Construction: AT-AT, part 2

Using the same 'measure papercraft & upscale' method as before, some of the outer pieces are now added. This proceeded a lot more quickly that the initial basic head, in part because of the smaller pieces meant less warp, and also because I was now getting the hang of it.

Construction: Han Solo in Carbonite, part 6

You may have noticed that there has been something a little missing from my Han so far. Yeah, hands. Hands are tricky. Sculpting them from scratch would be a disaster. I've attempted to buy some, but couldn't find anything for a reasonable price.

After watching a bunch of videos on YouTube I decided to make a mould of my own hands and then cast then. Seems simple enough from the videos...

Then I got scared and decided, as a first attempt at casting, I'd skip the 'moulding' part and make a cast from some rubber gloves and some plaster of paris.

Turns out it's really simple to do. Though I did snap off 2 fingers shortly after taking the photo.

There was a slight problem attempting to stick them on the board. The wrists are completely the wrong shape. My solution was to start chiseling away at the back, attempting to get a flat edge, and in the process making a giant mess in my garden of semi-set plaster.

In the end, in a move that can only be described as crazy, I started scraping the things up and down on the path. I snapped another finger, but it did achieve what I wanted.

Construction: AT-AT, part 1

Some months ago I came across designs for a papercraft Star Wars AT-AT on the 'net. Being me, my immediate reaction was the thought that it wouldn't be too hard for these plans to be increased in size somewhat. In fact, since papercraft is usually a bit on the fiddly side, it'd probably be easier to make if I below it up to stupid proportions!

So how big exactly? My excuse for making the AT-AT (I need an excuse to give to my wife about why, eventually, such a thing will be living in our house) is the annual school comic con I organise, therefore the AT-AT had to be able to fit through the school hall doors. Assuming the legs and head were detachable, this meant a maximum width for the body of 118cm and an eventual AT-AT height of a little over 4m.

Time and much thought passed...

Construction: Han Solo in Carbonite, part 5

After a few days of the glue not doing much, I could resist temptation no longer and decided to cover the whole thing in watered-down All Purpose Filler. And then more waiting...

This morning I then verticalised (definitely a word) the carbonite. I half expected to arrive home and find Han having detached himself and lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. But no! He's all in one piece! 

(The little black patch is where I did a bit of test painting with the remains of a tester pot of black emulsion)

Now back to Poundland for more All Purpose Filler...

Construction: Han Solo in Carbonite, part 4

I've round the edges of the bookcase to make it a bit more carbonite block-like. There's some grey paint in the picture, which serves no purpose other than giving me an idea of if you can see any joints.

I laid out a bubblewarp body shape, stiffened with some cardboard tubes. The clothes were then soaked in Poundland PVA glue and then placed over the body shape. I then poured more glue all over the top. The hope is that the clothes will turn hard but, with the weather having turned for the worse, it may be a while before the glue even thinks about drying.

A slight problem is that the carbonite is going to be blocking my garage door for the foreseeable future.

Construction: Han Solo in Carbonite, part 3

Recently we discovered that a bookcase in our house had gone a bit...well, it needed to be chucked out.

But then I had a better idea!

So Han Solo isn't going to be on a cardboard block anymore. Since I could find a piece of the appropriate size to cover the back of the bookcase, this plan is only possible due to the clear-out currently taking place at school and the resultant chucking out of (another) bookcase (bookcases are really suffering at the moment!). It's been cut to size and nailed onto the (first) bookcase. Plywood is a right s.o.b and I ended up with a mass of splinters in the fingers, but I'm sure (/hope) it was worth the pain.

Over the past couple of months I've been procuring items to help make Han's body. These (again) mostly originate from school: a pair of old wellies, a t-shit, and a pair of my old jeans.