[CMartin]

Looking for some tips and advice here.. after seeing the great job on the Medicom Joe Dredd to Judge Hershey conversion, I have decided to finally try making a comic Dredd- using the Halcyon model kit from years ago.

Found one on eBay for $15 including shipping and went about chopping it up tonight. So far, I'm able to use most everything: shoulder pads, elbow and knee pads, belt buckle, badge, boot toe shapes, pistol (although it needs a handle). What I'm really having trouble with is the helmet.

I agree with a lot fo customizers who proclaim the kit as not being 1:6 scale- I'd say it's a mixed-scale. All else seems good, but the helmet is like 1:7 or 1:8. It won't even fit on a pinhead Joe.

So I need to make a helmet from scratch. I'm thinking of using a protec and adding to it with putty. Can anyone think of a better helmet to use as a base? Something really form fitting? I know Dredd never removes his helmet, but I really want this to be removable.

I'll come back and post photos of the gear painted. For now I'm using an all black dive suit just to hold it all in place, but I plan on sewing a navy blue suit later.

Also, I have some great chrome spray paint, but I'm looking for suggestions for the best gold paint.

 

[CMartin]

Update

After realizing the model helmet is too small, I decided to try and make one- from a Hot Toys protec helmet. I happened to have some mighty putty and decided to give it a whirl.

Sculpey is better.

After curing overnight the mighty putty seemed hard enoughn, but during dremel sanding it started to flake off in sections and appeared to not be fully cured on the inside. So now that I have a soft helmet, I am going to have to coat it in epoxy and fiberglass it with some thin fabric and see if that makes it durable enough to survive any future shelf dive.

Has anyone else had better luck with Mighty Putty?

 

[dario2739]

I'll be interested to keep an eye on your progress. I would really love a Dredd figure and had been looking at buying that model myself to do what you're doing.

 

[CMartin]

Dredd kit

I'll be interested to keep an eye on your progress. I would really love a Dredd figure and had been looking at buying that model myself to do what you're doing.

The helmet is the only stumbling block. Although, you could cut the hair off a pinhead and glue the helmet on permanently and it'd look okay- small, but okay. But I'm a stickler and want to eventually have opening pouches, etc.

Phase 1 is almost done- the simplest Dredd, with molded pouches, no helmet, etc. I'm taking some progress pics tonight and will post tomorrow evening.

 

[mgbb]

This looks like an interesting project. I sometimes think about converting static figure into action one. About the helmet, one way is to use vacuum sucking method to mold a thin plastic sheet into helmet shape.

I'm looking forward to your WIP pics.

 

[n3rv3c3nt3rO]

...

 

[00tinister]

I made my first 1/6 helmet from scratch last year for my THX 1138 figure.

I had the same problems you have. I couldn't find a helmet that was the right size. Either they were too big - or too small.

After buying three different CHP helmets and having all three not work - this is what I did:

First: forget Sculpey. You need a material that doesn't need to be cooked to cure. The heat will guarantee some warping - which is a deal breaker if you need a helmet that fits snuggly. And if the helmet profile on the figure's head needs to be thin - sculpey is too brittle.

I used a material called MagicSculpt. You can find it at Tap Plastics. It air cures and once it cures - is as hard as a rock - but yet still easy to chisel, sand, etc. It's pricey, though. And you have about 2 hours of working time once you mix the two compounds - so plan out what you do.

Second - making the helmet:
- I used sculpey to make a rough copy of the head of the figure that the helmet will fit on. In your case - since Dredd's helmet is a dome shape, make the fake fake head shape also dome-like. Measure the figure head to make sure the fake head is as close to the figure head as possible, but a little extra space will be needed to put on and take off the helmet when your done.

- Once the fake head is done and cured. Take a small piece of the MagicSculpt and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circular flat piece. Make the flatness slightly bigger than what you would want the final thickness of the helmet to be.

- Take the flat circular piece of MagicSculpt and drape over the fake head. Gently press and sculpt until you get a rough shape of the basic dome helmet.

- Let the MagicSculpt harden for about 30 mins (it should still be somewhat pliable) and use an X-acto blade to cut off the excess material at the base of the dome helmet.

- Use the X-acto blade to cut out the face opening.

- Let the MagicSculpt cure completely over night.

Once the dome helmet is completely cured - since you made the fake head in Sculpey and the helmet in MagicSculpt, the helmet should pop off with a little force.

Now comes the part where patience is needed. Use files to roughly smoothen out the helmet - mostly the more noticeable bumps. Then use med sandpaper to smoothen out more. Then use steel wool.

Use a small file to smoothen out the bottom rim of the helmet - and in the opening for the face.

This process is pretty satisfying - in my opinion. MagicSculp is so hard that you can get the helmet pretty dang thin - and still be sturdy.

And once the helmet is pretty much what you like - you can use more MagicSculpt to ad on details like the visor, etc.

Hope this helps. Sounds involved - cause it is - but the results is is pretty good.

Tin

 

[00tinister]

I forgot to add that while sanding - I found it helpful to dip the helmet in water from time to time. The water allows you to better see imperfections.

Also - bumps you can sand down. But if you find and dimples - you can fill with MagicSculpt and let cure then sand over.

You can see the helmet I made here:

You can see I needed a close fitting low profile helmet. For your Dredd I think you can make the helmet much thicker.

Tin

 

[CMartin]

Dredd Update #2

As promised, here's my latest status picture- I am using a black GI JOE wetsuit for now- I plan to eventually replace it with a navy blue uniform later, but that's low priority. as most of us know, black is often represented in comics as dark blue so shadowing can be added. Spiderman is supposed to be black and red. The Punisher- all black. And Dredd... well Judges wear Black robes, not blue ones. Alas, the action figures made so far (based on the comics) have been done with blue body suits.

A more detailed running log on the project is up at my Joe blog:

http://figuresoffortune.blogspot.com

For today, here's a pic of the figure with items placed (I painted some stuff gold to get a feel for how it will look).

And here's a close up comparison of the helmet I'm making and the kit helmet- I colored both with sharpie markers just to get a better idea of how they'll look. I have a lot more work to do on the helmet- i need to shave it down a bit more and then epoxy coat it.