Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien)

Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Leigh,

Looking at that undercut on the side the form may still lock into that.
There is a way to vacuum form undercuts by using silicone two part moulds. You would have the dome part as one and an inner supporting part as the other. That way once it's formed you can pull the inner part out and the dome will collapse and pull out too.

It will help
If you are using a vac former with hydraulic pattern and blowback but I think as it is it may lock on.

Pm me or give me a call. I think you may still have my number and I can talk more.
I vacuum for a lot as I make ROTJ Stormtrooper armour and helmets.
Cheers

Mark.
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Thanks guy's :)

Mark you have a PM :)

Still Fibreglassing at the moment I'll get some pic's up when I've got the cross bracing in :)
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

OK, I've pretty much finished the buck.
I've still got to rub the paint off, I've got a row of holes to drill just under the undercuts & a little fettling but the structure is all done. Its not very heavy but its very strong! the walls of the under structure are 1/4" thick as is the lip around the bottom. All of the under structure slopes outward from where it joins the dome edges :)
772.JPG

773.JPG

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:)
 
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Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

To remove the piece, maybe you will have remove it when it is still a bit 'hot. The operator told me he had done with this method, with mine. Or, if you can, cut it, leaving it on the mold without damaging the mold. The undercut is very pronounced and the outside figure, thence. Will require a considerable shift in the vertical direction, so that the width of the part exceeds that of the mold. You should leave the rear without undercut, only a small furrow to identify the cut. This rear area would help to begin to slip the piece. I'll give you my best wishes. :)

diff dist vertical.jpg
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Thanks guy's :)

DD your worries are fully justified :) The buck closest resembles the pic on the left in shape. I have accepted that this wont just pop off of the buck, it'll need a little effort to remove it. Firstly my plan is to use Polycarbonate & at approximately 1mm thick after forming, so maybe 2-2.5mm thick before forming. Anyone who has knowledge of the polycarbonate RC car body's should be familiar with how flexible & tough polycarbonate is. I plan to trim a large part of the waste away prior to removal to ease things a little & then trim to finish after. I'm not expecting it to be easy but it has to have these undercuts otherwise it'll be the wrong shape :)


EDIT:

I've made some quick n nasty cardboard templates to show you guy's the shape & size of the undercuts :)
The first pic is about half way along the head & is the biggest & deepest undercut:
775.JPG


This second pic is at the worst undercut of the front area:
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This third pic is the cut off line at the back, this is here purely as a cutting guide:
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This last pic is just a shot looking from the back to the front from a low angle:
778.JPG
 
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Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Suspense is killing me.

:lol Sorry I have nothing exciting to report atm, the only things I've achieved since my last update is another full head cast with tinted urethane (a nice shade of grey). The cast has come out well! It was the first full test of the rotocaster & I have a 3mm (1/8th of an inch) average, relatively even thickness throughout the cast. I've also foam filled it with success :)

It means to me that the rotocaster works perfectly, I now know exactly how much urethane I need for a head cast, I know exactly how much foam I need for a head cast & I know that the black pigment I've used works & looks good.

Unfortunately I've run out of materials & money so Bob's on hold atm. I will update as soon as I can :)

Many thanks for the interest :)
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Hi folks, I thought I'd share my project with you guy's. I'll admit from the off that I'm after some advise here & there & I'd like to know what people think so here goes....

Firstly he's called Bob as my missus doesn't share my enthusiasm for this sort of thing & it add's a little lighthartedness when talking to her about him :)

I'm having a go at making an Alien creature (head & neck) loosly resembling the creature from the first Alien film, its something I've wanted to do for years. Now I've never really sculpted anything before & I've never used silicon moulding material before so I'm a bit of a novice in this field but I've commited myself to finnishing this to a standard I'm happy with.

I'm not trying to make an exacting copy of one of the original prop head's, I'm making it how I think it should look so it may not be to everybody's taste but hopefully you'll like it.

It's at a fairly early stage at the moment & I'm learning as I go. I've read a few posts on here in search of info & found that this community seems to be just what I'm looking for.

I'm using pic's I've found on the net & I have the book Giger's Alien for reference material as far as trying to capture the features of the Alien so heres some pic's....

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/22.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/19.jpg

I started off with blowing up a good profile image of the original & using it as a rough template. I then made a hardboard armature, then pinned insulation foam to the armature & then carved the foam into the shape above. From there I started adding detail with the pipework & I'm using Newplast clay for the rest.
The Newplast happened to be available at my local artshop & it turns out its free from sulphur so I should'nt have any funny reactions from the silicon (hopefully).

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/58.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/57.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/53.jpg

The shape of the mouth has changed a little bit as its progressed & yes there are two too many teeth in the bottom jaw, thats deliberate as I've made the front teeth slightly smaller & closer together, I've also added more detail to the sides of the jaw as I've gone along.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/64.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/62.jpg

With regards to the top of the head I wanted it to look right as a complete thing so I've started by roughing out the outer shell & when thats shaped up I'll start work on the bit underneath. At the moment I've just got the bottom jaw to a standard I'm happy with so I'm ready to take a mould from it so it can be reproduced in resin, I can then handle it without leaving marks in it & I can start to scuplt the underside of the head & neck to it.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/75.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i246/LJH74/Alien stuff/76.jpg

I've bought a kilo of Repsil E30 with a thickener to use on the jaw to mould it & I'm intending to brush it on all over & then use a cut line & a resin shell & separate it into two peices.

The last pic show's the jaw textured, I lightly brushed white spirit over the surface & then textured it with a brush & a sponge.

So what do you think?? How am I doing :confused??

Thanks Leigh

Hello Leigh,
I would like to know what kind of pipes you used (elletrici, air, water or ...) in the mandible and around the dome, and their diameters. Could you tell me? :)
thanks
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Hello Leigh,
I would like to know what kind of pipes you used (elletrici, air, water or ...) in the mandible and around the dome, and their diameters. Could you tell me? :)
thanks

Hi DD
I used this: 6mm SLIT Convoluted Conduit / Sleeving - Tube Wire Loom Harness - 5 metres | eBay

Though I'm not 100% sure of the size I used & I'm not at home at the moment so I cant check...I think it was 6mm. Its available in various different sizes.
This stuff isn't an exact match of the original but it close enough for me :)
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Hi DD
I used this: 6mm SLIT Convoluted Conduit / Sleeving - Tube Wire Loom Harness - 5 metres | eBay

Though I'm not 100% sure of the size I used & I'm not at home at the moment so I cant check...I think it was 6mm. Its available in various different sizes.
This stuff isn't an exact match of the original but it close enough for me :)

Thank you very much!!! (y)D
I have never purchased anything on ebay, but if I can not find a customized quantity instead of the 200-meter business, I think I will learn also to buy on ebay.

Thank you;)
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Hello Leigh,
I forgot, it is hard plastic or soft rubber?

Have a look at the engine bay of a modern car, you'll find this stuff protecting the wiring loom. Honda's definitely used it as far back as 1990, which means you could get hold of some at a car beakers yard or car parts supplier.

Its hard but flexible plastic, not rubber :)
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

Dear Leigh,
I've been looking aound for quiet a while to find a decent Alien bust, and for now the only one comming close was the 1:1 Aliens Sideshow bust from a while ago... but no one could make a decent Alien 'big chap' version... they never got the sculpt right, always something that didn't fit (forehead, teeth placement and angle, color scheme, cheekbones too bulgy etc etc)... 'till now, ... Leigh, you just made the FIRST bust that is very resemblant to the original.
This is a masterpiece! If I may say this, the only thing I'm a bit hesitant of is the later version of the tendons around the mouth, I personally prefer the screen accurate version with a lot of thinner tendons, but how to make these is not so easy (considering the original was made of latex and rubber and these tend to detoriorate after a while), perhaps you should be able to make these into clear resin, an extra piece you can put on the solid resin part (like the Chinese did with the Sideshow bust copies)...?
This is an awesome build and I hope some day you'll be able (and willing) to sell cast offs (I'm sure I'd be interrested) and make a lot of well earned money on this masterpiece.
I'm looking forward to a new update!
Just awesome...
 
Re: Bob the Alien (Giger inspired Alien) Sculpting finished page 45

I found some images of the original Alien head as it is now... bit saddening to see the masterpiece turn into dust..
but it's interresting to see the mechanics...

999995tumblr_luqat4gjik1r0pm9wo1_500.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

other picture:

999996tumblr_lvshbw703b1qa1o5zo1_500.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

and another one:

999997ALIEN_Ramb2.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

This is from the other suit (non mechanical head I suppose):

999998giger1.jpg
 

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