Arkham City Prop Base Finished

I just finished painting this tonight.



I am extremely pleased with how it turned out. I essentially threw every technique I know at it, except for a wash. And I might still do that.

The next video in my Grapple Gun build series will walk through the entire process I used to get it to this point. I'm feeling very proud tonight!

The Ladies of The RPF Calendar

After many weeks of hard work and steep learning curves, I have finally finished my very first calendar! This one features a number of costume and prop making members from the RPF, who all happen to be women.

Here's the back cover of the calendar, which shows who appears.



If you're interested in getting one, please send me an email at jablonskyexpress ___ at ___ yahoo ___ dot ___ com

Here's a sample of what can be found in the calendar. This is Miss January, Hydra:

ZF-1 Update, and Machining!

Amazon recommended this book to me, as it somehow knew I was going to be the proud owner of a mini mill and lathe. Although I have already had a ton of formal training on a mill and lathe, I think this will make for a great piece of reference, and will also help me learn some new tricks.



I can say with almost 100% certainty that Dykem was used on the ZF-1. It's a dye that is used in machine work. It's blue. I picked up a little bottle of it from Amazon so I can use it when I start in on the ZF1.

Mold For Arkham City Base

The other day I poured silicone on top of my acrylic master of the base for my Grapple Gun project.



Here is the finished mold, with the flash untrimmed:

89 Batman Spear Gun: Case Closed!

As some of my regular readers will know, this prop is something of a Holy Grail for me, one which I have had many trials and tribulations because of. Most recently, I've been quite satisfied with what is believed to be an all metal copy of the SDStudios resin piece. It's VERY nice, slightly flawed, and in retrospect, a bit inaccurate.

So when it was recently announced that new reference had come to light, and a newer, updated replica would be made available, I couldn't help myself.

This is a FANTASTIC replica, and I'm totally excited to have it. I consider this prop officially "done." Thank you SDS for making this a reality.

Arkham City Prop Base

This is the first pull out of my mold. This will be the base for the Grapple Gun. Next trick will be weathering it and painting it. It should be fun!

Grapple Gun Resin Pours

I've got a few tiny updates to make on the Arkham City Grapple Gun project, but no video for them. Here's a shot of a three resin kits I have put together. I am going to use them to film the build up of the piece.



Here is the assembled laser cut base. This will go into rubber, as soon as my order arrives.

ZF-1 Kit Bash Parts

This arrived yesterday. I got if from ebay, where there are PLENTY of them for sale. Many parts from this kit were used on the ZF1. Good stuff!

HIC Side Panel Mold Complete

Here it is!



I will do a test pour as soon as I have some time.

Dollies!

A minor update. These arrived a couple of days ago. They are wheel dollies! This will allow me to move the car around without power. I can move it sideways and stuff so that it will fit better into a corner of my garage.

These took about 2 hours to assemble!! Lots of little nuts and bolts to stick together.

Grapple Gun Status

I took this pictures with my phone, to send to a friend. The reaction I got was so good that I decided to also post it here and on facebook.

You can see the laser cut acrylic base on top, and below is a cobble together of resin parts and masters. I wanted to show the current state, and how close it is to being done.

Han In Carbonite Side Panel Progress

Another project that is in my top four "To Do" list is the Han Solo in Carbonite. He's actually almost finished, I just need to do the side panels.

I had a set of side panels that were scratch built by the very talented Vince Sanchez, but upon discovery of the Volvo dashboard panel that was used to make the screen used ones, I decided to do a course correction.

For reference, it was our man Philip Wise of RebelScum fame who identified the part, with the help of some fellow enthusiasts. HIC builders owe a huge debt of gratitude to Philip for bringing this to the hobby.

Here is the volvo panel, with the openings sealed up with styrene. I decided to do it this way in order to make the build go faster, and the molding easier. This way, I only need to do a one part dump mold. The finished pieces can then be slush cast, and will be ready to paint right out of the mold.



Speaking of molds, here's the mold curing in the custom box I built out of MDF.



For the record, I am not going to be going for complete screen accuracy on these side panels. I just want to get it done. Based on my research, one could easily spend eight hundred to a thousand dollars getting accurate pieces to finish out the panels. I am just going to cobble them together using things I have on hand. I MAY do a hero light up panel that includes all the bells and whistles, but honestly, I doubt it. I have many other projects that require my attention.