Mohawk03
Marksman
I know many of us appreciate and use Tony's head sculpts (HS) and recently
I developed a simple (somewhat!?) technique for adding some articulation to them.
For the longest time I was removing the lower neck sculpture and mounting the HS on a DML neck post and then I started using Apoxie Sculpt to hide the seam.
(Photos above show mounting to DML neck post, second photo shows use of Apoxie sculpt to hide the seam)
My desire was to have some articulation to Tony’s HS, I think we have all seen where a simple tilt of the head can add a degree of realism to a project. While satisfactory to a degree I was removing some of the sculpture Tony provides in the neck and upper chest area and removing a degree of realism in that aspect. I came up with a good mix of both. I came across a hobby ball and socket product made by HLJ (Hobby Line Japan) used by modelers in Asia for their various figures. their link is;
Home Page | HobbyLink Japan
It can be difficult to search through so in the "search" box they offer type in "ball joint", another page comes up, select "Scratch Building Materials".
They are easy to work with and deliver fast.
Anyway the sets I have been using are the "Big Size Ball Joint", they come in grey or clear. They are extremely durable and the size works great with Tony’s HS.
The technique is kept simple, Tony has done most of the work in sculpting the HS itself. A few simple modifications to the HS and body of choice are required. The technique here is the easiest to consistently duplicate with reliable results but you may alter to suit your needs.
Materials required:
• HLJ Ball and Socket set
• Drill and Drill bits 7/64th and/or 3/32 bit
• Dremel and Dremel high speed cutting bit
• Fine or medium point marker (Sharpie)
• Pliers (regular and needle nose)
• Bar clamp
• X-ACTO knife
• Fine sand paper
• Steel wool
• Super glue
• Spare bits from Sideshow, DML, etc.
I recommend using an UNPAINTED HS when you first attempt this to save you grief. I have “retro-fitted” a couple that I had painted and the tension was unbearable.
The first step is to carefully drill a 7/64 hole in the neck opening in the HS. NOTE: I measure the length of the socket stem and mark the drill bit with a piece of tape indicating the proper depth. This avoids drilling too deep.
The size hole is just right and provides a good friction grip on the socket stem. If the stem is a little loose feel free to glue into place. Set the head aside for now.
HS fitted with HLJ Socket
Next we modify our body of choice, here I am using a DML neo body but am using a DML slim chest. The technique works the same with a regular DML chest. I have NOT done this with the latest DML neo-3 but have done this with Sideshow and Hot Toys bodies.
First take the bar clamp and “crack the chest”. Place the bar clamp on the chest, both sides of the clamp along the seams and squeeze until you hear and audible “pop”. Remove the bar clamp and you should then be able to pry the chest apart with your fingers. If not, turn the chest (with the bar clamp off) so it is sideways on the abdomen and turn upside down. You should see a slot in the chest area. Insert the tip of the needle nose pliers in there and pull the jaws OPEN. Now when I do this the chest “explodes” so work in a clear area so you can readily find all the parts!
With the chest portion in hand mark the areas to remove. How much you remove is up to you, just be sure to provide clearance for the HS. Remove the marked areas carefully with the Dremel and cutting bit. Set the chest portion aside for now.
Remove the abdomen portion with the neck post still attached from the lower torso, it should slide off by sliding it to the left (as if you were “face to face” with the wee man). It takes some practice but is easily mastered.
With your regular pair of pliers carefully break of the DML ball joint portion of the neck post. Remove the odd bits and set aside for possible later use. Take and mark the center of the remaining neck post stem.
The reason I suggest removing the abdomen from the lower torso is when you drill you will want as much control of this portion as you can get. I use a cordless drill and I set the bottom on a flat surface and drill in a fashion that is similar to using a lathe. This is where you’ll use the 7/64th drill bit. The hole is just big enough for the base of the ball stem, providing a good friction hold.
Carefully drill your hole for the ball portion of the joint assembly. NOTE: Before I drill I mark my drill bit with a piece of tape showing how deep I need to go based on the length of the ball stem. Drilling the neck post stem is probably the most nerve-wracking part of this operation.
After drilled to the desired depth, clean out the hole. Insert the ball joint, partially reassemble the chest to the abdomen and see how the head sets, fine tune as necessary. You may have to shorten the neck post stem a bit.
Conduct the final assembly after all is to your liking, this is where I use the “Super Glue” to hold the chest halves together. Check your work, sand off any drips of glue and go over the areas with steel wool.
Pop the head on and voila.
No #23 (I had a couple!) mounted
My "pioneer", No# 27, showing the range of motion achieved. He was my first to be fitted and I was a wreck while drilling the hole for the socket.
No #27 wearing a sweater to illustrate the articulation and the fact you hide the neck-chest area with clothing rather handily and No# 16 showing a figure with all the uniform to illustrate the same
No #24 mounted to a "Hot Toys" body, mods are similar but easier as the body is held together with screws
Most of Tony’s HS are uniform in his sculpting, some of his HS don’t have that deep an opening in the neck portion. Some additional modification to the ball portion and neck post stem will be necessary. This is where your odd bits from different manufacturers come in handy.
If you must shorten the neck post stem to the point where you can’t possibly drill out a 7/64th hole for the ball stem-don’t despair. Take an X-Acto knife and remove the stem from the ball. I replace the stem with a screw from Sideshow Toys, the screw I use is from either the arms or neck posts. I carefully drill a 3/32nd size hole into the ball where the stem was. I screw in the Sideshow body screw and nip off the end. I then drill a 3/32nd size hole into the neck post stem. The ball screws neatly into the hole.
Ball portion with stem removed and fitted with a small screw
DML abdomen/neck post section- the neck post was shortened past the point where drilling a 7/64 size hole was not feasible, it has been drilled to take the modified ball portion
Here is the final version, the small disks seen below the ball joint are from the DML neck post and I used them to act as "brakes" so the HS doesn't go too far and scrape against the chest portion
If you don’t have any Sideshow parts other sources I have thought of are small screws from tea or coffee cup hooks. The sources are out there, I just happen to have plenty of “spare parts” in my inventory.
In addition to providing a degree of articulation there are some other benefits. I have outfitted my dowels with ball joints to hold the heads while painting.
Here is No #23 showing how handy it can be to mount a ball portion onto a dowel and have it secure the head while painting
Here is No #65 modified for mounting, I reduced the neck and chest portion to fit onto a body, he has a socket mounted already and is all set to be painted.
I hope this helps by adding another tool/technique to your tool-box. If there are any bits unclear, please let me know and I will do my best to clarify. Thank you for looking and to the kind moderator for allowing me to go over the normal limit of photos.
A big thank you to Tony for making these gems available to us, I hope I have done well by him in this project.
I developed a simple (somewhat!?) technique for adding some articulation to them.
For the longest time I was removing the lower neck sculpture and mounting the HS on a DML neck post and then I started using Apoxie Sculpt to hide the seam.
(Photos above show mounting to DML neck post, second photo shows use of Apoxie sculpt to hide the seam)
My desire was to have some articulation to Tony’s HS, I think we have all seen where a simple tilt of the head can add a degree of realism to a project. While satisfactory to a degree I was removing some of the sculpture Tony provides in the neck and upper chest area and removing a degree of realism in that aspect. I came up with a good mix of both. I came across a hobby ball and socket product made by HLJ (Hobby Line Japan) used by modelers in Asia for their various figures. their link is;
Home Page | HobbyLink Japan
It can be difficult to search through so in the "search" box they offer type in "ball joint", another page comes up, select "Scratch Building Materials".
They are easy to work with and deliver fast.
Anyway the sets I have been using are the "Big Size Ball Joint", they come in grey or clear. They are extremely durable and the size works great with Tony’s HS.
The technique is kept simple, Tony has done most of the work in sculpting the HS itself. A few simple modifications to the HS and body of choice are required. The technique here is the easiest to consistently duplicate with reliable results but you may alter to suit your needs.
Materials required:
• HLJ Ball and Socket set
• Drill and Drill bits 7/64th and/or 3/32 bit
• Dremel and Dremel high speed cutting bit
• Fine or medium point marker (Sharpie)
• Pliers (regular and needle nose)
• Bar clamp
• X-ACTO knife
• Fine sand paper
• Steel wool
• Super glue
• Spare bits from Sideshow, DML, etc.
I recommend using an UNPAINTED HS when you first attempt this to save you grief. I have “retro-fitted” a couple that I had painted and the tension was unbearable.
The first step is to carefully drill a 7/64 hole in the neck opening in the HS. NOTE: I measure the length of the socket stem and mark the drill bit with a piece of tape indicating the proper depth. This avoids drilling too deep.
The size hole is just right and provides a good friction grip on the socket stem. If the stem is a little loose feel free to glue into place. Set the head aside for now.
HS fitted with HLJ Socket
Next we modify our body of choice, here I am using a DML neo body but am using a DML slim chest. The technique works the same with a regular DML chest. I have NOT done this with the latest DML neo-3 but have done this with Sideshow and Hot Toys bodies.
First take the bar clamp and “crack the chest”. Place the bar clamp on the chest, both sides of the clamp along the seams and squeeze until you hear and audible “pop”. Remove the bar clamp and you should then be able to pry the chest apart with your fingers. If not, turn the chest (with the bar clamp off) so it is sideways on the abdomen and turn upside down. You should see a slot in the chest area. Insert the tip of the needle nose pliers in there and pull the jaws OPEN. Now when I do this the chest “explodes” so work in a clear area so you can readily find all the parts!
With the chest portion in hand mark the areas to remove. How much you remove is up to you, just be sure to provide clearance for the HS. Remove the marked areas carefully with the Dremel and cutting bit. Set the chest portion aside for now.
Remove the abdomen portion with the neck post still attached from the lower torso, it should slide off by sliding it to the left (as if you were “face to face” with the wee man). It takes some practice but is easily mastered.
With your regular pair of pliers carefully break of the DML ball joint portion of the neck post. Remove the odd bits and set aside for possible later use. Take and mark the center of the remaining neck post stem.
The reason I suggest removing the abdomen from the lower torso is when you drill you will want as much control of this portion as you can get. I use a cordless drill and I set the bottom on a flat surface and drill in a fashion that is similar to using a lathe. This is where you’ll use the 7/64th drill bit. The hole is just big enough for the base of the ball stem, providing a good friction hold.
Carefully drill your hole for the ball portion of the joint assembly. NOTE: Before I drill I mark my drill bit with a piece of tape showing how deep I need to go based on the length of the ball stem. Drilling the neck post stem is probably the most nerve-wracking part of this operation.
After drilled to the desired depth, clean out the hole. Insert the ball joint, partially reassemble the chest to the abdomen and see how the head sets, fine tune as necessary. You may have to shorten the neck post stem a bit.
Conduct the final assembly after all is to your liking, this is where I use the “Super Glue” to hold the chest halves together. Check your work, sand off any drips of glue and go over the areas with steel wool.
Pop the head on and voila.
No #23 (I had a couple!) mounted
My "pioneer", No# 27, showing the range of motion achieved. He was my first to be fitted and I was a wreck while drilling the hole for the socket.
No #27 wearing a sweater to illustrate the articulation and the fact you hide the neck-chest area with clothing rather handily and No# 16 showing a figure with all the uniform to illustrate the same
No #24 mounted to a "Hot Toys" body, mods are similar but easier as the body is held together with screws
Most of Tony’s HS are uniform in his sculpting, some of his HS don’t have that deep an opening in the neck portion. Some additional modification to the ball portion and neck post stem will be necessary. This is where your odd bits from different manufacturers come in handy.
If you must shorten the neck post stem to the point where you can’t possibly drill out a 7/64th hole for the ball stem-don’t despair. Take an X-Acto knife and remove the stem from the ball. I replace the stem with a screw from Sideshow Toys, the screw I use is from either the arms or neck posts. I carefully drill a 3/32nd size hole into the ball where the stem was. I screw in the Sideshow body screw and nip off the end. I then drill a 3/32nd size hole into the neck post stem. The ball screws neatly into the hole.
Ball portion with stem removed and fitted with a small screw
DML abdomen/neck post section- the neck post was shortened past the point where drilling a 7/64 size hole was not feasible, it has been drilled to take the modified ball portion
Here is the final version, the small disks seen below the ball joint are from the DML neck post and I used them to act as "brakes" so the HS doesn't go too far and scrape against the chest portion
If you don’t have any Sideshow parts other sources I have thought of are small screws from tea or coffee cup hooks. The sources are out there, I just happen to have plenty of “spare parts” in my inventory.
In addition to providing a degree of articulation there are some other benefits. I have outfitted my dowels with ball joints to hold the heads while painting.
Here is No #23 showing how handy it can be to mount a ball portion onto a dowel and have it secure the head while painting
Here is No #65 modified for mounting, I reduced the neck and chest portion to fit onto a body, he has a socket mounted already and is all set to be painted.
I hope this helps by adding another tool/technique to your tool-box. If there are any bits unclear, please let me know and I will do my best to clarify. Thank you for looking and to the kind moderator for allowing me to go over the normal limit of photos.
A big thank you to Tony for making these gems available to us, I hope I have done well by him in this project.
.
