P1 lifesize head sculpt (wip)

[Mx10]

So I started this project quiet a while ago and after two years of not being able to work too much on it, mainly because of life getting in the way (and a good amount of procrastination).Today I finally got around to being close to finishing the sculpt, but before attempting to mold it, I just wanted to share the sculpt in here to see if the lair approves it and also to ask for some advice on how to make a two-part mold for a latex predator head (head+ mandibles) since its my first attempt at this and I have already found some horror stories about molding on other forums..

 

[LunaticNic]

Absolutley amazing job on the sculpt!!!!
Regarding molding, you'll want to remove all teeth, and the bottom mandibles (I used dental floss to get very clean cuts for the mandibles) and mold them separately in silicone to cast in resin. For the rest of the head you'll want to do a stone or resin 2 piece mold. Stone makes latex cure faster, but the resin mold will hold details longer.
Hope that was helpful

 

[Tallon]

Oh, Nick, you've finally found a 1:1 scale soulmate sculptor

Incredible work Mx10!!!

 

[Mx10]

Thanks for the kind words guys still need to fix some things on the sculpt before I can call it finished.
Never heard of a resin mold, I always thought stone was the only way to go, but resin seems like a better material overall, so I guess I will have to search more about it.
Thanks for the help!!

 

[Shoguno]

Mx10 MAN MAN MAN this is a awesome skill you have there... are you sure you havent been working on Stan WInston school (joke) keep it up my friend Yautja we want to see your progress

 

[Mx10]

Ok first of all, thanks shogun your comment really motivated me to continue this project

It took a while but I changed the texture in the whole head, made it a little wider and reworked the eyes. It´s still far from being movie accurate but the sculpt its finally ready to be molded .Here are some pics I took today (added the black pupils in photoshop)

I have seen people on the internet always make the mold line along the top of the crown but I was worried that the holes for the dreads at the sides of the head will make it difficult to separate the mold without risking damaging it. Has someone had this problem before or is it just me being too much of a noob and worring too much?

 

[LunaticNic]

Looking absolutely phenomenal Mx10!!!

Regarding the molding question, I haven't had an issue separating the two mold halves due to splitting it at the crown. The main reason it's done there (to my knowledge) is due to the fact that a seam line is created when casting. And with it going along the crown of the head it's not very noticable, and can be removed without fear of damaging detailed areas.

 

[Tallon]

Nick is the best person to talk to because he probs makes the Yautja all their huge statues anyway

 

[Giles]

Check out this youtube video for making a stone mould. If i remember correctly this predator was called Goliath. Pretty useful video and of a Predator as well.

 

[Monkey5150]

wow that was an impressive build, what ever happened to it?

 

[Fayne]

I'm saving these pics for reference. astounding work.

 

[Mx10]

Hi guys, haven´t post any updates mainly because I ran into many problems with casting, foaming and trying to airbrush latex and wasn´t happy with the way the project was going. Still I learned a lot from my mistakes and definitely gained a lot of respect for the guys in this forum that make it seem so easy .

Finally I ended up abandoning the project for a while, but decided to continue it now, just a little different.

My plan now is to cast a resin copy of it, try my best to fix the errors that occurred during molding using epoxy and sandpaper and paint that one using acrylics, hopefully will have some progress to post in next couple of weeks

 

[Shoguno]

Mx10 why do you want to do a resin copy of it ? When you can just use a Latex mask as display and cosplay ! That's what i do

 

[Mx10]

Aaand its done!!
Long story short. I did a resin copy of it by slushing resin inside the mold and then breaking the plaster mold to release the resin copy.
In the proses more than half of the head broke so i ended up with a broken copy of the face and crown. In an attempt to salvage it I decided to fix it a bit with epoxy and turn it into a wall hanger, not what i wanted but it works

Then came the painting... I really found useful this thread in the RPF Painting a Predator Build Thread., probably the best tutorial (kinda) if you're trying to paint a predator head

Being new to painting with an airbrush and missing some essential things like a moisture trap , I wasn`t able to do the original paintjob justice, but still im happy with the way it came out to and can always update it in the future

soo here are some pics of how it looks now: