderarmor30.JPGshoulderarmor34.JPGshoulderarmor35.JPGshoulderarmor32.JPGshoulderarmor33.JPGshoulderarmor28.JPG
On to the bandolero.
 

Attachments

  • shoulderarmorpaint4.JPG
    shoulderarmorpaint4.JPG
    1.2 MB · Views: 112
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page new bandolero updates. 06/26/16

What clay do you use ? It doesn't look like you need to bake it, right ?
Making the mold case right with the sculpt is a nice idea, is the clay reusable afterwards ?
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page new bandolero updates. 06/26/16

So here is another piece of the puzzle. I started working on Grommash's hand. His right hand as I will be making his left hand later that will be static holding the axe. I decided I wanted to build an articulating hand. After researching anything I could find on articulating hands I found these simple wooden hands to be my favorite design. They are simple and sturdy so I set out to build one in Grommash size.

The wood hand. I liked the joints making a nice round knuckle. I also realized how nice the joint would work for holding a cable on the front or back for actual articulation.
bighand6.jpgbighand5.jpg

First thing I did was to determine the size of the hand. After plenty of for thought here is what I came up with.
bighand0.jpg

I really needed to know that my fingers could curl up inside the palm so I started by making a quick plaster cast of that area and taping it together and trying it on for size.
bighand.jpgbighand11.jpg
Next I sealed it shut and fiberglassed the inside. I actually don't have any pictures of the final pull of that but you will see it later in the build.
bighand11.jpgbighand10.jpgbighand9.jpg

Once I knew my fingers could maneuver I started on the fingers and joints. I started with the pointer as I can replicate that 3 times for the first three fingers. I started with 1.5 inch wooden balls to build the finger around. Initially I was going to glue the ball to the adjoining piece and mold it like that. After spending a day with that idea I realized there were several problems. Drilling the hole in the ball and cutting the groove for the disk after the fact would never have worked. At least not with the equipment I have. I ended up drilling the center hole I a ball first which is not as simple as it sounds. Ok it's simple once you know how. Next I sliced the ball in have and ground each have down equally to except the 1/8 inch disk I would make to go between them.
bighand12.jpgbighand13.jpgbighand8.jpgbighand21.jpgbighand14.jpg

I glued that bushing/space to the ball and molded it there. I realized later that bushing had to be able to slide out with the disk as it locked the disk in place the way it was. Learning curve!
bighand7.jpgbighand16.jpgbighand2.jpg

Onto the stuff between the joints. I used Super Sculpy so I could handle them with out continually distorting. I would build a bit then heat it then build more.

bighand4.jpgbighand18.jpgbighand20.jpg

If you look close at that last picture you can see a big gap on the joint when the finger is bent. I molded all three piece and cast them then realized I could not live with the way that was looking. It actually worked out because I used the cast pieces and Dremeled them down to where I wanted them then re-molded them.

bighand22.jpg

It was time to glue the balls and assembled this thing. One half of one ball is glued to one side and the other side the disk is glued in place then it is slipped together like butter!
Oops I have reach my limit on this post.
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page new bandolero updates. 06/26/16

Here is the piece with the slot dremeled in.
bighand23.jpgbighand25.jpg

Next I drilled the holes for the cables. One hole in the front and one hole in the back.

bighand26.jpg

Here it is assembled.

bighand24.jpgbighand1.jpg

That's it for now. Next I will be making the next two fingers. For the little finger I will dremel things down on of the longer ones. The thumb will be last and it will have to be built.
Onward Through the Fog!
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page Started on "The Hand" 07/14/16

Your talent is sickening! You disgust me with all your attention to detail.... and perfect rendering of accuracy and whatnot... :p

seriously though... holy cow, man, this build is mind blowing. It looks dead on. Has anyone at Blizzard been shown this yet?
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page Started on "The Hand" 07/14/16

Here are a few pics of the hand.
The first one is of a pulley I fabricated from a plastic washer.
finger3.jpg

Here is one I just found of the hand laid out.
finger9.jpg

Working the thumb. I had already removed the only ring I had for testing so I am pulling it with my fingers.
finger12.jpgfinger13.jpg

The inside showing the thumb tension "tendon". There's that pulley.
finger1.jpgfinger2.jpg
You can see also the two tubes that contain springs for the tension 'Tendon" for the pointer finger. The finger only weighs 170 grams but when I tried one spring by the time the spring was tight enough to hold up the finger it was to tight to bend the tip. I solved this by using a second spring which is only attached to the lowest part of the finger. Since I only have to bend that part with that spring the other spring/cable that runs the length of the finger only had to be tight enough to support the last two phalanx.
finger4.jpgfinger5.jpg
I almost forgot these. I was testing the springs here.
finger6.jpgfinger7.jpgfinger8.jpg

Now to the sort of bad news. After spending the last 3 weeks putting in many hours on these fingers I decided to shelf them. Once I had these two fingers installed I did not like the way it all felt. They did not move smoothly enough for me. I have to chalk it up to a good exercise. Last night I started down a different path. In my internet search I found several versions of hands that were moved with linkages. I came up with a pretty good design I think.
P.S. My dad told me a long time ago "when you are designing something try not to use any springs, pulleys, or cables. I should have listened.

Here are a couple of pics from a video that I'm using as my spring board. I'm glad I'm not on a time frame.
finger11.jpgfinger10.jpg

Here is a quick drawing I did last night at midnight after trying to sleep. I had to get it out of my head.
finger14.jpg

I also had to proof it out last night after drawing it. I made a quick mockup with stir sticks. It is looking promising. I will keep you updated.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page new updates on "The Hand" 07/26/16

Your approach to the hands looks unique and promising. Can I ask what video you're using as reference? It looks interesting.
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page new updates on "The Hand" 07/26/16

What an insanely awesome build. Freaking fantastic work!
 
Re: Grommash by Alphatech Last Page new updates on "The Hand" 07/26/16

Your approach to the hands looks unique and promising. Can I ask what video you're using as reference? It looks interesting.
Steve Wang posted a video and this was a tiny 4 second segment of it.

- - - Updated - - -

What an insanely awesome build. Freaking fantastic work!
Thanks Dude I am trying.
 
This thread is more than 6 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top