Metropolis robot

E

epoxinator

Well-Known Member
After seeing the great Metropolis paint job here:
http://www.therpf.com/f11/metropolis-maria-robot-8095/
and coming upon an affordable-ish Masudaya Maria, I decided to make my own.

I wanted it to be more articulated, so I bought an articulated female figure called "Perfect Body" made by Blue Box Toys. I was going to use the joints from the doll in the Masudaya figure to give it more articulation.

Due to my poor measuring, the Perfect Body figure is only 2/3 the size of the Masudaya.

Also, the Masudaya was pretty costly, and I decided to maintain that in its original state, and instead use it as a model on which to sculpt a Maria robot around the Perfect Body figure.

So, this documents that sculpt process.
 
In one day I ripped all the hair out, took off the hands and feet, and roughly sketched out with epoxy bonding resin the beginnings of the robot structure, including the face and the belly. I made a mold of one of two vinyl pliable breast sections, to later cast a resin breast section.

Unfortunately I didn't think of taking pictures of the first 3 days of construction. These show some rough blocking out of the hands, face and helmet.

sanded hands | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
all fits together | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
sculpt tweaks | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 
I like to use flat black Testors paint on top of the epoxy, because it's inexpensive and it lets me see where I need to sand or fill. I have had some issues with Testors body fill in conjunction with the black paint, because it seems to prevent it from fully hardening. I had to cut out sections of the neck and belly detail, and re-fill with epoxy, because the body fill stuff never hardened under the paint, and kept shifting when I tried to carve and sand it.

neck and breast detail | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 
By the way, my motivation for making this figure was the rerelease last spring of a remastered Metropolis that incorporated 25 minutes of footage that was removed in 1927, several months after the film was originally released. American distributors refused to release a movie over 2 hours, and their edit destroyed story and plotlines. A lower-quality, degraded copy of the original edit was rediscovered in a film vault in Argentina. It really enhances the film: now all the things that happen make sense. I recommend anyone who hasn't seen it to try to get their hands on this rereleased version.
 
RICHIES ARMOR said:
If you need any refernce pics I have lots. I know member Rotwang here is the also THE Autority on Metropolis!

Richie
Click to expand...

That would be great. It would be nice to get some closer shots of the elbow joints and the feet from the side.

Also, I am building separate back plate and helmet elements, so it would be great to see how the springs that held them on were attached.

Thanks.
 
@Blip: I did hear that, although I thought it was actually over a plaster cast they had made of Helm's body.

In the scale I'm working in plastic wood is just too porous, although it would be great to have more plastic control over the medium I'm using.

I tried to use Sculpy that hardens in the oven, but the temperature Sculpy takes to harden would also melt and distort the underlying articulated figure. I almost ruined the head doing that.

Has anyone else discovered anything that is plastic for molding, but can harden when you want it to? I've been using PC7 epoxy paste, but it's really hard to control when you first mix it. Once it starts to firm up, in an hour or two, you have a little more control, but it stays really sticky and hard to keep where you put it. I've been laying it on pretty thickly and then grinding, carving or sandin it to shape when it's set up. I hear it's not good for you, so I wear a dust mask and rubber gloves.
 
Last edited:
Aves. A two-part epoxy, water-soluble when first mixed, hardens in an hour or two. After it hardens, it can be filed, ground, drilled or sanded. Takes paint.
 
@richies armor and @sith sheriff brody: thanks for the information. I will look up the Aves: something that is water based sounds good, and a lot less toxic to work with. Is it pretty durable? I was using the Testors putty for a bit, but it takes too long to completely harden, and it dings too easily when it gets bumped, so I don't want to use it on sensitive corner areas. I like the PV7 I've been using because it's pretty rugged.

Here are a couple more progression pics:
face helmet and backplate progress | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
boob job | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
midway boob job | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I had to do a boob job: I'm much happier with the second sculpt.
 
More progression:
sculpting leg details | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
leg details painted | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hands details | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here is the head in nearly finished form. I had to make the decision to reshape the head to more suit the figure instead of the original character. This figure is supposed to be an accurate human figure, but the legs are way too long to be normal, and the head is not proportional to the body. I decided to change the shape of the Maria head to match this figure, so it would be aesthetically pleasing, rather than an exact match to the original, which would force me to restructure large portions of this figure's anatomy. I don't want to be working on it for another month.

silver face and helmet | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 
This shows elements painted with a light gun metal spray paint. I like it far better than some aluminum brush on paint I tried first. That was too bright for my taste.

gunmetal helmet paint | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
painted face and backplate | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
eyes detail | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
face progression | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The spray paint really shows up surface imperfections that don't show with the matte black paint or on the epoxy's original grey color. But it really looks great: it will be nice to get far enough along to do the body.

I've started to do the leg decorations, and then will move on to the arms, but first I need to let the breast changes completely harden before I go any farther. It would have been much simpler if the arms and legs had been removeable, but on this figure, alas, it is not so. At least the hands, feet and head could come off.
 
Been a bit since I've posted, because I've had some job interviews. Here are some more shots of progress.

Not sure if anyone is really interested in this, because I've had no responses in several weeks. I will finish it off, though.

eyes and ear connector | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
knee revamp | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
leg greaves | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
elbows & cuffs | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
elbow flange | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
elbow greeble | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
forearm details | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
hip flange | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

More later.
 
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