[Tarexmd]

I have a Hot Toys BvS Superman headsculpt that I wanted to drill a pinhole into his eyes, then stick a couple of red LEDs behind them in the headsculpt to turn on heat vision when I wanted at night.

What tool should I use to do that, and will it ruins his eyes? I absolutely love the headsculpt and wouldn't want to ruin it at all.

 

[Tarexmd]

I was planning to drill into his eyes using a .7mm drill tool like that.

Would that work?

 

[Moonbase Alpha Male]

A lot of issues here (and I suspect most of us shudder at the thought), but it's not impossible. Even if everything went perfectly, it's hard to predict whether home-pierced eyeholes would look "off" or deteriorated when unlit. And, where goes the wiring, batteries, switch, etc, which are a lot tougher to fit homemade? Unless you have unlimited money, boundless courage, and a surgeon's hands, I would suggest you try this out first with the best cheap Mattel Superman head you can get. Maybe you could even repaint it a bit and find you are sufficiently satisfied to make it Superman's alternate heat vision head, and stop there without risking the HT. If you do go ahead to alter the HT head, having experimented on a "proof of concept" Mattel head will be most helpful. Though there are differences (in materials and head joint) beween a Mattel and a HT head, a practice run with a $10 head would probably be time and money well spent. Good luck.

 

[Tarexmd]

A lot of issues here (and I suspect most of us shudder at the thought), but it's not impossible. Even if everything went perfectly, it's hard to predict whether home-pierced eyeholes would look "off" or deteriorated when unlit. And, where goes the wiring, batteries, switch, etc, which are a lot tougher to fit homemade? Unless you have unlimited money, boundless courage, and a surgeon's hands, I would suggest you try this out first with the best cheap Mattel Superman head you can get. Maybe you could even repaint it a bit and find you are sufficiently satisfied to make it Superman's alternate heat vision head, and stop there without risking the HT. If you do go ahead to alter the HT head, having experimented on a "proof of concept" Mattel head will be most helpful. Though there are differences (in materials and head joint) beween a Mattel and a HT head, a practice run with a $10 head would probably be time and money well spent. Good luck.

Thank you. Well I happen to actually be a surgeon That said, I love the idea of first practicing on a cheap spare headsculpt which I happen to have. As for the lights, don't worry. I use Pico lights from EvanDesigns.com, and I'd power it by a connection to my soap reactor.

 

[Davinator65]

If you think you can do it...go for it. Show us the results.

 

[Valentin]

It's possible, similar to M.A.M's suggestion, practice/trial on a similar cheap headsculpt instead of the original.

Recommend this way of ops,
• Slice the head in half, (if the hair piece is not removable.), from either behind or just infront of the ears.
• The front piece of the head, excavate a small space to fit 3mm or smaller LEDs.
• Check the distance remaining, and micro drill towards the eyes without going thru. (retain the eyes for unlit poses)
• test the LEDs on whether if the lighting effect is to one's liking. Like if the red light is giving the right glowing effect.
• Consider painting the space black to avoid too much light bleeding due to the thinner material left.
• Once the lighting and effects are to one's liking, glue back the back of the headsculpt, and sand away the adhesive seams.
• touch-up and repaint where necessary to hide the seams.

 

[Moonbase Alpha Male]

Valentin's suggestions could look fantastic but it's an ambitious plan with serious risks. Knowing my own skill limitations, if I was doing this I would try something much simpler. I'd micro-drill the eyes, push in some light-transmitting tubing from the front into the head and out the back, and connect them to a micro light source, back of the neck, that could be hidden by the cape.

 

[Gavined]

I think the best advice is get several cheap heads on e-bay and try various techniques, processes and tools. Could be fun fact finding project in and of itself. Perhaps how hone a really or technique or even decide not to do it.

Either way keep us up to date on you project. (Pictures please!) Ambitious but doable. I think the members of this site will always be available for some sage advice.

Best of luck.

 

[HeadRusch1]

Unless you have JimBob-Wan level (legend in the 1/6 custom modeling/figure community) fabrication skills, I'd just drop $20 bucks on the bootleg "Red Eyed Superman" headsculpt available on AliEbayExpress and call it a day.

The problem with drilled-out LED eyes is when they aren't powered up, they look like drilled-out LED's in a head sculpt, so you ruin the look of the figure (unless you want Supes to look like a T-800) when the led's are off, IMHO of course.

 

[Gavined]

Or buy one.

Hot Toys MMS 465 Justice League Superman Henry Cavill LED Light Figure NEW | eBay

 

[Tarexmd]

Or buy one.

Hot Toys MMS 465 Justice League Superman Henry Cavill LED Light Figure NEW | eBay

I actually don't like the angry expression. I prefer the heat vision on the calm expression, which I also the one seen in the movie in the scene I'm depicting.

 

[Moonbase Alpha Male]

Figured I’d “Show, Not Tell.” I did this carelessly in about five minutes, so those eyes could look a lot better if centered in the pupils properly, which mine aren’t. They are transparent plastic tubing, so they don’t look so much like drilled-out LED’s, but more like glossy vacant pupils. The LED hangs loose at the back, so you could switch out other colors too. (The last pic is the "plan," showing the tubing outside). My ambition wasn’t just to duplicate a Superman head but maybe set up other cool stuff. Notwithstanding she's in the pics, I’m not about to risk my TBL Kier to give her green eyes. Before anybody says anything, I'm just displaying a concept -- people with better skills than mine could carry it off much better.

The light tubing and LED pack come from an Hex Bugs Junk Bots kit, that is at $5 “Clearance” right now (and also included other neat stuff, like the radio and Mini-Cam, that I put in the pic so you can see how they originally intended the light tubing to be used).

 

[Tarexmd]

.

 

[Tarexmd]

Figured I’d “Show, Not Tell.” I did this carelessly in about five minutes, so those eyes could look a lot better if centered in the pupils properly, which mine aren’t. They are transparent plastic tubing, so they don’t look so much like drilled-out LED’s, but more like glossy vacant pupils. The LED hangs loose at the back, so you could switch out other colors too. (The last pic is the "plan," showing the tubing outside). My ambition wasn’t just to duplicate a Superman head but maybe set up other cool stuff. Notwithstanding she's in the pics, I’m not about to risk my TBL Kier to give her green eyes. Before anybody says anything, I'm just displaying a concept -- people with better skills than mine could carry it off much better.

The light tubing and LED pack come from an Hex Bugs Junk Bots kit, that is at $5 “Clearance” right now (and also included other neat stuff, like the radio and Mini-Cam, that I put in the pic so you can see how they originally intended the light tubing to be used).

Thank you! Yours are extremely cost effective and can be used to make 1/6th scale Neon Signs! I used these cheap but amazing Pico lights

 

[getoninja]

you can try using fiber optics on a cheap head and see if that works
some fiber optics are small enough for a pupil

 

[cdn_rhino]

Another method Hot Toys used on a previous figure was similar to the fibre optic idea. The battery and light source is in the neck piece with a clear ball joint for the neck. The light shines into the ball joint into the neck and head, and through the painted rods to the eyes. It worked really well on the Resident Evil Albert Wesker figure.

 

[cdn_rhino]

I'll try and find pictures of what the neck connector and light source look like. I had pictures taken when I sold them for a fellow member here, but they may be on a flash drive that was damaged. I'll find it and take a look.