WIP Lee "Apollo" Adama 1/6th

WIP Lee Apollo Adama 1/6th

Been working on a Battlestar Galactica figure to compliment my Gaius Baltar once he's done. Helmets sculpted, I need to polish some areas up more and then create a clear visor for it. Also need to put the finials and wires on it, and paint it. The Sculpts Ada's and its only had one pass with the brush so please bare that in mind. Ive created it so I can drop a Blue LED light in the roof of the helm and then stitch some flat batteries into the back of the flight suit.

Ive been discussing with Hurricane and Lonnie at H2 about the possibility of casting it, but there wouldnt be any point if no-ones interested in it.

So here it is prior to last minute polish and visor.

nice work on the helmet & paint, well done!

Thx m8, Ovens on, plastics being a bit of a git, hair dryer wasnt cutting it, might have to do a casted clear visor, not sure how theyd come out tbh as Ive been thinking for the past few weeks that melted visor would do the job ?

EDIT: Right 1 and a half hours of messing round with melting plastic over the Milliput Visor and nothing remotely tangible to show !

Gonna have to send this off for casting me thinks !

have you thought about vacuum forming??? i dont even know if you can with something that small or if it would be worth the trouble. just a thought.

Anyone prepared to Vacuum form this for me ??? Ideally in the UK or EU ???

Otherwise its a trip to B&Q and spending money on Gauze, bolts, rubber seals and plastic tubing.

Ive got timber here, but Im struggling for time atm to start building a vacuum former !

Although it would come in handy for future works Id like to do:

I am my own worst enemy, just spent this afternoon creating a Vacuum forming unit after reading up on it (when I should have been working). Built it to take A4 sheets of plastic, I was thinking I could try acetate sheets from the stationers, anyone know a good source for transparent A4 sheets ?

When you start talking to yourself its time to rethink things:

https://www.trylon.co.uk/products/vacforming.htm

Nope its when you start answering yourself.

After some research and advice from Lonnie at H2 I decided to go the Vacuum Form route (nod to barryo) as I said above, a trip to B&Q and a couple of hours in the garage and Im nearly ready to give it a whirl.

Just a few last minute tweaks to the sculpt and I should be ready to try it.

Heres some pics of the Vacuum form chamber Ive built, for those who dont know, its a case of clamping the clear plastic sheet in a picture frame clamp and then heating it up in the oven, attaching a vacuum cleaner to the chamber via the tube at the bottom and then taking the heated clamp and placing it over the chamber and then switching on the vacuum cleaner, The brown strips around the top are rubber seals to create a vacuum seal between chamber and clamp.

That looks great. I have wanted to make one but I have a lack of space and storage for my tools atm.

way to go MC........that looks like it should do the trick. you probably have opened yourself to a world of possibilities & possible comissions....

looking forward to the end results of this.

I spent £40 on plastics for it, only thing I couldnt get was tinted plastics, eg. the Y wing pilot helm Visor above (pink tint)

2 thicknesses in clear

1mm and 2mm

Im guessing that with a bit more net trawling I could source some tinted (that would vacuum form ok) - ill keep my eyes open in stationers etc as well.

Anyone else comes across any LMK also please

Also got me some black and white 2mm for unknowns

Anyone has any vacuum form requirements bare me in mind, Id hate to spend all this time, money and effort just for this visor. Although Id probably have done this just for this visor anyway as I like the challenge and I want this to be as good as it can be.

Neato! Please take photos of your work in progress. I have no clue what these things are for, what they could be used for. Barryo mentions a world of possibilities...but I have no clue.

Jessica said:

Neato! Please take photos of your work in progress. I have no clue what these things are for, what they could be used for. Barryo mentions a world of possibilities...but I have no clue.

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Clear visors and plastic moulds basically Jessica

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Heres the first attempt, not perfect and nothing has been stuck in place, my fat fingers holding this all together so excuse that aspect of the pics

Ive got to raise the shelf in the chamber were the visor sculpt sits so that the plastic isnt quite as stretched (that said Im not sure that thicker plastic wouldnt obscure the headsculpt inside)

The Blue L.E.D. lights may improve visibility better inside the helmet and tbh

in hand the visors transparency looks fine, just needs cleaning as its got some dust from the sculpt on it from my hands, as you can see my fat fingers are covered in milliput dust from last minute tweaks to the jaw section.

Ill try raising the sculpt up closer to the plastic clamp so it doesnt stretch quite as thin as this one on my second attempt

Based on the response to casting this its looking like this will be a one off and just for my collection. Oh well back to the commercial drawing board

Anyway for your viewing pleasures :

That is wicked cool dude!

looks great MC, can't wait to see it completed

Mooncat, that is soooo totally awesome!! It looks wonderful! So...I'm looking for a helmet for Escape from the Planet of the Apes...how much would it cost for you to make me one? Or do you want me to sculpt something, send it over to you, and then you could vacuuform the visor for me? I would need three.

great job MC...........very cool project to undertake.

I'd certainly be interested in these if you decide to produce them... after April. My budget is totally shot by what I've got on preorder and the upcoming vacation in Egypt.

Well done lad.

Jessica said:

Mooncat, that is soooo totally awesome!! It looks wonderful! So...I'm looking for a helmet for Escape from the Planet of the Apes...how much would it cost for you to make me one? Or do you want me to sculpt something, send it over to you, and then you could vacuuform the visor for me? I would need three.

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Can do it either way, but tbh id prefer it if you produced the helm and sent me the visor sculpt, Ill vacuum form from that. Ive at least 6 customs of my own on the the go atm and Im dying to get them finished and on the shelf. However if your not confident then by all means Ill do the helmet also. FYI Im in the UK so you would need to cover postage here and back and the plastic for the visor. its only a 15 minute job so those are your costs. Btw if your able too, send me 3 visor casts, I can save on plastic sheets if I form all 3 at once. That said it would probably be cheaper to use 3 sheets than cast 3 visors, however if your getting 3 helmets cast, it might be negligble to get 3 visors also.

metaphorge said:

I'd certainly be interested in these if you decide to produce them... after April. My budget is totally shot by what I've got on preorder and the upcoming vacation in Egypt.

Well done lad.

Click to expand...

Seems theres you and Jedimike71 thats vouched an interest in casts, Id have to send this off to Lonnie to get some casts done, Ive got some initial costs from him for this but Ill ask him for a finite cost for producing a finished cast of the helmet and jaw section.

Thx to all the posts that have been complimentary it keeps me enthusiastic for the project and they help