Aliens Vasquez

[memyselfi]

Following in the tradition of an introduction as a " long time lurker first time poster ". Short version, when I was a kid, I was an advid model builder, at one point in time you had to walk in my bed room in a certain pattern or hit your head on a SciFi model hanging from fishing line to the ceiling. Now that I am old, I’ve gotten back into it.
:behave
To the point, I’m in the process of scratch building an Aliens Vasquez and M56 smart gun in the Neca scale.”. I have made several head sculpts and none are to my liking, does anyone have a suggestion for a commercially available figure that I can decapitate for my needs. (photos to follow) camera batteries charging. Thanks and Hello.

 

[memyselfi]

Here’s a couple photos of the so far. The plan is to make two diorama's from Aliens, the "marines we are leaving", ( egress to the Apc ), and “Eat this” ( in side Apc) . Years ago I had made the same scenes. One in 1/35 scale, and the other with the lead gaming figures.
The M56 is styrene covered balsa wood, with various left over’s from the scrap parts box. When I get it to a point that I am “happy with it", I’ll use it for a master to mold. The figure is a casting of a clay sculpt, that I keeping reshaping, adding putty, and repeat.
Back to the search, I’m not up on 99% of action figures, and am getting frustrated looking for one with a face similar to Vasquez. The ones I keep making, are too manly. So I’m at the point of cheating, and cannibalizing one.

 

[Lear60man]

Moar PIcs, And bigger too. How are we gonna pick it apart if we cant see the details.

Kidding, and welcome. But seriously ditch the potato and take bigger pics Everybody loves Aliens

 

[memyselfi]

Being bullheaded and stubborn, I still have not given up on making a scratch built Vasguez with smartgun. After many attempts and remodes to figure, I' m becoming satisfied with the appearance, The black sharpie lines are where I want to alter the “wrinkles” in clothing, also adding the sidearm holster. Putting a base coat of paint definitely highlights “flaws” for sanding. As far as the M56, the master turned out great after three going into scrap box. I knew I would need to break it down to multiple subassemblies, I just didn’t realize how many. The problem I am having is recasting, between air bubbles or areas that just won’t cast well, I’m having to go back and redo a lot of the copies (again light amount of black paint shows everything wrong).
That’s it so far, no where near being finished, in my defense this is my first figure scuplt.

OK so let me have it so to speak .

 

[saleem]

What weapons and mods were the real studio/filming props made from?thats how you get your weapon,if they used a m60 then buy a m60 in the scale you are building at,if it used a longer barrel from another weapon then buy that etc etc.this way you will end up with an identical or nigh on identical weapon,the same God for body amour,pouches etc etc.dome can be made from sculpting material but if you have difficulty buy them.only real way to eliminate air bubbles is to use a vacuum chamber to suck the air out the molds.and no i don't sculpt or cast stuff it's just what I read and still remember it from other threads/forums.

 

[Axlotl]

For your head sculpt, maybe try using reference pics of Jenette Goldstein from other roles.
Nail down her femininity first, then "Vazquez" it.
Just a suggestion, as I wouldn't know how to begin sculpting a head in that scale.

 

[memyselfi]

Not having enough sense to know when to give up. I am still tring to finish my Vasquez custom. Even more now that neca I coming out with one. Looking for opinions which if any looks close ? Be honest ( brutally if necessary). on a side joke here are about half of my fails

 

[korben44]

Could you reload your pictures? They don't seem to be working

 

[memyselfi]

Sorry, I dont know what the problem is

 

[RKS]

Left picture, second from the left looks ok.

 

[mcusanelli]

Dude, these are all very nice head sculpts! When you say 'Neca' scale, are you referring to the 7''line? it's obvious you have a lot of talent! As a sculptor myself, I would recommend that to get a good female likeness you have to look at the face far differently than a male face, try to keep everything a bit soft and curvy, you don't want to give her face any deep or hard lines, especially around the nose and mouth. Even if her face is angular, you could put those angles in, but soften them out afterwards. Another helpful hint is going to be in the final paint job you do. Look at the way light hits her face in the photo reference you use, and try to simulate that. I'm impressed at your determination to get t right, very admirable! Oh, another trick you might want to try is to sculpt her as a 'non' Marine with a feminine hair-do......She's got the bandana and short cropped hair that makes her 'manish'....I ran into a similar situation when I did my sculpt of The Thing from another world', I was doing the sculpt of James Arness in make-up, and i couldn't get it to look right for beans! So I re-started the head as a normal portrait, complete with hair, and Bingo! it happened! Then i shaved his hair off, and added the make-up, and was finally able to get the character right. Hope this helps!

 

[rbeach84]

I think you're doing very well with the head sculpts... certainly you are putting in the time on it! Being your first (really? hard to believe...) the results so far are very favorable. Hang in there, keep working it until you are happy with it - or happy enough. Mcusanelli's tip sounds like a good one... and it sounds like he is Mike Cusanelli, btw, who really is an outstanding figure guy (hi! Mike...) so he knows what's up.

Cheers!
Robert

 

[mcusanelli]

Hey Robert! Yup, it's me, sculptor by day, crazed plastic modeler and painter by night. And thanks for your kind comments, it means a lot to me

 

[memyselfi]

Thanks for the advice guys. Mcusanelli's, I check out your work on "DA" short version WOW, with alot of practice.......................... way the &*^% out of my skill set. rbeach84 your being nice by saying "Being your first (really? hard to believe...) " LOL. Its the first from scratch custom figure. Its started out as a "labor of love", and has turned into a personal challenge.

I've customized several figures ( re-sculpted Arnold Dutch yelling for get to chopper scene, Willis for Lt. A.K. Waters in Tears of the Sun, Orlando Bloom for Balian Kingdom of Heaven etc), just nothing from ground up. Those were just heavy modifies to someone else s work, even those I started over several times.

Scratching building vehicles is a lot easier to me. Collect reference source material, measure, scale, blue print, copy pattern, cut, connect sub assembles......

 

[mcusanelli]

memyselfi, Thank you for your kind words!
That's how a lot of people started out, myself included! For me, I got more interested in the figures that came with Monogram's planes and tanks, and the 'how-to' pamphlets that Shep Paine did.....And when Star Wars came out, my 13 year old self went bananas and got inspired to go into art in some form......It takes a bit of time to learn, but judging by what you're doing, you're on the right track, so keep plugging away! There is a book I recommend to everyone, an oldie but goodie, that I tell everyone to get that will help you with all kinds of things, like proportions, women's faces, and drapery -out of all the anatomy books I have, this is the one that helped me more than all the others, I go back to it on every sculpt I do to check my work... It's 'Drawing the head and figure', by Jack Hamm. From 1963, so it's as old as I am! Widely available, so you shouldn't have a problem finding it. He also does another one on animals that's fantastic too. Even though it's meant for people who are interested in drawing, as soon as you open it you'll see why I recommend it, it's just brilliant!