RoK Conversion Project: In Progress Now!

[Javaman]

So, as we all know, The new Mauler sculpt is full of fail, and doesn't do justice to the drunken glory that is Rok. Thus, I've decided to go with the much cooler original Mauler sculpt. This will involve a fair bit of sawing, sanding and sculpting, particularly since I've decided to make him a hairy bastard and put fur across his shoulders and down his back to further differentiate him for the Mauler.

I'm taking pics throughout the project, and I'll be posting pictures up here as I go. Criticism and comments are welcome!


Here's a pic of what I'm working with. As you can see, I've already sawn off his left hand and pinned Rok's axe-hand in, and I've also clipped and sanded all the stones off the body in advance of the fur. For bonding agent I like to use JB Weld on larger heavier models like this when I can; it can be a pain to work with and takes forever to set, but I feel it holds up better than glue.



Edit: Huzzah! pictures!

Next up: sawing off his whole goddamn shulder to reposition his arm.

[hmk17]

Definitely watching with interest to see where this goes.

[SalsaShark]

Good work Coffee. I look forward to seeing him in person.

[Javaman]

Hello again!

Here's the work I've gotten done today:

First off, I attatched Rok's head. I'd clipped the fitting off, and clipped the mauler neck down as well so I had to rebuild the neck with greenstuff. Pretty simple, but I'm worried it sticks out too far. :/
I may just just obscure most of it with more beard and the fur that I'll be adding when I turn him into a yeti.





You can also see in these pictures where I sawed off the shoulder to reposition the arm in a more raised stance. Which took forever. Anyone have any suggestions for this type of thing beyond the fine hobby saw I'm already using? It binds like hell unless I apply a lot of pressure, not to mention killing my fingers. I'm figuring it took about 2 1/2 episodes of Fringe by the time I was done. I kept the shoulder so I've got a guide for what muscles attach where when I rebuild it.

Next I started work on the arm itself, pinning the armature and leaving plenty of legth so I can figure out how far off the body it needs to sit. I filled in the wrist joint and puttied the upper arm, and let it cure, so I have a firm core to work from when I get to the actual sculpting.





So, what do you guys think? Any suggestionsor tips would be greatly appreciated; this by far the most ambitious modification I've ever tried. Any advice will be well received.

[Sworn Enemy]

Unfortunately, i think that your razor saw is going to be your only answer - it's time consuming, but if you apply even pressure, it shouldn't be so bad on the hand. I wouldn't push to hard - I can show you pictures of my first razor saw that buckled under the weight. =D

I look forward to how you do the hair - are you going to be adding a beer belly?

Cheers!
T.

[Ogrob]

Shameless plug I know, but here are a lot of WIP pictures from when I reposed my Mauler. Maybe you can find some inspiration there.

I don't know the difference between a hobby saw and the jeweler's saw I use, but that type of cut takes a long time and is painful to do. I try not to use too much pressure though, because the sawblades tend to snap, instead relying on the sawing motion.

[hmk17]

Wow, you weren't kidding when talking about re-sculpting the shoulders. Definitely have a picture of where you want to go in front of you when sculpting. (Art, model, pictures, etc.) Just keep returning to the subject and you'll be fine.

Sadly the only replacement for a saw, that I know of, is a dremel/rotary tool cutting attachment. It speeds things up considerably, but takes a little practice first.

[Invaderzahn]

I'm doing a similar conversion for Rok so I am watching this with great interest

[Space Donkey]

If the hobby saw you are referring to is the one that attaches to your razor knife handle, abandon it for this scale work, and pick up a Jeweler's Saw with super fine and ultra fine blades. It's still slow going but it cuts the time in half and the kerf of the cut is next to non-existent.

[Javaman]

The plan right now is to make fat rolls of greenstuff for each of the muscles, then lay them down where they should attach like cables. Then, If I like the look, smooth them together and take a bunch of pictures before covering everything with hair. As HMK17 pointed out to me in his project thread, fur is very forgiving.

[Javaman]

We can rebuild him...

So I got to it tonight and resculpted Rok's shoulder and upper arm, as well as finishing off his wrist. I pulled out my other DTM and the Bomber as guides for what muscles go where, and I finally got the chance to really use the sculpting tools I got for Christmas. I think it worked out pretty well.





I build it up in 3-4 layers, one at a time. First was the plug from teh earlier pictures, just to give me a solid core. Then I took balls of GS and shoved them where I judged the various muscle masses should be, and smoothed them into rough shape. Then I went outside and smoked a few cigarettes, read a book and had dinner. (very important step in the process! ;I) After it had cured some, I came back and with little scraps and ropes, filled in the cracks and smoothed over the edges where the metal and putty didn't quite meet right. These pics are from just before the final soothing and scratch beautification.






As you can see, I had to bulk his muscle mass up just a smidge to get a nice, smooth transition from GS to metal, but I think it worked out well overall.

[Javaman]

I forgot: only 4 pictures per post! Here's a couple more, plus some discussion of how I went about it.



I tried to emphasize the wrist joint here a little, mostly because I hate the way the hand just seemingly pops out of the forearm on the Bomber. I'm still unsure of whether I'll clip the rock on his forearms and sculpt fur there as well; on the one hand, it's in theme; on the other, I they're already attached to the model and I'm lazy. Here's one more pic to give you a better notion of how he'll look when finished.



After all this sculpting, I'm actually kind of reluctant to start in on the fur. I'm proud of that shoulder, dammit! But that was the plan all along, and if I leave Rok as he is now, his back looks like a mass of keloid scars. Ah well, muscles will allow the fur to rise and fall naturally, and the hair's only going to cover his back and shoulders anyhow, so some of it should be visible.

[LesserPlatinum]

Really like the idea and the resculpted arms look great, might have to give this a go myself.
If you need to do more sawing try running the saw blade through wax, candle wax does work but bees wax is better, this helps stop the blade sticking. If you get a jewellers saw you don't need much pressure at all, in fact pressure will just snap blades with the jewellers saw. You can usually buy the bees wax from the same place you get the saw.

[Gdufner]

That is coming along great! He is one of my summer projects, so I am taking notes here!

[PPS_Meg]

looking good so far.

[hmk17]

Great job!

I really don't think you need to put much fur on the shoulder with as beautiful as that shoulder turned out. A little hair on the wrist and forearm, but other than that... you're golden.

The real thing with conversions is luring the eye to the entire model and not individual pieces. You've definitely got it covered.

Keep up the good work!

[Flindo]

good to see someone did it before me to kind of give me a hand when I do it myself haha.

[Javaman]

Here he stands, with a full belly and a bit of an awkward pose! (I didn't keep a close eye on his legs while the JB weld was setting, and the right sagged a bit.)
Still, nothing a little greenstuff rock to stand on can't help. I swiped the notion of angling the torso and giving him a bigger belly from one of the other Rok projects going on, one of the ones using the plastic kits. It makes him taller than the normal Mauler, and looks pretty good, if I say so myself. Thanks, Lunarsol!



The next step is to clip his forearm stones and sculpt the fur. I really should have done it before I attached the arms, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do it yet, and anyway they're far enough away from the body I don't envision any serious issues.




I'm also considering bringing his loincloth a little higher on his belly. It looks fine from the front, but as you can see below, it's hanging pretty much where his junk should be. It's a little detail, but it bugs me.

[kc7sbp]

He's a giant winter troll, are YOU going to tell him he can't low-ride if he wants to? Besides, if he's drunk enough he really won't care. Seriously though, I think it looks fine.

[hmk17]

That's one of those things I'd actually like to hear Seacat come out and answer about Dire Trolls and Full Blooded Trolls, "Do they have genders or are they all Ken dolls that make new trolls from severed body parts?"

Honestly though, he looks really good. The Domination art has the beer belly even bigger and rounder, to the point the belly button looks like a butt crack, so I wouldn't give it any more worry.

[Space Donkey]

That's one of those things I'd actually like to hear Seacat come out and answer about Dire Trolls and Full Blooded Trolls, "Do they have genders or are they all Ken dolls that make new trolls from severed body parts?"

Have you not looked at the metal Mauler? He's got some fiddly bits popping out of his loincloth if you look from behind.

[PG_dbsmash]

Very impressive work; I like your sculpted muscles. Wow, that sounded bad, but you know what I mean :P

[PG_LunarSol]

Looking great. Nice work.

[Poppabear40]

That's one of those things I'd actually like to hear Seacat come out and answer about Dire Trolls and Full Blooded Trolls, "Do they have genders or are they all Ken dolls that make new trolls from severed body parts?"

Honestly though, he looks really good. The Domination art has the beer belly even bigger and rounder, to the point the belly button looks like a butt crack, so I wouldn't give it any more worry.

The metal mauler is definatly male... check under his cloth from the bottom.. Don't judge me! I'm just a detailed painter...

[hmk17]

Have you not looked at the metal Mauler? He's got some fiddly bits popping out of his loincloth if you look from behind.

The metal mauler is definatly male... check under his cloth from the bottom.. Don't judge me! I'm just a detailed painter...

If you actually look at it, that's part of the loin cloth. But Dr. Freud will be with you shortly.


Sadly enough, to make my point I made the horrible choice to google loin cloth... shudder. I am technically correct, but so are you... And now to see cows slaughtered to unsee some stuff.

[Dawnlord]

Well done! Thats looks awesome!

[Space Donkey]

If you actually look at it, that's part of the loin cloth. But Dr. Freud will be with you shortly.

That's some mighty strange and round part of the loincloth then.

[hmk17]

That's some mighty strange and round part of the loincloth then.

Funny how you quoted only half the comment and missed the part where your answer lies.

[Aylw]

Very Nice! I also loved the RoK model, but didn't like the base dire troll kit, so your go at it is great inspiration.

As for sawing things - Am I the only person that just uses a normal-sized bow Handsaw?

I lose about 2 mm, but the cut is FAST, and with conversions, I usually only want 1 half of the model anyways. the 2mm can also be replaced with green stuff if needed.

[kneemus]

Outstanding work, I really like it.

[theHman]

Update time Coffey!