The "Battle for the Lamp" IS FINISHED - BEHOLD!!

[bucketfoot-al]

Hey gang. Well, for the first time in 11 years I am working on a Harryhausen diorama.

Some of you might recall that I did a rearing 7th Voyage Dragon kitbash using an X-Plus body and Joe Laudati resin dragon head, and a couple of Geometric Cyclops (which are a bit too small for the Dragon). I didn't make a dio from the figures though, and got rid of them during a downsize (didn't really like how the dragon came out anyhow - the body was too small).

Well, I am now (shamelessly) borrowing the theme from Joe's "Battle of Colossa" resin kit of a few years back.

The cast: 2 X-Plus Cyclops, plus another customized kitbash of an X-Plus Dragon + Joe Laudati resin dragon head.

You see the outlines of the pose I am considering in the photos below - I have also customized 3 Cyclops heads. One is for the two-horn Cyclops, and two variants for the big guy with the club. Which one of the 2 heads for the big guy do you like better? (I have my favorite, but I'd like to hear some opinions).

Of course, once the figures are customized and puttied up, they will all be repainted from scratch.

For the dragon, I have cut apart and expanded the width of the body (hardening the interior with Quickplastic putty. The belly will be done lower (with the gaps closed with wire and putty), creating a wider, deeper dragon body that will be a better match for the Laudati sculpted head. The legs will likewise be customized, so that the face of the dragon will be even with the face of the big Cyclops wielding the club.

So - take a look at the photos of the very early work I've done below, and give me your suggestions about the idea, how it could be improved, and - which of the 2 one-horn Cyclops customized heads you like better - I'm looking forward to your comments!

[bucketfoot-al]

More photos:

[bucketfoot-al]

More photos:

[dgelon]

That is some beautiful painting. I looking forward to seeing everything all together. This is a real treat, thank you.

[bucketfoot-al]

That is some beautiful painting. I looking forward to seeing everything all together. This is a real treat, thank you.

*Chuckle* I am afraid that the painting is from the factory that made the figures (X-Plus). I will repaint them from scratch once I'm done customizing them....

[bucketfoot-al]

Well, Thanksgiving being my rare occasional day off, I was happily granted permission by my gal to spend the day at the workbench.

What was gonna be a short day turned into a most-of-the-day affair. Since the '67 Toho Kong was drying after being puttied and sprayed, what was gonna be a day of painting it turned into ... The Battle of Colossa II. I wound up doing the hardest part of the customization - preparing the Joe Laudati-sculpted dragon head for its marriage to the "kit-bashed X-Plus body".

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, several angle shots follow. Of course, putty will be applied to the areas where the neck joins to the head and the surface textured to match the skin. The interior was puttied and the rod that I inserted deep inside the head was connected to the neck and the interior puttied with Quickplastic. Then came the task of inserting the upper row of teeth - probably the most challenging part since the single-cast upper jaw of teeth were cast with with a bit too much resin base and flash. I had to cut them into 4 pieces, then heat each one til it became soft, then trim, trim, trim in order for them to fit in the grooves inside the mouth.

The teeth were secured using Quickplastic, then, when that dried, the entire base of the teeth and upper jaw was coated with Bondini instant glue (to fill the cracks and provide more security), onto which some Zip-Kicker was applied for instant hardness.

The other epiphany that I had while engineering this part of the kitbash was the realization that I can retain the moveability of the neck/head (and the legs) by just re-inserting them using the "ball in socket" type design of this X-Plus action figure. That will give me a lot more flexibility vis-s-vis positioning the Dragon with the two Cyclops (and ability to repose the diorama if I get bored with it).

OK, enough with the verbiage. Here are the pictures:

[root]

Coming along very well.

Since you asked about the cyclops heads I prefer the one on the left.
Can't put my finger on it maybe better depth? just is more appealing to me for the eye candy factor.

I have the same vinyl kit but since I bought mine 2nd hand I only got the single horn head with the movable jaw.

Keep updating this as you go please as it's looking good!

Rich

[bucketfoot-al]

I presume you mean the head with the closed mouth - that sculpt is better.

BTW the head with the two horns is in fact from a limited edition second figure that was a different sculpt. The legs on the one-horn figure are assembled differently and stand much better. Even the second single-horn head that came as an option with the limited edition 2-horn figure is a different sculpt than the solo-one-horn figure (which has a wider head that I think is a closer likeness to the actual puppet.) That is the one with the closed mouth. (I customized the mouths on all 3 figures with glue, heat and putty. They all originally had the same design ...

Anyway I have made progress on the dragon's body and as soon as I connect the legs (soon) I will post updates. I'm liking theprogress so far. The challenge is gonna be to motivate myself to paint them (as I am all about customizing, but not a big fan of the painting part)....

[root]

Ahh OK I thought it was the same vinyl MAX Factory custom craft GEOmetric kit I have.

Like I said I'm missing the 2 horned head. box art shows it and instructions also have a pic and mention it, since I bought the kit 2nd hand it was missing.
Can't really complain I guess since the kit was like 20 bux shipped.

All I've done with mine was warm the parts and fit him together. snaps up like a toy now just need to figure what to do with it.
I was kinda thinking if I found a few figures about the right size I'd do the scene where he lifts the roof to the treasure room and is looking down at the sailors looting him.,or the the guy on the fire spit getting roasted.
Mainly because I just have the cyclops and both are pretty easy once the cyclops is done.

i have a feeling Your dragon battle will be damn cool though, since you have both the figures for that it's def. the way to go
And your scaling up the dragon to the right scale that's going to be a 100% workable dio.

Rich

[bucketfoot-al]

These are the XPlus figures from Japan (made in 2001). They are significantly larger than the Geo Metric Cyclops (which I also have the kit of and which is a better likeness. But the Geometric Cyclops is too small for this dragon kitbash ...

[kevtk135]

[bucketfoot-al]

More pics coming tonight ... have done the preliminary body assembly ... real rough (before wires and putty), but boy does it "flesh out" the scene ... looks better than I imagined it being ... man am I glad I decided to do this one ...

[bucketfoot-al]

As promised ... more photos of the assembled body ... the scene starts taking shape ...

[bucketfoot-al]

Had a chance to do some GOOD work the past couple of days. Puttying of the Dragon and Cyclops is almost finished. I posed both Cyclops in a twisting pose, which I think will convey a sense of realism. Soon the priming and painting will begin. See what you think:

[bucketfoot-al]

a few more ...

[bucketfoot-al]

Major update -

Dragon - Primed and ready to paint;

Cyclops #1 - fur paint part 1 completed (highlights remain to do); body paint remains to do;

Cyclops #2 - PAINTED! (The only thing left to do is the matte sealant spray) - I am very happy with how it came out. The matte sealant will really make the paints pop out - (it always looks a little flat before the matte sealant) ... anyhow, let me know what y'all think ... this one took a while, there was a lot of trial and error that will hopefully make the paint up of the main Cyclops go much faster ... then the dreaded dragon ... I never was able to get the green right the first time I did a kitbashed Harryhausen dragon 12 years ago ... this time I plan a different approach....

[PROFESSOR JARROD]

"Dang," thats looking great!!!

[bucketfoot-al]

Here's another update ... finished painting the "Main Cyclops" tonight ... just need to apply matte sealant ... now on to the Dreagon, and after it, the Base....

Let me know what y'all think of the progress so far ...

[bucketfoot-al]

A few more pics ....

[bucketfoot-al]

Dragon head has been assembled and primed (inside of mouth had to be painted prior to assembly). I drilled a wide hole in the back of the mouth, filled it with putty, then inserted the wire sticking out of the lower jaw. That allowed me enough "give" to move the lower jaw around to the ideal position. Gaps were then filled with putty and sculpted while soft.....

Mixing the "Dragon Green" and launching on that daunting paint up is next on the Horizon .... then the diorama base and "trimmings" will be created, after the 3 figures have been painted and sealed .... lots of good work left to go ...