My own bio - The Black Warrior

[hez1]

Well, I finally decided what to do with my suit, and of course I started with the bio (it's sort of my speciality ). I decided to go with something I've never seen done before, and put a concept on something never seen in the comics - The Black Warrior. I took a P1 bio, mainly because it's my favourite of all of them. It's also rather generic, and I like the idea of Death being something for everyone, like the preds say...everyone meets the Black Warrior sooner or later.

So here's the pics so far...sorry, I'm really bad at taking progress pics, but this was just a test run...I'll be doing another one that I'll document much more fully. It's made from cold cast bronze, backed with fiberglass for strength, and then some more resin. The cold cast bronze was actually a really good colour for a P2 bio once I'd polished it up a little with some steel wool.

After buffing it with the steel wool (coarse, medium and fine), I brushed some patinas onto it and left it to stand for a while. It still needs a lot more doing to it to get it how I want (i.e. much darker), but I think this is a pretty good start. There's no paint on this anywhere, nor will there be! I might seal it with a clear coat, but that'll be it.

 

[Master Hobbs]

Looks good so far Paul

 

[tommynator1024]

You made a bio from bronze??? How heavy is that sucker????


Looks great!! You should call it the DeLorean (only car sold without paintjob I can think of... )

 

[xdmray]

looks great hez, how hard is it to drill cold cast?

 

[batmanvspredator]

wow just wow.

 

[Kithunter]

heavy metal hunter!!!

I'm diggin the bronzing effect on the bio paul.



A

 

[Crimsonbob]

Bronze wow thats awesome and looks great btw.

 

[hez1]

Thanks fellas! The cold casting does not significantly change anything on the bio, although the weight does go up a bit! The bronze powder adds just under a pound to the weight of a regular fiberglass bio. Cutting, drilling and sanding is the same as regular resin. I'll post pics as I improve the finish!

 

[ronin1]

Nice job on the weathering.Its great to watch and learn from the progress pics.Lots of cool technique and styles here on the lair.

Mario

 

[Tonkers D]

Woa way awesome dude ! Is it just a bronze dust?

 

[Uratz]

I've been interested in cold casting for a long time. IS the Metal powder expensive?
DO they have any powder that look silverish or like platnum?

 

[hez1]

I've been interested in cold casting for a long time. IS the Metal powder expensive?
DO they have any powder that look silverish or like platnum?

Yes and yes. Well, cost depends on what metal. The bronze powder was about $23 per lb, I got 1lb of it (450g for you metric users) and used almost all of it on one bio. I've seen aluminum powder for $8 per lb, and nickel/silver powder for $50 per lb.

Shoot me a PM and I can tell you some more about it. For anyone interested in the cold casting process, I'll put up a huntorial when I do my next one, where I'll be experimenting with aluminum powder.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention which seems obvious when you actually think about it...you get way more powder with 1lb of aluminum, than you do with bronze. Weight is not the same as volume...

 

[Uratz]

Keep posting ! I'd be interested in the Cold Casting Huntorial.
I'm making all kinds of masks and planning to make HI-grade Gallery quality masks. Will need them to be in Cold cast.

Did you use any fiberglass mat to reinforce it with metal powder + resin ?

The good and bad thing about cold cast is the painting part:
Its good that u don't need to paint it, patina and seal it after trimming. Saving a lot of painting time and paint supplies.
Its bad that without painting some masks designs like my BoneHUnter mask that need special colors defeats the purpose of cold casting
Thanks for the info.

 

[Elder one]

hmmmm if the weight could be managed.. I'd love to see some armor with this affect. If you want realism, natural weathering is about a true as you can get. I look forward to seeing your huntorial.

 

[hez1]

Ok, here's some more pics. I applied some more patinas to it, and got more or less the look I'm going for. Believe me when I say it was a pain in the butt to photograph, the colour is probably a little more steel like in person, and the oily, slick look is a little more vibrant. Tomorrow I'm going to do the stuff like cutting out the eyes and stuff...actually making it wearable. I'd love to know what you think of it so far though!

Oh, and as far as weight goes, it's really not so bad. It will certainly be a little heavier than regular armor, but not so much that it's unworkable. I plan on doing an entire suit with this look.

 

[Uratz]

Looks good to me. Is the patina a type of liquid? did u brush it on and heat it or something?
How to use this liquid for shading/contrasting the shapes?

 

[Master Hobbs]

that oiled effect is awsome

 

[carpe noctem]

very bad ass paint job!!! i bet in person looks even better!! sometime cams can't capture the details, but the pics look great anyway!!!

 

[pdisc]

Now thats a hunters bio........sick job Paul

 

[hez1]

Thanks everyone!

Uratz, a patina is basically an acid, or combination of acids that react with a metal. I brushed this one on, although they can be applied by sponge, airbrush or whatever. It's difficult to control the finished patina look, although I only did sections at a time, occasionally redoing one part if I wasn't totally happy with how it looked. Most patinas can be applied to either a cold or hot surface, and the finish will change depending on which you do.

Hopefully more pics coming later of the finished product.