WIP Hasselfree Hellboy

[Heldrak]

While I love the Hellboy conversion options that one receives with the Hasselfree "Harby" miniature, one does wish that they had provided an actual Hellboy head, rather than making poor benighted fools like myself file away hair and drill out holes for stubby horns...(still a great kit, though):

[Supercollider]

Looking great, can't wait to see the finished result

[Heldrak]

Looking great, can't wait to see the finished result

I wouldn't hold my breath I think I'm just about the slowest painter on this forum. That was one of the reasons I posted these shots however, to help give me some impetus to get some further work done on the figure...

[JollyBob]

Looking good. I just greenstuffed horn stumps on mine, never occurred to me to pin the forehead! 

[Heldrak]

Looking good. I just greenstuffed horn stumps on mine, never occurred to me to pin the forehead! 

Yours looks great, JB. I particularly like what you did with the tail. I wish Hasselfree had thought to split the back of the coat up the middle as you've done, rather than making two vents.

My original intention was to putty the stumps of the horns too, but then I became concerned that I wouldn't be able to get them cylindrical enough. I retrospect, I'm wishing that I'd used a slightly thicker brass rod for my horns (there's some sitting right there on my desk) as my HB's horns are a little petite by the standards of Mike Mignola's illustrations...

[JollyBob]

Cheers. 

Can you not putty round the rod? Use it as a kind of armature? The worst thing about doing it with just the putty was they kept sliding around and sticking to my sculpting tool. At least your way you'd have something to build around and keep them steady.

[Heldrak]

Cheers. 

Can you not putty round the rod? Use it as a kind of armature? The worst thing about doing it with just the putty was they kept sliding around and sticking to my sculpting tool. At least your way you'd have something to build around and keep them steady.

That was my original intention when I first put them in (to use them as an armature, because I anticipated the problem that you experienced). In the execution, I like them pretty well as they are. The Hasselfree Hellboy is much more of a "movie" Hellboy than a "Comic book" Hellboy, and in that context they look OK to me. I may snitch your tail idea though, and if I start to go all putty-crazy I may revisit the horns too. I actually prefer the craggier, more splintered looking horns of the movie version in comparison to the smooth disks of the comic book version.

[Commander Vyper]

While I love the Hellboy conversion options that one receives with the Hasselfree "Harby" miniature, one does wish that they had provided an actual Hellboy head, rather than making poor benighted fools like myself file away hair and drill out holes for stubby horns...(still a great kit, though):

Which would have ended up with Kev's arse being poked vigorously by the legal beagles and IP police!

Stop moaning and get on with it! Looks good so far...

Plus, hope there's a tail added there too pilgrim?

The Commander

[Argonor]

I think I'm just about the slowest painter on this forum.

Nope, that title belongs to me! I think I've managed to finis 2 minis in August, and one of them was started in July.... 

[Heldrak]

I think I'm just about the slowest painter on this forum.

Nope, that title belongs to me! I think I've managed to finis 2 minis in August, and one of them was started in July.... 

Oh, puh-leeze! I would be proud to have finished two miniatures in two months...! The title of Slowest Painter On This Forum is mine!

Commander Vyper: I'm going to put a tail on, but I'm still struggling with the mechanics. I'm going to be a bit more ambitions than JB and try to make a longer, more active tail using greenstuff over a wire armature. I picked up the Art of Hellboy II book yesterday to use as a visual reference...

[Heldrak]

hope there's a tail added there too pilgrim?

Standing on the shoulders of the giant that is our own Jolly Bob, I have made my attempt at adding a tail:





I was apprehensive about trying it because I was concerned about being able to get the tail to look proportionate, smooth and organic all at the same time. I have puttied the tail since I took these pictures of the armature (it's drying right now). Tomorrow I'll putty the horns and take some shots of the puttied tail, but I thought that folks might appreciate some WIP pictures to see how the conversion is done. Taking a leaf from Jolly Bob's book, I cut a slit (using the cutting wheel on my dremel) in the back of the coat from the bottom to where the vents are (at about waist level). Then  I drilled the hole for the wire armature and counter-sunk the hole (to allow for the width of the tail at its base). More finished pix soon!

[JollyBob]

This is really taking shape now, excellent stuff. 

But, jut for clarity, I'm afraid I didn't slit the back of the coat on mine, I sculpted the whole thing, tail and vent together. If I'd thought about it a bit more I probably would have done it the way you did, but I got carried away...

[marrony]

Lookin real good.

[Heldrak]

This is really taking shape now, excellent stuff.  

But, jut for clarity, I'm afraid I didn't slit the back of the coat on mine, I sculpted the whole thing, tail and vent together. If I'd thought about it a bit more I probably would have done it the way you did, but I got carried away...

No, I knew that you added the slit in the coat with sculpted surface detail JB, but prior to seeing your take on it I was hemming & hawing about trying to poke the tail out through the pre-existing left-hand vent in the coat and I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to make it look good.

As promised (although a day or two late) here are some pictures of the puttied tail and improved horns. It was only after I had taken the pictures (and incidentally used up all my pre-mixed green stuff) that I realized that I meant to extend the sideburns and add a goatee...! I'll have to do one more pass of WIP photos before I can add basing material & get this Demon primed and ready for painting:









I think the key to getting a satisfactory result on the tail was coming to think of it as a flatter diamond-shaped form, rather than a round tube...

[JollyBob]

Gotcha, yes, I see what you mean now.

That's looking great, the shape of the tail makes it look more dynamic, like it's moving and flexing.