1/6th scale Display Dioramma: "Earth 2154"

 

I was out jogging one day, and came across this funny round thing on the side of the road. It was snapped open on one side, and dirt was encrusted around the edges. I had no idea what the hell it was, but it looked interesting. So I picked it up and carried it home. As you do. lol

It had some numbers and letters embossed into the side and I looked it up. Turned out to just be a chain guard off a push bike. Awesome.

 

I had an idea that with a little work, it would make a nice "border" for a display base diorama I had planned to create.

 

I repaired the broken edge and cut out a couple of circles out cardboard to sit over the top, forming a neat little base!!

The rest of the diorama is a mix of PVA glue, dirt, sand rock, plaster, Styrofoam, aquarium mesh, acryllic [paint] and chalk dust! Awesome!

 

1/6 Custom Figure: Drake ("ELYSIUM")

Here is my next custom. Yet another character from Neill Blomkamps movie "Elysium". This is one of Kruger's South African mercenary buddies; Drake.

I decided to go ahead with this character because I think the costume design has a really nice aesthetic to it and is quite unique. There's a lot of hidden little details in there.

Head sculpt face.

Testing the first accessories and posing capabilities.

My biggest concern was building the vest as accurately as I could. It's similar to Kruger's vest and I planned to build it the same way, but a bit more flat and simplistic. Last time when I made Kruger, my computer was away for repairs (it literally fried), and I wasn't able to print any proper reference pictures or do any planning. It was all freehand (so a little bit wobbly in some places). 

This time, I was able to map out the basic shapes and pieces of the vest, print it to scale and use as a template for when I cut the foam pieces out. I found a great reference photo of the vest from an eBay prop/costume sale!

Once I had that all planned out, it was just a matter of building up, starting with the camo jacket, cargo pants, repainting the knee/elbow pads etc.

For the right hand, I simply chopped the finger off the molded plastic glove and replaced it with a non-gloved finger.

The radio headset was made of bits and pieces of loose head gear, scraps of camo pattern clothing, belts (lol!) and random buckles I could find off anything that didn't need it.

Vest beginnings.

 

FINAL PRODUCT

 

 

1/6 Custom Figure: Kruger ("ELYSIUM")

I would like to share with you , my custom Kruger (Sharlto Copley, District 9), the main antagonist of Neill Blomkamp's "Elysium". Nice to see a villain with no sob story these days. Just a flat out psychopath who would choose a katana over all the awesome futuristic guns available lol.
This is one I have wanted to make for a while, but took my time getting on with because I wanted to plan out every step, resource, and method to getting it right! (The only part I skipped was the metal exosuit plates attached to his shoes/shins. My attempts were looking a little...tacky.)

The vest was made from scratch using thin foam, lots of glue, and random pieces of plastic and wiring I scavenged out of an old printer, a telephone, and monitor. (I love Hard Rubbish collection day!)

The most difficult part would have been the back, particularly making a functional sword holder that would be strong enough to hold the sword, which is actually quite heavy  (cast in stainless steel) yet still remain screen accurate.

 The forearm panels were from a Hot Toys "Predators Noland". They were perfect once painted black and detailed!

I feel the photography is a little "meh" for this figure compared to some of the others I have done. Some day I will revisit it and hopefully present it in a lot better light and background.

1/6 Custom Figure : Bill ("The Last Of Us", PS3)

One of my more later custom figures and one of my most expensive. This time a character from Naughty Dog's latest PS3 title: "The Last Of Us".

To sum it up; basically it's an Action Adventure/Survival Horror game set 20 years into a zombie apocalypse. Bill is one of the more...colorful characters you meet along the way. Personally, I think he is one of the best supporting characters ever written for a game. His "story", even though it was just a snippet, really had a bit of an effect on me. So I had to make this!

Official character design concept art.

I was fortunate enough to come across a talented sculptor living in the UK who creates 1:6 scale heads on commission. His prices are very reasonable, but more importantly, I really fell in love with his style. It's not as clean-cut as some of those professional resin head sculpts, but it has a lovely roughness to it that has a certain charm. I think it's great for these kinds of characters.

Unfinished game model render.

I came across some rendered 3D character concept art used for the game to show my sculptor the specific details of the characters face. I think he knocked it out of the park! Especially the grumpy expression lol.

 3D Face Model

Final unpainted head sculpt.

Now all that was left was to create the outfit. Not overly hard, but some parts were tricky in finding the right fitting clothes. Even though I had a collection of concept art pictures to reference from, I still wanted to keep it true to his final in-game model.





I also needed to keep in mind his body shape. I ended up padding the nude body with wraps of cotton fabric strips to bulk him out even more.

(Left) Unpainted vest and T-shirt.                               (Right) Final painted vest and bandolier.

The vest was originally a khaki WWII US marine vest which I cut shorter along the bottom and painted blue. After it dried, I weathered it (and the jacket underneath) with some brown paint to add to the grittiness. These people have been living in this apocalypse for 20 years now. I also created the bandolier from scratch with this weird, vinyl stuff I found randomly one day.

I really like the pinkish T-shirt underneath. It's a lovely slice of color that just breaks everything up, don't you think?

FINAL PRODUCT