Small Soldiers Brick Bazooka replica for my son

[Desponds]

Hey everyone!

I've started to create 1:1 replicas of the commando elite for my 4 year old (nope, he was not allowed to see the film, but he found an old poster and the hasbro toys weren't good enough for him...). Don't laugh, its my first 12 inch project... and, yes, I know, the whole thing is only very very rough... The heads of the soldiers are pretty difficult to create, especially for Link Static since there are not a lot of reference pictures. In case I ever finish this one I'll make Butch next. I'm working at his rifle at the moment...

Maybe some of you have some inputs regarding the shoulder and hip joints... slaughtered a barbie doll I bought in order to find out how its joints work, but I think these are different.

Brick is now about twelve inches (a bit more than 30 cm), but he need to be 13 inches since him and Butch were bigger than the rest. It further seems that Butch and Brick have the same basis for the upper bodies and the arms (not the hands though). Nick and Link have the same boots, legs and hips, only different colors.

I bought whatever I could find in order to get references. The trading card set, even an Italian sticker album from Merlin (like Panini) which was complete in order to see the exact sizes of the figures... I bought the same vinyl kit of Chip Howlrunner has painted in order to have the first rifle, the speaker and the grenade. The bags of some of the figures are also the same, so I will make a separate mold of these (if I ever get this far, considering that I had to kill my mold for the Arnold bust in order just to get one silicone casting...).

The eyes are made with baked super sculpey, makes things a lot easier. The head is about 1.37 inches high and about the same width... Might be a little to small, so will have to make it a bit bigger...

If you have any ideas in order to improve stuff (except the obvious such as "were are the bags, his boots look weird, he has no gloves yet" , I would highly appreciate your inputs.

All the best

Desponds

 

[KevinBGoode]

Now that is impressive! Looks great already. Cant wait to see more.

 

[XxN3BUL4xX]

This is excellent great work so far would love to have a go at making one myself but don't think I could lol keep up the great work.

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

 

[robotboy]

wow im insanely impressed you should definately make molds of all the parts and sell a kit or complreted figure i know some guys on here including saint who is doing a chip and archer replica would love this

 

[Desponds]

Thanks for the kind comments! I'm working at the arms right now, finishing triceps area and arm joint... My facial expression has a slight resemblance to Insaniac's right now since it turns me crazy. Always comparing the limbs to the pics, then stating, "nope, not quite there yet", then comparing the limbs to eachother, stating the same thing again... Well, I'll work until I've got it, then we can talk molds

 

[lunar lord]

I cannot wait to see more from this ! This is one of my favorite movies

 

[Stoney]

Excellent work, i like it.

 

[bigluelok]

Nice Work.
Would love to see this when they are done.

Sent from my LG-VM696 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Nidgit]

Those head sculpts look great. Very keen to see how these look when finished.

 

[Howlrunner]

WOW! If you make molds I'd be SUPER interested. I'd even be in for just a set of the Commando heads.

I bought a very rare "laser eyes" Brick Bazooka head keychain which looks the right scale to me. It's slightly larger than the 12" Hasbro Chip Hazard's head, but looks exactly in scale with the rare 12" Stellar Gifts Chip Hazard vinyl statue I have (which is slightly larger than the Hasbro 12" and to me looks more accurate size wise).

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1998-Dream-W...00/s/OTgxWDc2NA==/z/KYcAAMXQVERSvZNg/$_57.JPG

I've done some work filling the seams and sanding off logos on Brick's head and was going to mold and cast it to paint properly. Then I was thinking about what figure would look closest to customise for the body (vintage Hulk Hogan 12" looks closest). Yours looks like it will be MUCH better than anything I had in mind though.

 

[Desponds]

WOW! If you make molds I'd be SUPER interested. I'd even be in for just a set of the Commando heads.

I bought a very rare "laser eyes" Brick Bazooka head keychain which looks the right scale to me. It's slightly larger than the 12" Hasbro Chip Hazard's head, but looks exactly in scale with the rare 12" Stellar Gifts Chip Hazard vinyl statue I have (which is slightly larger than the Hasbro 12" and to me looks more accurate size wise).

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1998-Dream-W...00/s/OTgxWDc2NA==/z/KYcAAMXQVERSvZNg/$_57.JPG

I've done some work filling the seams and sanding off logos on Brick's head and was going to mold and cast it to paint properly. Then I was thinking about what figure would look closest to customise for the body (vintage Hulk Hogan 12" looks closest). Yours looks like it will be MUCH better than anything I had in mind though.

Hey there Howlrunner!

That keychain looks pretty cool, might try to find one as a reference. If I'm able to finish this thing I'll make molds for sure since my boy will not play with chavant clay... "dad, I broke the Bricks arm" and so on...
I'll need someone anyway for the first paintjob, and judging from what I've seen from your work you seem the perfect guy

Could you kindly tell me height and width of the head you have?
Regarding the commando heads, I will make castings as soon as I'm happy with them. They are still too rough, and I'm fighting with details like Butch's lips' width, Kip's smirk/smile (well that this would be tough was clear from the very start...) and Link's face in general (the cheeks are too wide out to the front, and his lips are pretty hard to get right).

But again, when I finish this guy and later maybe even others, I will surely not forget you

 

[Desponds]

So, for you to stay entertained here are some closer pics of my roughed in head sculpts and Bricks left arm.
I would highly appreciate every feedback and input I can get from you guys regarding proportions and facial expression.
What I just noticed is that Kip's nose is too big from the side...

 

[Wolfman0]

Looking great! wish I could get my hands on one..

 

[Howlrunner]

Loving the heads. Not sure what online reference you're using, but these may help:

http://www.originalprop.com/blog/wp...In-History-Non-Lost-Auction-Prop-16-x1200.JPG
This one shows that maybe Kip's ear should be higher.

And some really good prop shots here of Kip, Chip and Butch:

?Chip Hazard?, ?Kip Killagin? and ?Butch Meathook? Commando Elite puppets from Small Soldiers

And Brick, Link and Nick:

Brick Bazooka, Link Static and Nick Nitro Commando Elite animatronic puppets from Small Soldiers

More of Butch:
Screen-used ?Butch Meathook? Commando Elite animatronic puppet from Small Soldiers

 

[Desponds]

First I used the ones you posted, then I found the ones I attach hereafter (don't find them on the internet anymore)



Then some stills from the Spanish making of video on youtube where you can see that Butch is based on Brick regarding upper body and arms. Furthermore, I bought the cinefex magazine, the movie scrap book and an Italian sticker album with over 200 stickers inside and large pictures of the commandos. Finally some window sticking pictures of Butch and Brick and yesterday a 159 pages book from Japan (they state it was only printed for Japan) regarding the making of of the movie... was hell of expensive, but in case its what I think it is, I can quote Kip in the shed stating "this place is a goldmine"
Regarding the weapons, I collected the pictures I could get and a book called "top secret dossier from the files of Irwin Wayfair" where all the weapons are drawn inside. The 1:2 figures of Brick and Nick serve as a good reference too, and now that I have all the weapons (except Butch's and Chips handgun - I took his rifle from the vinyl kit and its not screen accurate but close - I can work these up to the right scale too).

What I am desperately looking to find are high resolution pictures of the battle diorama that was on Stan Winston's desk. They would provide a tremendous insight, especially regarding the structure of the pants, jackets and shirts of the soldiers (i.e. the wrinkles and bumps - don't know how you say this in English, sorry and the joints. The shoulder joints are incredibly hard to make and especially fit in order to enable them to finally move smoothly. I hope so much to find insights into that in the Japanese book...

Whatever you find will be of help (especially any measurements for the heads and so on), when I get my Japanese book I will post some scans (since you cannot even google its ISBN number, there shouldn't be much trouble with copyright anymore, or should there?).

The heads still need a lot of upgrade, I just saw that Bricks forehead where his eyebrows should be (he seems to be the only one without them) is too far out from the side for example... Working on the legs now, then the shoes will be pimped to Bricks clownsized shoes (these things are huge

 

[LuciousFox]

will you be making any more of thease for sale ??

 

[Desponds]

will you be making any more of thease for sale ??

Should I ever achieve a level with the sculpts that makes them worthy of being molded, then, yes, I will make castings available to members of the forum. But it will take some time since I work 100% and have a wife and two boys , so I can only work on these sculpts at night...
The more people here can give me inputs in order to improve the sculpts, the faster or at least more accurate I will finish them.

 

[Howlrunner]

You certainly seem to have the reference material in place. Thought i had all the making of type books for this film - never heard of a japanese book before. Would love to get that myself or at least see some scans/pics from it. Do you have The Winston Effect? Some good photos in there. Profiles in History also had a lot of prop shots in their pdf catalogue when they sold off all Winston's display stuff (catalogue #30 or #31). Am trying to get a copy for you. Got my Brick head out of the mould (nice and clean, no bubbles) so can give you the measurements now. Remember that this head is larger than the hasbro 12" chip's head, so may be too big, but it's also in scale with the stellar gifts chip head, so it may be accurate. Without the garage soft statue to compare it to i don't know which is most accurate in size. Anyway, that caveat in place, the Brick head i have is 43mm from the bottom of the chin to the top of the hair, and 39mm from outer edge of the lower jaw to the outer edge of the lower jaw on the opposite side. Will post pics when i get a chance to take and upload them.

 

[Desponds]

You certainly seem to have the reference material in place. Thought i had all the making of type books for this film - never heard of a japanese book before. Would love to get that myself or at least see some scans/pics from it. Do you have The Winston Effect? Some good photos in there. Profiles in History also had a lot of prop shots in their pdf catalogue when they sold off all Winston's display stuff (catalogue #30 or #31). Am trying to get a copy for you. Got my Brick head out of the mould (nice and clean, no bubbles) so can give you the measurements now. Remember that this head is larger than the hasbro 12" chip's head, so may be too big, but it's also in scale with the stellar gifts chip head, so it may be accurate. Without the garage soft statue to compare it to i don't know which is most accurate in size. Anyway, that caveat in place, the Brick head i have is 43mm from the bottom of the chin to the top of the hair, and 39mm from outer edge of the lower jaw to the outer edge of the lower jaw on the opposite side. Will post pics when i get a chance to take and upload them.

Thank you so much for these inputs! Yes, I love the Winston book, it's simply amazing. I actually copied the picture of the commando elite from in there and enlarged it until I had Chip and the others about 12 inches high. This is how I made the first measurements for the heads. Problem is that the two 13 inch guys Butch and Brick stand behind, so you can't know for sure their actual size. Furthermore, in the computer animated scene where the commando elite is introduced (when they jump out the box and tell there names and so on), Butch is a lot smaller than Brick... But anyway, just measured my Brick head and its 34 mm from jaw to jaw and 39 mm high. Might be too small, might be right I can still fix in the end. At the moment, I'm roughing out Nick Nitro's head. Will post pics as soon as I can.

Holy cow, I just watched page 256 of the No 30 catalogue (followed the link a guy gave you on therpf ;-) These pics are amazing! And the other heads of the soldiers, oh my goodness!!! Thank you so much for these inputs, I'm so excited, it's gonna be a very looong night!!!

 

[Raykugen]

Man, this is amazing, no one has done something so great, you're very talented! And maybe the Blu-Ray version of the movie would help you to get refferences.