Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in! COMPLETED

[Mutant-Enemy]

Hey all,
Here's a prop that really got me interested in jewelry making and props in general...never dreamed I'd be attempting to recreate it but with the support of a few very talented people, I've decided to take a crack at it.
Follow along if you are interested!
First I had to figure out how big the device is which wasn't incredibly difficult as in most pictures of it from the movie it's in the palm of a hand.
I roughed out some measurements by holding a ruler to my palm and deciding what was to big or too small...oh and I also consulted my CAD artist friend who deduced that I was pretty spot on with my measurements. Here's the photo of how he figured it:

Next up I had to print out images of the device and cut them for placing on the modeling wax.
I used rubber cement to afix the images to the wax so they can be peeled off cleanly when I'm done with them.

Then I cut in around the images.
I'm going to have to enjoy the machine cutting while I can as most of the rest of the work will have to be done by hand!

Next up is cutting away the excess wax.
I actually broke a blade during this part which kinda suprised me...
I mean it's just wax after all...I must have had the tension set too high.
Luckily I had another blade handy.

And the shapes cut out at last.

Now the real work begins of roughing out those domed halves with a file by hand.
I'll post more progress as it occurs if anyone is really interested.
Thanks for looking!

 

[Howlrunner]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

It's a good start. The sculpting is going to be pretty fiddly.

 

[wuher da brewer]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

I really love this prop and will certainly be watching this thread. Best wishes with the build.

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Thanks guys!
Yes, the detail is going to be tricky but I've found some great shot's of the device from when it was being made and have worked out the intricate design on both halves as well as how it is locked together.

I don't like to talk about the end too early but I'm planning on casting this up in silver (like the originals) and then having it gold plated.

More progress pics soon!

 

[LeMarchand]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

i will be viewing this thread with great interrest. Still a bit bummed that dexter1138 never replied with regards to his copy of the original.....we were sooooo close

 

[Jerseydevil]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

i will be viewing this thread with great interrest. Still a bit bummed that dexter1138 never replied with regards to his copy of the original.....we were sooooo close

I didn't know someone with the original used to frequent this place. That would have been fantastic. As with others who have posted, I'll be watching this thread with great interest. Can't wait to see how it progresses. Good luck!

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Thanks for looking guys.
It's my understanding from an interview with Del Toro that there were 13 devices made for the movie. Each device did a different movement because they couldn't make one do them all.
When the shoot ended, the devices went missing and Del Toro said in the interview that he still has casts from the original mold but has never had the pieces made up into a full on device.
Whether that means he doesn't still have the molds or not wasn't clear.

I believe the "device" that Dex spoke of was not an original but something that was mocked up by XFX for the re-release of the Anniversery DVD and that they were given out as gifts for those who attended the screening. I could be completely wrong about that but that was the impression I got from his post.
There's no telling how detailed they were or accurate in size or, well...anything until Dex posts pics of the one he has.
I'll admit, I'd like to see it too but I'm kind of impatient so I decided to dive in on my own.

 

[Howlrunner]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

I believe the "device" that Dex spoke of was not an original but something that was mocked up by XFX for the re-release of the Anniversery DVD and that they were given out as gifts for those who attended the screening.

If that's true, have you tried emailing Elemental Auctions (who are selling off a lot of XFX's back catalogue) to ask if they have any castings that will be going up for sale?

http://www.therpf.com/f45/steve-johnson-xfx-archive-items-sale-87941/

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Thanks for the link H.R....PM sent.

Did I say RE-release of the DVD?
I meant "release" as in first release of the dvd which would make much more sense
and could mean that the XFX ones are more accurate to the originals.
Will post Steve's response if I get one!

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Some progress last night and today.
Beginning to shape. Notice the placement of the Jewel opening
for shape and placement reference and even though it becomes just dot's after a lot of shaping it still really helps.

After a few hours shaping.

Started a joining flange then decided to remove a section to save on elbow grease.

Piece thinned some more and line for joining flange re-added.

Added the decorative line that will become a rounded border.

The piece is starting to fit in the hand really well!
Moving on to shaping of the other half at this point.

When I come back to this top piece I'll be adding the groove for the tail "stinger", the disk for the winding mechanism and the opening for the jewel.

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

More progress.
Starting in on shaping the second half of the device.
I used a heavier rasp to take more wax off more quickly...
saved a little time and I didn't have to worry about placement of any shapes like with the top.

Once I got some basic shape I set my mind to more quickly bringing it down in thickness and decided to use my hand router starting in the middle and working my way to the outer edge.

I'm finding I can take the edge down pretty thin if I work slowly.
In this picture I'm taking off thickness however so this edge has got to go but it's still nice to see how thin I can get it if I need to.

Checking the placement with the top half.
That narrow band in the middle has to fit almost flush into the second half...this part was the most time consuming, lining them up so they'll fit together evenly.

A bit more routering and a lot of time with my wax carving tools and it now fit's together like this:

Now that it's closer to the thickness it needs to be I can start adding more of the shapes to the top.
I re-pinned the photo back onto the wax using the small white dots from the jewel outline as guides,
now I can make some marks where the needle track and snake disk are supposed to go.

Snake circle and needle track roughed in.

Time for a break at this point. Next up I'll be adding the detail to the middle joining section of the bottom half and starting in on hollowing the whole thing out.

More when I'm able!

 

[JDarko]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

thats insanely good! I've never worked with wax before but seeing this makes me giddy to want to try it. well done bud! Be proud!

Johnny

 

[Eaglewood]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Freaking fantastic!!!!!!

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Thanks Clay and J.D.!
I'm coming up to the point where I'm going to create wax injection molds on the two halves
so that I can then create as many duplicates of them that I want for perfecting the detail...
It would be just like me to continue carving on the original pieces only to screw them up and have to start over completely! What's the saying?...
better safe than sorry I suppose.:rolleyes
More soon!

 

[kdawg1]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

WOW this is really coo! Nice work I love seeing post like this it really gets my mind working! Keep up the great work!

 

[Sikosh]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Great to see the progress! I love Del Toro's work

 

[SupMyNerfHerder]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Very very impressive... Always nice to see talented hands give 3D computer modeling a run for its money!

Dan

 

[Howlrunner]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Making good progress. :thumbsup

 

[Mutant-Enemy]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in! W.I.P

Taking a bit of a break from this while I'm waiting for supplies and more tools to arrive. I found another set of detail carving tools that I simply HAD to have for this and I also ordered up some Blue Wax for sculpting the exstremeties of the piece.
More here after stuff arrives.

 

[zenix]

Re: Guillermo del Toro's Cronos Device...digging in!

Very very impressive... Always nice to see talented hands give 3D computer modeling a run for its money!

Dan

yes for a model like this, hand sculpting is definitely the way to go. its too intricate with too many organic curves to replicate