[myersfarmsonline]

I have some more progress pics to post but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I was up until 2 am, got up at 5:30 to get ready for work, and just got home for the night around 8 pm. Long day...lol. A real update tomorrow.

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[AlTheRelic]

Sounds great brother, if anybody knows how that feels its me, all work and no play makes Al a dull boy! Lol

[myersfarmsonline]

Finally got some sleep but I was still up this morning at 5:30 am. I don't know when it started to happen, but I think I'm getting too old to pull all nighters anymore, lol.


Anyway, on the fun stuff:

I have successfully cast all five of the heads with next to no blemishes, so only slight modifications will be needed. (Janine's neck needs to be removed, and all of them need peg holes drilled into them.) here are the pics:

Egon: (You're probably sick of seeing his mug by now, but I created a new mold for the newly shrunken head. For some reason I currently have three Egon head molds, but only one of them has produced a perfect casting, lol.)






Ray:





Peter:





Winston:





Janine:





Group Shot:


The Trap and Pedal:




So now I can move on to the next step. I'm going to make up new molds for the purpose of casting the heads and hands in a solid rubber that I can dye instead of painting them. Anyone who has ever tried to paint flesh tone knows that if you custom mix it and run out then you're pretty much stuck if you run out of your custom mixed paint color. Casting the pieces in rubber will also allow for no paint rub when removing the thrower from their hands, or turning the heads in the torsos. The only paint rub that might happen hopefully is with the hair, and if I can find the type of paint that I want then even that shouldn't be an issue.

Extras: Proton Pack with Trap attached to the Side


You'll notice that the original nub on the left side is gone and that the trap is attached to the upper corner just like on the cartoon. it's only attached with Kleen Klay at the moment, but I plan to make this possible on the figures by using Apoxie sculpt on the underside of the trap to create a negative of the side "light" or whatever that this supposed to be) that it's currently "hanging" from. This will allow it to snap into place. If this doesn't work I'll just use very small magnets and imbed them in the trap and pack. I have some that are not bigger than a felt tip marker tip so they'll work if the snap idea doesn't.

Motherboard:

I have not made any of the alterations to the MB yet but I will be making the vent hole, then covering it with a vent cover that will be made from Styrene, and then cut the holes for the four part straps. I hope to get this done tonight after the wife and kiddo go to bed. I'll take pics if I can and post again soon. Everyone have a great day!

Bonus Extra: My first attempt at removing the name tag from the strapless torso

I will attempt to better blend the sanded areas with Apoxie Sculpt before casting the casting. I plan to cast these, then modify those casting to better resemble the individual characters i e make Spengler a little taller, Ray a little heavier and Winston and Peter a little bit different. I might make Winston a little taller, but not taller than Egon. I think the Torso like this works fine for Peter as he is the most average built one.


Second Bonus Extra: Body Update

This shot was taken before I altered the torso, and before I changed out the boots with those from Kamandi from DCU Classics Wave 14 (see picture below the text) and sanded the arms between the hands (which are also from Kamandi) and the shoulder joints which for some reason are both right shoulder joints. The good news is, that the Alan Scott Green Lantern (which like Kamandi is from DCU Classics Wave 14, a Wal Mart Exclusive wave) uses the exact same arms, and should be easier to find. I'm not sure if this happened with all of the Brainiac 5 figures that were release or just the one I received, but I'm not going to call Mattel and ask.

Kamandi Boots:


Alan Scott Arms:


Bonus Bonus Extra:

Just for fun. Egon Approved.

[dtblack]

So now I can move on to the next step. I'm going to make up new molds for the purpose of casting the heads and hands in a solid rubber that I can dye instead of painting them. Anyone who has ever tried to paint flesh tone knows that if you custom mix it and run out then you're pretty much stuck if you run out of your custom mixed paint color. Casting the pieces in rubber will also allow for no paint rub when removing the thrower from their hands, or turning the heads in the torsos. The only paint rub that might happen hopefully is with the hair, and if I can find the type of paint that I want then even that shouldn't be an issue.

The Testors Model Master line offers several acrylic skin tones, no mixing required. Though what about casting in the skin tone? I know of at least one person who sells head casts which are done in skin tone. I don't know anything about casting myself, but it's clearly possible, so maybe that would be something worth looking in to?

[myersfarmsonline]

You are absolutely right! I love the Model Masters Acrylics, and Games Workshop sells a great variety too. My thought was mostly about trying something new, lol. I am going to call the folks at Smooth-On on Monday and find out about their resin dyes. I was working with them on Friday night and for what ever reason I just can't get them to look right when the resin cures. I hope to have another update today or tomorrow. Lots to tell, but it's the weekend so it's hard to get away, lol.

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[myersfarmsonline]

I had a pretty rough morning today, but rest assuredly that I will do my best to have some update worthy items to post within the next 48 hours. It was a VERY long weekend for my wife and I (our daughter is going through the tantrum throwing threes) and much to my chagrin the new molds I made up didn't cast very good results. I am back at the drawing board for these items but I hope to have some good results soon. I will be working all day at my real job, but tonight I should be able to put some time in at the lab. I do have a Ghost Trap Update I will take pictures of tomorrow and hopefully post along with a couple of surprises if all goes well, Thanks again for following my progress!

Mark-

[CaptCyan]

You are absolutely right! I love the Model Masters Acrylics, and Games Workshop sells a great variety too. My thought was mostly about trying something new, lol. I am going to call the folks at Smooth-On on Monday and find out about their resin dyes. I was working with them on Friday night and for what ever reason I just can't get them to look right when the resin cures.

Hey MFOL!

Nice updates! I know you're still in the planning stages, but looking at the heads (which shrank down really well) I notice that the eyes are not defined. Hand painting them in should be lots of fun. If I may make a suggestion, I'd look through the cartoons and get some head on screen captures of their faces and make some Decals of their eyes in Paint Shop.

If you're trying to tint the regular White Smooth Cast, then you're going to have to add quite a lot of So Strong Tint to get a reasonable Fleshtone. Most likely they've been coming out a little on the pale side. For any color work you should use their Smooth Cast 325 Colormatch Resins, they work the same but take the tint colors much better.

[myersfarmsonline]

Hey MFOL!

Nice updates! I know you're still in the planning stages, but looking at the heads (which shrank down really well) I notice that the eyes are not defined. Hand painting them in should be lots of fun. If I may make a suggestion, I'd look through the cartoons and get some head on screen captures of their faces and make some Decals of their eyes in Paint Shop.

If you're trying to tint the regular White Smooth Cast, then you're going to have to add quite a lot of So Strong Tint to get a reasonable Fleshtone. Most likely they've been coming out a little on the pale side. For any color work you should use their Smooth Cast 325 Colormatch Resins, they work the same but take the tint colors much better.

Thanks for the compliment, Cap! Yeah I was thinking the same thing in terms of Resin Dyes even going so far as to try and cast all of the pieces in there predominant color then painting over the top of that. Smooth Cast 325 Colormatch Resins you say? I will look that up since I have to order more OOMOO 30 this week. Thanks for the info.

Do you know anything about casting in a more flexible plastic? Do you know what's available? I'm thinking of creating resin molds out of the Smooth Cast 300, then casting the straps in Dragon Skin. I'm also considering casting up the stream that came with Un-Slimed Venkman so I can make cartoon accurate proton streams for my RGBs. Any thoughts?

Unbelievably I enjoy painting eyes, but I'm with you on the whole lack of definition thing, it bugs me, lol. I really like what you did with the Rookie, but I'm thinking I may go another direction if I can swing it. I'll explain what I'm going to try only after I attempt it and it works, but only if it works, lol.

[myersfarmsonline]

Just a quick no pictures update. I ran out of mold making rubber, but ordered more today. I also called my supplier and ordered Smooth Cast 320, and Smooth Cast 45D a more flexible resin which will be used to make... Well, you'll have to wait and see. New pics tomorrow.

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[AlTheRelic]

Dun dun dun.........To be continued

[myersfarmsonline]

When we last left the Custom Six Inch Scale Real Ghostbusters Figures! thread Mark had just told everyone that he had run out of supplies, had ordered more, and had an update planned for today, and a brief announcement to make...

We now return to that thread already in progress...

In spite of my lack of updates the last couple of days I have been readily toiling away the late hours of the night reworking the Ghost Trap and Pedal, experimenting with So Strong Dyes, and trying to mold up two pieces that will be of particular interest to those who have been following the thread. Now on to the update!

Proton Pack Hose Color Test, Trap re-sizing, and display possibilities.:



They really are different pictures, lol.
The first version of the Trap I placed on the Proton Pack seemd a little small to me, so after looking through my RGB Cell Archive (a folder on my passport with every single picture of an animated cell from RGB I've ever thought could be useful to me) I decided to resize the trap and pedal to better reflect the look of the series. I know it now looks to be slightly oversized, but I can always make another one if I decide I don't like it.

The First Version

The Second Version

Flesh tone Casting Test: Ray

I cast all four of the guys in this color and I think Ray turned out the best. In this color though, it's really easy to see the imperfections that have been created in the mold do to the frequent casting in it. This is why when I can I usually make molds in two or more parts. The final head molds will all be made in three pieces in order to retain the neck holes, making them easier to pop onto the bodies and allowing for the same level of movement as their movie counterparts.
One point of note here is that, when cast in this color Rays neck looks really long (this may have added to him looking really skinny before.) I will definitely be shortening the neck on the master to be cast before I do any molding.

Now onto the surprises I promised...

After I cracked open the Torso on the Winston Prototype, it occurred to me that I could probably use one of the chisels I had to remove the Proton Pack from the back of a figure more easily than I had before using the hammer claw method. I simply put the flat side of the chisel against the Alice Pack frame and "pop" the pack went (on to the floor, lol.) Of course the black plastic piece that connects the pack to the figure had snapped but I was now in possession of a singular Proton Pack that didn't have any cracks, stress lines, warps or bends in the Alice Pack, or the Motherboard. That having been said, this particular MB easily came out and off from the Proton Pack with no damage of any kind. I filled the center hole after taping off the back and was able to cast the MB as a solid piece that would fit right into any of the movie packs that you manage to snap off of a Movie GB. But what good is a MB on a pack gonna do you with no straps to help your newly pack less GB wear it?





Ray modeling the pack while displaying a newly cast light blue torso from my Dye tests earlier:




Thank you as always for looking and please leave feedback.

A Brief Announcement:
I'm not sure how everyone will feel about this, but I've decided that I will be taking the 30 miscasts of the RGB Heads and the 12 Proton Pack (no throwers) miscasts I have from my attempts to get perfect castings and put them on eBay to help recoup some of the costs of this project. Most of you know that the materials used in this process are not cheap, and any extra money you can get back from selling rejected casts is always a good thing. It allows for more progress to be made on the project, and for more projects to be started. (I know that Capt Cyan will agree with me here.) I don't want anyone to be offended that I'm not openly selling these to the members here or offering them here first, but if I decide that I am going to sell these pieces to board members I want you to be 100% certain that the pieces I'm offering are the very best pieces that I can. Again, I hope I don't offend anyone here, but I didn't want there to be any confusion as to what the buyer would be receiving. Thanks again to everyone of you for all your support for this project!

[dtblack]

Very nice. So are the straps a rubbery type material?

[joeghostbuster]

if you have an extra "shrunk-i-fied" Egon head lying around, I would buy it off you to make a custom RGB figure for myself.

[myersfarmsonline]

Very nice. So are the straps a rubbery type material?

This paticular casting is not terribly flexible it is Smooth Cast 300. I should be getting the Smooth Cast 45D by Friday, and that material is supposed to be more flexible but not quite like rubber. I hope to be able to cast the heads and hands in this material if it is flexible but not too rubbery. It depends on how well it takes pigment. It's an amber color apparently, but I'll find out soon enough. I also ordered Smooth Cast 320 which is supposed to take pigment better than the Smooth Cast 300 does, so I'll be able to cast the main body parts all in the appropriate colors. I'll have another update soon. Stay tuned.

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[dtblack]

And do you think the Smooth Cast 45D will be flexible enough to allow for the packs to be put on and taken off the figures without breaking the straps?

[myersfarmsonline]

It's supposed to be. It's a special type of resin that is semi-rigid. I hope it cures to feel more like "real" toys plastic does.

From the Smooth-On Site:
The Smooth-Cast® Semi-Rigid line of low-cost semi-rigid urethane casting resins cure quickly to semi-rigid plastics that offer excellent impact resistance. These plastics are easy-to-use (mix ratio is 1A:1B by volume) and have low viscosities for minimal bubble entrapment. Vibrant colors are possible by adding SO-Strong® color tints or Ignite® color pigments.

These semi-rigid plastics will really take a beating and offer exceptional abrasion resistance. They are good for making high-impact resistance tools, prototypes, abrasion resistant parts, foundry patterns, roller facings, vibration pads, fast concrete stamping pads, etc.

Sounds like it will work pretty well. I ordered the 45D which cures in 30 minutes and is a carmel color. When I place the order for the pigments I will order the 60D which is white and cures in 15 minutes. I'll see what I like better, and which is more flexible. The pigments lengthen the work time to some degree too which is always a plus. I should receive my shipment today or tomorrow so hopefully I'll have an upadate sooner rather than later.

[myersfarmsonline]

Hey Gang-
I didn't want you to think I'd fallen off the face of the Earth so I wanted to stop in and post a quick update.

Project wise I had a bad weekend. I made eight new two piece molds of which only three are useable. I'm not quite sure what happened between the halves of each mold being poured, but the five that are bad were really stuck together badly. I had to cut my pieces back out of the mold with an X-Acto Knife. Needless to say I am in the process of rebuilding and repouring said molds (including both versions of the Torso, w/nametag and without), and I hope to be able to cast new parts by Thursday. The good news is that I learned Saturday that I can use Thyvex (a rubber strenghtener used with Silicon normally) to stregthen the Smooth Cast 45D. This does make the cure time much longer, but it may also be the amount of pigment I am adding to get it the right color. I will experiment with it over the next few days and let you all know. I also have a couple of new side projects to share. All related to GB, but geared more towards improving the Existing Matty GBs. Stay tuned.

Mark-

[joeghostbuster]

looking forward to it!

[AlTheRelic]

Myers, have a you earned it.

[Tom Servo]

This is highly radical.

[myersfarmsonline]

Myers, have a you earned it.

My first Crunch bar! It is an honor, thank you so much Al.

This is highly radical.

Thanks Tom, I have a robot named after you in my front room.

Here he is last Christmas in my basement with me, or maybe it was one of his duplicates! Gypsy was standing behind me and missed out on the photo-op. I'm not sure where Crow was, but I'm sure he was getting into trouble somewhere.
I really love your RGB PKE Meter (and the rest of your stuff). You can expect an order from me in the near future. Hakeeba!

Today's update isn't related solely to the RGB project as such but it has led to some neat discoveries that I will be showing in the pics below.

After a bit of research/dumb luck I've been able to successfully modify and cast the motherboard that attached to the backs of the Matty GBs packs and recast the pack straps from the prototype in the appropriate colors! Finding a nice balance of strength and give on the straps has been a bit of a pain but I finally figured out the correct ratios of Parts A & B of the Smooth Cast 45D to Color Tint to Thyvex. Thankfully it has worked out three times so far and I couldn't be more excited. I won't bore you all with the nit-picky details, but the straps attach to the motherboard (after painting it, I can't seem to get the black tint not to come out grey) and the packs stay on the figures so for now that's enough. I also tried out the mixture for the RGB straps and belt for the MB I'm creating and not only do the straps work just as well (so far) as the other set, I was even able to cast the RGB Pack belt with both the plugs intact and it actually closes!

First the Matty GB Proton Pack conversion process.

The Matty Pack after it has been removed from the figure:


Remove the remaining bits of the old MB if there is any and sand down the insides deep into the recessed areas as you can. It doesn't need to be perfect, but get all of the original MB pieces out as not doing so will cause the new MB not to sit right.


Taking that into account see if anything from the new MB needs to be sanded from the back side of it (excess residue from the molding process, or the pegs that fit in the holes if the originals are broken inside the pack.


The front of the new MB as it is seen before adding the straps. It looks crooked in the picture but as you'll see it does line up with the inside of the pack.


If you've sanded out the inside of the Matty pack enough it will sit flush like it should. You'll notice the piece near the top that has been cast from the prototype MB to attach the new straps, unfortunately you'll also notice the area where I filled in the hole from where it originally connected to the figure, lol. It can be sanded smooth before attaching the straps, just don't sand off where the straps attach to the MB. =~)


The new MB sanded and painted.


The new straps.


The last pic is blurry, I just couldn't seem to get a good shot of the back for some reason.


The now-removable pack fully assembled.

My Generic Buster modeling the new pack.





Now onto the official RGB part of the update.

The new MB (not finished and yeah, you've seen it before, lol) pack straps, and belt.

The straps are very long, about twice as long as they need to be, but I did that on purpose as I wanted to be able to adjust the size based of the body style of the character before they're glued into place. As kind of a nod to the RGBs movie origins I'll be putting each busters movie style name badge on the backs of the packs to help identify them. A neat little touch I thought.

The Belt

Not the best picture, but even with the Macro setting it still didn't photograph well.

More of the the belt.

The close up shows how rough the belt would look if I left it as is, but I'm making a buckle the will fit on top of or just over the closure so it not only will hide the roughness, but will help with show accuracy as well.

Close Up Shots


The pegs


The Closure


And Yes, Capt Cyan, they close, lol. =~) Not the best picture but I will take more for the next update.


I'm currently working on a hollow version of the RGB pack that I will clean up, then cast again, so that the new mother board will fit inside like the Matty pack does. I'm also considering adding light to the pack if I can figure out how to fit it all inside. I know it can be done. I've seen the parts, lol, but I'm not sure about what all would need to be lit and it would only be an on/off type of light. maybe tiny reed switches that turn the packs on when the thrower is removed? I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want to put the idea out there and see where it goes or what kind of feedback I get from the idea.

One last thing, what do you all think of the trap size in relation to the pack?


I know I've posted this before, but even though it's perfectly scaled to the figures (I've been using my Custom Bill Murray figure for size reference) but something still seems off. Is it the size? I know it needs to be lowered a bit, but I'm still not sure how to go about attaching it to the pack itself. Do you think it should be cast as one piece with the trap attached to the pack? I'll have separate traps anyway for any scenes or pictures I want to take of the guys trapping a ghost (think one pack trap with pedal and coiled cord attached [like Capt Cyan's] and one standard trap and pedal with cord unfurled [like Movie Style Winston] per figure.) I'm also considering a different means by which the thrower and trap would attach to the pack, maybe a different peg system, one that is smaller in diameter and won't stick out as far away from the pack as the current one does (about the size of the foot pegs on action figure stands.) If I go this route it would certainly make it easier to display the trap and pedal because I could just put them on clear stands plus the thrower peg wouldn't look quite so rough. Your thoughts?

Again, I just want to thank everyone for their continued support of this project, and as always thank you for the feedback!

[Peter Venkman Jr.]

Looks awesome, I cannot wait to see these customs when you're all finished.

[CaptCyan]

I'm also considering a different means by which the thrower and trap would attach to the pack, maybe a different peg system, one that is smaller in diameter and won't stick out as far away from the pack as the current one does (about the size of the foot pegs on action figure stands.) If I go this route it would certainly make it easier to display the trap and pedal because I could just put them on clear stands plus the thrower peg wouldn't look quite so rough. Your thoughts?

I have one word for you...neodymium magnets.

Sorry, that was 2.

Nice work on the buckles!

[myersfarmsonline]

Thanks Cap. However, you have to think like Mattel. Cheaply, lol. They wouldn't put magnets in the packs. Or, now that I think about it, lights. Oh, well. Gotta keep thinking cheaper...

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[joeghostbuster]

looking good!

[dtblack]

This is kind of off topic, but since you've had success in downsizing things I had a thought while looking at my Neca figures. Have you ever considered maybe shrinking down Neca's Gozer to 6 inch? Hell, even if you only shrunk the head it wouldn't be too tough to take a plain female Marvel Legends body and use apoxy to add the bubbles and such. I'm sure a lot of people would be in the market for it since it doesn't look like we'll ever get one from Mattel. I'd also kill for a downsized Neca Slimer, as it's leaps and bounds above Matty's poor attempt.

[myersfarmsonline]

DTB-
I'll consider it. I never really felt like the Gozer figure was out of scale since whoe's to say she/it was a "normal" sized human representation? If Gozer can become Stay Puft surely they can be slightly taller than an average sized human, lol. Slimer...That's a whole 'nother ball game. I might attempt it at a later date. Let me get my RGB project in the can and then I'll look for other projects to play with shrinking.

Update time, after discussing with Tom "Dave" Servo the possibility of him creating the RGB packs the same way he created his other GB goodies. I decided to teach myself how to use Google Sketchup. So far I have been able to create the Motherboard based on my "sculpted" model I showed pictures of earlier. I took that piece, scanned it into Illustrator, created an EPS model of it, and then imported that into Photoshop, saved it as a high quality jpeg, then imported that into Sketchup where I redrew it over the jpeg then proceeded to play with the sizes until I got it the exact size I needed it to be. It is currently being evaluated at Shapeways so hopefully I'll get the good to go message from them and I can begin work on creating the pack in 3D. I just saw TDS's newest version and though ours are slightly different I can say it gives me hope that someone was able to do it. I have attached the jpeg versions of the MB and Proton Pack as seen straight on for you to get an idea of what I'm working on. Thanks for looking!
Mark-

The Motherboard:


The Proton Pack:


Let me know what you think!

[dtblack]

Yeah I've tried to use the same logic on Gozer, but she still just doesn't look right to me amongst all the others. A 6 inch version of that figure, or even just the head would be a dream. Same goes for Slimer. I look forward to what the future holds.

[AlTheRelic]

Well, Slimer has two compatible figures in the six inch line, if anything, The Library Ghost and the Scholeri bros are undersized I'll live with the sizes though, not like I have a choice on the matter but I'll live with the size aspect . All that we can do is create dimension in our displays to create the illusion of a smaller Gozer. If you asked me, all the figures should have been as large and well sculpted as Gozer.

[myersfarmsonline]

Agreed. However I plan to try out Hydrospan next. Scolari Brothers anyone?

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