Help support the Mego Museum
Help support the Mego Museum

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Making Salaak

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • scott metzger
    Persistent Member
    • Jul 9, 2007
    • 2088

    Making Salaak

    Trying something a little different here by showing a more step by step process as I make a figure. I've wanted to make Salaak, the curmudgeon of the Green Lantern Corps, and I thought he would be a good choice for this, as there's going to be a lot of different aspects to his creation.
    images (4).jpg

    First thing was to decide on a body, so I'm using the CTVT skinny male. I popped it apart and made a hole on each side with a screw where I wanted his second set of arms to go. I used a pair of scissors to scrape the holes wider until they could accept the arms comfortably, and then restrung the body with elastic so everything would move smoothly. The legs are strung up through the back so I could string both sets of arms straight across through the torso (the normal configuration with these bodies causes the arms to pivot oddly as you move them up). I removed the hand posts from each arm so I can plug his hands in (it eliminates the hinge back and forth, but will still allow rotation at the wrist).
    sal0.jpg

    Now, there's only one existing Salaak head I know of from a DC Collectibles figure, and that is too small even for the skinny body, so I'm going to have to sculpt the head from scratch (there's nothing I've found that's even close Sallak's noggin out there). So the first thing is to get the right size and basic shape with a carboard cut-out to build the head onto. Now, since I am a dummy and forgot to take a pic of the original cardboard base before sculpting on it, I made a second one to show the basic idea:
    sal1.jpg

    I mixed up some Apoxy Sculpt and started to build up the basic shape of the head. The sculpting will be a multistep [rocess, as I'm going to need to let things cure before going on to the next step. So this is what I have for the basic shape thus far; no details yet, as those will be added on to pof this basic foundation once it's solid.
    sal2.jpgsal4.jpg
    Last edited by scott metzger; Jan 25, '23, 11:21 AM.
  • PNGwynne
    Master of Fowl Play
    • Jun 5, 2008
    • 19445

    #2
    I love stuff like this, thanks for sharing.
    WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.

    Comment

    • Starroid Raiders Dagon
      Persistent Member
      • Apr 28, 2013
      • 2162

      #3
      Me too! Great stuff. That four armed body turned out fantastic.

      Comment

      • scott metzger
        Persistent Member
        • Jul 9, 2007
        • 2088

        #4
        This one is going to be slow going as there's a lot of curing time between steps (the Apoxy Sculpt). An example is the hands, I made some wire skeletons to build the hands on, using 18 gauge wire and some ornament hangers:
        hands1.jpg

        I then used the Apoxy Sculpt to build up the hands and set them aside to cure:
        hands2.jpg

        After they cured, I chopped off the excess wire sticking out of the wrist, folded the remaining over with a pliers and built it up with a little cellophane tape so it would fit into the wrist hole on the arm.
        hands3.jpg
        I then used some needle nosed files to smooth and refine the shapes, making sure the hands were more even and in scale, as I wound up with a few fat fingers from the original sculpting (which you can see in the photo). The way I had to do the hands eliminates the hinge joint, but they can still rotate just fine.
        Last edited by scott metzger; Jan 25, '23, 4:38 PM.

        Comment

        • Jorge Galvan
          Career Member
          • Jun 8, 2015
          • 578

          #5
          Salaak is my favorite Green lantern besides, Alan Scott.

          Comment

          • scott metzger
            Persistent Member
            • Jul 9, 2007
            • 2088

            #6
            Built up some more on the head; need to add around the eyes and a few details.
            100_4559 copy.jpg
            Re-sculpted the feet, making sure the toes were extra thin, as they will have a material boot over them, adding some bulk around the toe. Also added on to the upper leg for his jodhpurs. Cut out the shape from posterboard to make them even, then covered them with Apoxy Sculpt.
            100_4557 copy.jpg
            Once they cure, I can do some filing and smoothing.

            Comment

            • scott metzger
              Persistent Member
              • Jul 9, 2007
              • 2088

              #7
              Last pieces added, then filed as smooth as I can get it:
              salhead1a.jpgsalhead1.jpg

              Comment

              • scott metzger
                Persistent Member
                • Jul 9, 2007
                • 2088

                #8
                Next step is the pants. Used a pattern for the skinnier legs that allows for the flaring at thighs, sewed around it, then took the two legs and sewed them together around the crotch.
                sal1 copy.jpg
                The white stripe down the side was then pasted on with some glue stick. I then overhand stitched it in place down one side and up the other to secure it.
                sal4 copy.jpg
                Next I had to do the four arms. Sewed around a pattern I made for the skinny arms, then pulled them up and gathered/cinched them so the tops of the sleeves fit into the shoulder joints.
                sal7 copy.jpg

                Comment

                • scott metzger
                  Persistent Member
                  • Jul 9, 2007
                  • 2088

                  #9
                  THe nest part I got distracted and forgot to take some shots of some of the steps. I cut out the basic shape for the vest and glue sticked around the edge, then added the white trim.
                  sal8.jpg
                  Now the parts I forgot to take pics of. I then draped the vest over his shoulders and carefully overhand stitched the sides together. I realized after that I had forgotten to put the short green parts at the top shoulders and had to pull the top over to one side, then the other, to attach those with glue (they come up over the shoulder and across to the neck and onto the chest, as part of that would be visible through the wide arm holes of the vest). I overhanded a small section together between the upper and lower arms on each side to secure everything. The little green parts at the top of the lower arms then got overhanded in place. The final piece was the front flap of the vest, cut out with the white trim added at the bottom and seamed with glue stick. That was then glued in place on the front of the vest. Next was the collar, cut out with some white seam binding for the whit trim. I overhanded it around the neck (a few times, undoing it twice until I finally got it to lay right). The stitching on the back of the collar is still a little sloppy, so I may go back and try to re-do it a bit.
                  sal9.jpgsal10.jpg
                  The boots were next. I cut out a boot pattern to allow for his two toes, stuck it on the material and sewed around it. Cut off the excess material , being careful around the toes, turned them inside out, and slipped them on his feet, twisting them around so the seam was on the inside of the foot but the back of the leg.I then stuck the unfinished head on to see if everything was going to fit together properly.
                  sal11.jpgsal12.jpg
                  So I need to finish the head painting, paint the hands white, make the glove tops, add the decorative touches to the front of the vest, and print out and glue on the ring and GL symbol. THere's actually more to him than I was originally thinking in the initial planning stages, but I usually wind up winging it at least a little on a lot of these projects.
                  Last edited by scott metzger; Feb 1, '23, 10:50 AM.

                  Comment

                  • scott metzger
                    Persistent Member
                    • Jul 9, 2007
                    • 2088

                    #10
                    Next comes the gloves. I needed to make sure there was some sort of lining under the gloves (thin white material over black sleeves does not look good), so I used some thin, stretchy silver lame and turned it whit lining side out, then glued it in place where the gloves will be. I had to put some tape over it to hold it down and tight. I then cut out the glove tops, glued the top and bottom seams, and sewed them up, slipping them up the lower arm when they were done.
                    sal13.jpgsal14.jpg
                    I cut some thin strips of white Contact adhesive covering for the adornments on the front flap of the vest, and painted some scrapbooking small pearl stick-ons white. I glued one of these on each end of the strips, and popped three of the hands in after painting them white.
                    sal16.jpgsal17.jpg

                    Comment

                    • scott metzger
                      Persistent Member
                      • Jul 9, 2007
                      • 2088

                      #11
                      Only a couple more things to finish. I printed out some power rings and chest emblems. I chose the right size ring, cut it out and cut it to the right length. then glued it on the finger. I took one of the emblems, glued it to a piece of posterboard to give it a little more body, and cut it out. I glued it in place and popped the ring hand into the wrist.
                      sal18.jpgsal19.jpg
                      Only thing left was to finish painting the head and pop it into the neck hole (the head and the hands were all coated with Elmer's Glue to protect them). So Salaak is finally ready to be grumpy...
                      salaak1.jpg

                      Comment

                      • danadoll
                        Micronaut Nut!
                        • Apr 11, 2005
                        • 1840

                        #12
                        I am in awe at the work you put into this little fellow, Scott. He looks so good!

                        Dana
                        "Do you want a doll?" Kurt

                        Comment

                        • battmasterson
                          Career Member
                          • Dec 22, 2010
                          • 823

                          #13
                          The figure turned out great. A lot of time and effort went into that figure. Very nice work. I am in awe.

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          😀
                          🥰
                          🤢
                          😎
                          😡
                          👍
                          👎