Kristof65's A-Team 2083

[kristof65]

So over in another of my threads talking about vehicles, we were talking about doing an A-Team, so when I ran across this Star Wars Chewbacca Monster Truck, I knew I had found my futuristic version of B.A.'s van:



So my A-Team is going to consist of:
Hannibal - 50147: General Drake
Face - 50010: Daniel Sterling, Secret Agent of GUARD
Murdoch - 50123: Space Hero
BA - 50002: Boris Barayev, Five Suns Smuggler 

General Drake and Daniel Sterling I think will be fine straight up for Hannibal and Face, but I need to do some conversion work on the other two minis for Murdoch and BA. And that's the reason I'm posting this as a WiP is because I'm going to need some help from the likes of @TaleSpinner and you other conversion pros. 

Murdoch:

For Murdock, I want to add a ball cap.  I have a couple of different ideas on how to do this, but I'm wondering what the best way would be. 

B.A. Baracus:

For B.A., I'm going to do a weapon swap to give him bigger guns, add Mr T's iconic haircut, and hopefully add some sort of gold chains.    The weapon swaps and hair should be pretty straight up, but I'm not sure how to do the gold chains. 

[Corsair]

For Murdock, there are quite a few Bonesium minis with cowboy hats, maybe one of them would be easier to modify or swap heads.

[kristof65]

1 hour ago, Corsair said:

For Murdock, there are quite a few Bonesium minis with cowboy hats, maybe one of them would be easier to modify or swap heads.

One of my options is a head swap with 50198: Gallup, Zombie Survivor.  But since I'm wanting to become a better sculptor, I'm really wanting to try adding a ball cap from scratch. 

[Glitterwolf]

Cool project.

 

 

[TaleSpinner]

12 hours ago, kristof65 said:

For Murdock, I want to add a ball cap.  I have a couple of different ideas on how to do this, but I'm wondering what the best way would be. 
 

For B.A., I'm going to do a weapon swap to give him bigger guns, add Mr T's iconic haircut, and hopefully add some sort of gold chains.    The weapon swaps and hair should be pretty straight up, but I'm not sure how to do the gold chains. 

 

Murdock's Cap

1. Use a diamond wheel on your dremel or a jeweler's saw and cut a slit in his forehead where you want the bib of the cap.
2. Cut the bib out of thin brass sheet, making it a little long as a tab to fit into the slit you cut. 
3. Glue the bib into the slit; since it won't be cast, super glue is fine.
4. Add a bit of curve to the bib's outer portion.
5. Use a thin layer of GS to add thickness and texture to the bib (if needed) .
6. Sculpt the cap over his head (I don't think you need instruction on this part, yes?).

 

Note: If you check out some of my recent posts in the Boxer Rebellion WIP,  you will see that I did this very thing with the scorcerer's high collar.

 

B.A.'s Chains

This a a bit tougher to explain.  You could do it in a couple of ways.  First you could find real chains and glue them on.  They do make some amazingly tiny chains, but still too big for a mini.

To sculpt it, I'd approach it as follows:

1. Roll out a cylinder (snake) of GS to the approximate thickness of the mass of chains.
2. Apply it around the neck and to his chest, sealing the ends together.
3. Looking at your reference art, shape the whole mass, sealing it to him, paying attention to how the mass lays on him and the way gravity affects it.  You may need to remove or add putty to get it right.  Take time here and really study the mass from all angles. Clay Shapers are the right tool for this step.
4. Start cutting in the individual strains of chains using a blade.  Pay attention to you reference art and the way they twist and flow.  Don't worry about making them look "Chain-like" now, just concentrate of getting the strands cut in and flowing right.
5. Very lightly, with a touch lighter than a butterfly's fart*, dab at each chain strand to texture its surface, giving it a chain like appearance.

 

Note that steps 3 through 5 will take a long time and probably won't be done until the putty is starting to set up.  This would take me about 30 to 40 minutes; when I was learning to sculpt, it would have taken one to two hours.

 

 

 

* Butterfly's Fart is copyright Gene VanHorne

[kristof65]

Thanks @TaleSpinner  I was wondering if the same technique you're using on the turtles sorcerer's collar would apply for the ballcap.  I had guessed it could, but was looking for confirmation. 

For BA's chains - the Boris mini has a high collar - do you think I need to pull the putty all the way around his neck, or should I just tuck it in between his neck and the collar on either side?  TBH, I'm thinking I don't need to go as overboard with the chains on the mini as Mr. T did in real life to get the point across that this mini is my BA Baracus proxy when the group is on the table together.  

[TaleSpinner]

16 minutes ago, kristof65 said:

Thanks @TaleSpinner  I was wondering if the same technique you're using on the turtles sorcerer's collar would apply for the ballcap.  I had guessed it could, but was looking for confirmation. 

For BA's chains - the Boris mini has a high collar - do you think I need to pull the putty all the way around his neck, or should I just tuck it in between his neck and the collar on either side?  TBH, I'm thinking I don't need to go as overboard with the chains on the mini as Mr. T did in real life to get the point across that this mini is my BA Baracus proxy when the group is on the table together.  

 

I'd tuck them in in that case.

[kristof65]

After a trip to Hobbytown today to pick up some sheet brass, I got started on my attempt for Murdoch's ballcap:

[kristof65]

Got the first bit of putty work done on Murdoch and BA.

 

Not happy with the shape of Murdoch's cap, but I'm going to let it harden, cut it a bit, and throw another layer on it.

[kristof65]

Work continues on BA's hair:

Taking it one small patch at a time to make sure I don't mess up. Figure it's easier on my ego to take the scalpel to a small region rather than the whole thing.

 

 

I believe I'm done with Murdoch's hat:

 

Well, I thought I was until I took a look at the pictures just now.

 

That top picture makes it look like the hat is a little lopsided.  I don't recall it looking like that in person.  I'll have to review it closer tomorrow.

 

So @TaleSpinner, how am I doing?

[TaleSpinner]

Pretty good.  That bill turned out nice. Outside of the lopsided-ness you already noted, you have a bit of uneven-ness on the edge of the hat, but you can shave that away with a scalpel easily enough (where the bill meets the hat, just above his eye.

 

Well done!

 

[kristof65]

On 12/18/2018 at 7:15 AM, TaleSpinner said:

Well done!

Thanks. I was pretty happy with my attempt, but waiting and going back to it was worth it. I'm a lot happier with it now, and I'm sure next time will be better.

 

Got 3/4 of the team primed:

 

Work continues on B.A.

 

Next up is the scary part - his chains.

[Rigel]

Looking great, and that Mister T hair is spot-on.

I...hm. How best to express my great satisfaction at the way your scheme or vision is beginning to cohere and become manifest? There's got to be a good pithy phrase for it...    

[kristof65]

6 hours ago, Rigel said:

 There's got to be a good pithy phrase for it...    

You have sympathy for the moron who is attempting this? 

[kristof65]

Ah crud!   I just realized/remembered there was a Tiger on the back of Murdoch's Jacket:



I'm gonna have to figure out how to freehand that.