Mixed Bag Day

It was yesterday. I opened the molds for the prosthetics. They came out very well. Cleaned them and they are ready to run next week.

Next I ran two orders I have for the Crater Lake Monster. One is a kit and the other is a pre-fab fully built and signed version.

Last I worked on the V-2 masters for our new V-2 kit. I used chart tap to make scale details, panel lines, and hatches. I then placed a lot of primer over the tape, nearly a half can if not more. This smooths out the surface and captures the tape. Once lightly sanded, the tape is removed. The surface is sanded again lightly which gives you crisp details without having to hand scribe. I also filled and primed the one tail fin. A mold will be made off the fin once detailed. 4 will be made from that mold and a new gang mold of all four I cast for a production mold.

It was a great day of fun and production.

Dreamtime Hitler Makeup

The actual name of the film is, But something is There: “The Dream time”. It’s the episode title.

In this episode Mark visits the dreamtime realm and has a conversation with one of the greatest monsters in all history. But it has a Twilight Zone twist to the story. That’s all I’ll say for now.

The sculptures came out well I think and today I make the molds. That will be part two of the in-depth video series. Part two shows you mold making and casting silicone prosthetics.

I also did a test hairpiece and mustache which came out so well I’m using them. A mix of yak hair and crape wool matches the actors hair color well. These are called Krylon hairpieces because they are made using Krylon clear coating as a super hair spray that holds the hair together, The hair is applied using old fashion spirit gum directly to the life mask. Once the hairpiece has Krylon applied it can be removed from the life mask using Acetone and a brush from the underside and you can then apply it to the actor with Telesis prosthetic adhesive.

More tomorrow.

Beginning Prosthetic Make up appliances

I started the sculptures yesterday for Robb Wolfords makeup for our new short film. Mostly I giving him a new nose and eye bags. At the beginning of the film when we first see Hitler he is worn and tired looking. He looks like a monster and as the film goes on he slowly becomes less tired and worn. I don’t want to give away the story so I’ll stop there.

Today I’ll finish the simple sculptures and begin prepping for Ultracal 30 molds. The prosthetics will be run out of Gel 10 silicone from Burman Industries. This entire process is being documented on video to be seen in our in-depth video series. This all takes me back to my early roots when I was in my early twenties. I still feel that excitement to do this work and it makes me feel young still.

In addition the I worked on the new V-2 rocket model kit. I got a fresh tube of Bondo Spot putty and filled all the ripples made by the 3D printing process. Today I’ll just lightly sand the surfaces smooth and add a can of primer over the air cure putty before I detail and scribe these masters.

Lastly in the day I put together Miss Riley. Some of you will remember that Miss Riley was the Rocket from “October Skies”. One of the truly great films that inspired so many about Rocketry and it’s importance to our future.

She flies this Saturday at our local section 855 launch.

Wright Flyer Project update

Mark Helmick has been working diligently on a test model to glide on the slope. It’s RC and 2 channel with rudder and elevator. He’s learned a lot from previous efforts with test gliders and we hope this one will glide well and have good control.

He did a beautiful job of laser cutting the parts for the various structures and a Bamboo fuselage frame.

It was too windy to fly yesterday and we hope he gets a chance today.

I’ll be back to the Wright Flyer build next week of the kit I’m building so we can test fly that under power indoors in a gym.

New V-2 Rocket Kit begins

This will be a 22.5 inch long BT80 sized Scale V-2. Although there are other flying model rockets being made of the famous V-2 this one is scale and will be scale detailed.

My original small V-2 scale rocket proved to be a great flyer with the scale fins and details. The resin cats nose cone and tail cone proved to be durable after repeated flights. I decided a larger model might be more popular.

Mark Helmick an incredibly talented engineer and maker offered to help with this project by using Solid Works and a 3D printer. So far I have the tail cone and one fin. They are perfect and only need to be filled and detailed with scribe lines, hatches and rivets I’d do by hand. Once this is done I’ll make silicone molds and and cast the production parts out of two part resin. This was you get the scale details and you don’t have to sand off the ripples from the 3D printing. Just clean, primer, and paint.

I’ll have the nose cone today. This can fly on D’s to G’s and will be reasonably priced.

Starting a Hitler Prosthetic Make -up

We start shooting in a little over a month our next Film, “The Dreamtime”. Our actor Robb Wolford plays the part of Hitler. Beyond wardrobe he needs a nose and eye bags. Also hair pieces.

I am documenting all this and a test make-up all on camera for our in-depth video series. These can only be seen by our subscribers to Patreon.

It starts with a life mask and from there the different sections of the face needed for the individual prosthetics.

I start sculpting today now that I have the nose mounted in a back plate with keys. Eye bag blanks get mounted this morning.

Finished!

She’s all finished. Teeth were made by hand with polymer clay and cast in a silicone mold to make resin teeth you add separately. These are for sale finished and signed or as a kit. Just use the menu were it says, “Steve Neill career Items Store” to purchase. Up next? Laser Blast figure.