Paying homage to De Santo / Singer, and Vincent Guastini

[GoldCylon]

The failed 2001 Galactica revival brought out some real great concept work, and some real props, that just never had the chance to make it on screen. Some of these great ideas have only been seen by a few people, but I wanted to have something like what I saw. So with the praise of Vincent Guastini and Dave Lowe I went about to make my version of their work. This is the Lowe concept Cylon. With limited photos to work from, and using some of my imagination I spent 32 hours, and 20 lbs of clay sculpting this out. I have about 3 to 8 hours to go to detail out the bust, and rework the mouth grill area, but over all the main form is finished. I might try something else in the back right corner, but over all this is what I have completed so far.
Input is welcome.

Go to link below to see more photos, and full sized images.
Thanks Dale
http://byyourcommand.net/photogallery/D ... er?page=13

[mckenic]

Wow -

Very cool sculpt! Id not seen these before... is there a mouth grill area?

Nice clay work - it is very good!

Cant wait to see more on these!

Dave

[cybertrooper]

Very good work Dale. Reminds me of the Elvish helmets in Lord of the Rings.

[GoldCylon]

Thanks guys, this isn't my first sculpt, but my first almost completed one. The Razor Cylon I haven't finished yet that was my first try. I felt the Razor helmet was so easy. I guess I have a calling for sculpting I had no idea that once I let kindergarten I still could play in clay.

[mckenic]

Im gonna have to get myself some too! I just hope my trys are half as good as yours look sir!

Been mulling over building a VF table but plastic is VERY hard to find here - but a Cylon and Stormtrooper would be cool...

Very nice work - Keep it up and post more pics please!

Dave

[GoldCylon]

Thanks Dave for your words of support. Also yes there will be a mouth grill area. That will be part of the details I still need to work out, and cast separate from the rest of the helmet. Also I am not sure if I will make copies yet, or just place the finished sculpting on the shelf. I need to speak with Vincent about making copies, since this is his design at heart, not mine. I have received words of praise from him about this project, and would like his support before making a profit off his work.

[GoldCylon]

While waiting for some more silicone to show up to finish pouring over the bust I moved onto the shoulders. Below is one image, and the link to see the other photos.
Just a bit about what I did. I used a foam knee pad as the base for the collar section, and then made the outer shell out of plaster. I also changed over to a different type of clay, moved away from the sand/water based clay I was using before. I have some spike shape lead fishing weights I found to decorate the trim, but seem to have misplaced them. I also started on the chest, but haven't made much progress to show any photos.

http://byyourcommand.net/photogallery/D ... er?page=14

[GoldCylon]

I did some work today on the chest piece, and painted the shoulders. I think I might regret that later on. The chest I can't seem to create a design off the Dave Lowe design that I like. The chest section is smaller than the standard Cylon, so the are to work area is smaller. I tossed in a little symbol on the chest as a possible ranking.

[mckenic]

Thanks for the update Dale!

Its great for a newb like me to see something like this constructed from the ground up...

Im interested to see where you go with the shoulder and how its completed - I had never thought of building outside a 'former' piece like the kneepad you mentioned... I can see how that would save an assload of clay

Not only is this a great picture tutorial but a very cool project in all! Great to see the progress and interested to see which way you design the chest!

[EDIT] If you dont mind Dale - how did you do the helmet please? Is it all one large area of shaped clay or do you use a circular form to sculpt over? Sorry I know thats a really basic question - but I dont know and would like to tinker about myself! [EDIT]

Thanks again and please keep us updated!

Dave

[GoldCylon]

Hey Dave
Thanks for the words of support. The knee pad was something I picked up a while back to have around in case, well the in case reason came around. Truly worth the $1.00 I spent on them. As for the clay saving department, it wasn't a lot compared to the over all amount I might end up using, but could have been a deal breaker on the 20 lbs I had bought. It might not have been enough after pouring a large amount of it into the helmet piece.
The helmet was first started on a free formed pile of plaster of Paris. I made a basic form of a head, and once I was happy with that I dried it out for a week or so before I started applying the clay. The basic shape (form) came very quick. It was much easier than expected. The only problem was sometimes the clay would fall off in certain sections. Just found out yesterday that plaster is the best material to use to separate clay from. Other words the plaster head was doing its job dropping the clay off the sculpting.
Right now I have started work on the upper arm gauntlets that will connect to the shoulder bells.

[GoldCylon]

I knocked this piece out in about 45 minutes tonight. This is the upper arm section that will connect to the shoulder bell.

[GoldCylon]

Posted an other photo with the shoulder bell, and the outer upper arm piece.

[GoldCylon]

I did regret the spay paint on the shoulder bell that I did a few days ago. So I made an other shoulder bell, and finished it off with a slight new touch, and also added the spikes into the side strip. I also made new pieces for the shoulder collar section. Over all I like this look than the 1st attempt.
I also added a Nuke powered Cylon logo. An upgrade from the original Cylons power unit.

[GoldCylon]

I reworked the chest section over twice today, so over all this is my 3rd attempt at the chest. The 1st image was the 1st rework today, and then the 2nd image was the 2nd rework. I like the 2nd version better, but it seems to be not right, like something is off. Not that it is not straight or anything like that, but not the correct feel about it. I just can't get out of my mind that it has the look and the feel to the other work Vincent Guastini did for the angels on Dogma. Even if you look at a Dogma photo you won't see anything like it at all, but the gut feeling I have as I look at it. Maybe just me playing games in my mind. It might good great with the rest of the pieces attached to it, but that is something I just can't do is get everything lined up at once. The clay is just to heavy to have it stand alone or mounted on anything standing up.

[GoldCylon]

Ok I made the mold for the helmet, and this being my first major mold. I have made a couple of small simple things in the past. Let me say SMALL like 3-4 oz in size, while this is like moving from a tricycle into the Indy 500 type of jump, so with that said here in my first casting of the helmet. It is an extreme mix of materials ranging from 2 part resin, Bondo, Fiber glass, and fix of those combined chemicals. Yes I mixed Bondo, and fiber glass, and tried every variation I could think of, and also just a straight mix of the chemicals into the mold. I was trying for a liquid slush flow to fill in the entire mold. Since my hard cast on the outside of the silicon mold didn't come out correct I used two separate casting, and supported the mold via part of the hard outside shell, and expanding foam. I am pleased how that worked out, most of the mold stayed true to form. A minor area not really visible in the photo didn't have the best results, but 30 minutes of clean up, and Bondo will fix it.