4th Doctor cosplay

[russellsuthern]

No more:

I'm always on the look out for nice sheets that people throw out with their recycling.
Whenever I spot some, I chuck it in the back of my car... my shed is full of the stuff!


Volpone: You are so right.

I remember back on "Project Dalek" a while back.
Someone had made a hyper- accurate, gleaming, pristine 70's Dalek eye stalk.

Somebody replied to their pics: "That looks great. Now you just have to kick it down a long flight of stairs & it'll be perfect!!" 

Cheers all.

Russell

[phillbarron]

Phil: Right back atcha, mate! It must take quite a bit of time & effort to produce your video shorts! 

Seriously, though... Although I often joke that I'm mad, I truly believe that this is the only thing keeping me sane!
I go into my garden & work on my props & for an hour or two all the problems of the world go away...

Finished today's with two hours to spare!

Didn't find time to sleep last night, but I did it!

I know what you mean about the sanity preservation. I feel the same.

[russellsuthern]

Phil,

I think that shows that on the scale of insanity, you are madder than I...

No matter how obsessed I get with my build, I always make sure I get my sleep!

(Although I do dream of prop building...)

Cheers!

Russ

[russellsuthern]

Ladieeees aaaand Gentlemen!

For my next trick I shall take an innocuous looking pair of Wellington boots & gardening gloves...



Then I say the magic words...

BIFF - BAM - ALAKAZAM!!!

And, hey presto!

They have magically transformed into a warriors boots & gauntlets!



I thank you, I thank you....

Good night!

Russell

[russellsuthern]

Hi all.

A word of warning....

Although some of you already know this.

My brown Tom Baker boots were painted with thick brush on acrylic, then had a thick coat of varnish brushed over the top, which worked very well.

For my black Leviathan boots, I decided to save time by spraying them with black gloss.

However, I didn't know that often gloss spray does not work very well when sprayed directly onto rubber. It does not dry & stays tacky for ages, sometimes it never dries.

I looked online & apparently the gloss paint reacts with the rubber, softening it so the paint never dries.

Anyhow, that's what happened with my boots. I tried using a hair dryer on them, but that didn't work.

Next I sprayed loads of coats of automotive lacquer over them to see if that would dry.

It did dry about 95%, leaving just a few tacky patches, but it enabled me to then bung a thick layer of brush on varnish which finally dried properly.

So what I thought was going to be a quick option, ended up taking much longer than I had planned!

So, if you are painting on rubber, make sure your paint is compatible!

Still, got there in the end...

Cheers!

Russell

[redfern]

I discovered that bit of "chemistry" when I was in my mid teens and visited a friend.  He had some poly-vinyl action figures which he had customized.  One of them was reworked to look like Wonder Woman.  (The official 1/13th scale figures were about 15 years away.)  In my enthusiasm I just picked up the figurine without thinking or asking.  Apparently my friend had painted these "pliable plastic" figurines with enamels.  I wound up smearing most of the white stars painted upon her blue shorts.  I ruined his figure and had pasty "gunk" all over my hand.

L:ater I would learn that soft plastics and enamels are a big "No! No!"  Some sort of water based acrylic is required.  I'm sure my friend learned that, too.  (Of course, at that time, we just assumed "paint was paint...excluding watercolors".  We had no inkling of enamels, acrylics, lead based, lead free, etc.  But that was a lesson that stuck with me...as did the white and blue "tar" upon my hands for an hour or so until Kyle finally cracked open a bottle of Testors' enamel paint thinner and doused my hands with it.

Sincerely,

Bill

[russellsuthern]

Experience is the best teacher......


Right, guys.
Hope you are all well.

I'm very excited to be able to showcase my Leviathan cosplay, so lets get down to it...

First some comparisons...




"Hello! Am I seeing double?  This isn't Meglos, you know!!"




Now THAT'S what I call PPE.....




Hope you like.

Regards,

Russell

[russellsuthern]

I'm very proud of how my armour turned out....

So let's take & closer look...

Firstly in good lighting with a neutral background so you can see the detail.
This is me with the helmet off, channelling Tom as if there's a bag of jelly babies at stake...












Thanks for looking!


Russell

[russellsuthern]

Next I  popped my helmet on...













I felt very butch....

But you can't help thinking Monty Python's Black Knight in this get up!


Russell

[russellsuthern]

Aaaand finally...

I popped down the local church to get some more Gothic style atmospheric shots...

















I had so much fun doing this little lot!

So I hope you get a kick out of the pictures.

Thanks for looking.


All the best,


Russell

[phillbarron]

Absolutely fantastic! That armour came out so well!

[redfern]

That's just d*mned cool!  Some stuff you've done I can guess is for the "giggles", but I see nothing "tongue in cheek" about this ensemble!  And the beauty is, it can be used outside a "Doctor Who" setting.

Which begs the question, do you keep all the items you've constructed?  I mean, where do you store all of it?!  Has the Missus laid down the law and demand, "This stuff goes or I do!"?  Or does she have her own "floor and closet space consuming" hobbies that balances the scales so to speak?

Sincerely,

Bill

[russellsuthern]

Thanks guys!


Yes, the stuff does tend to pile up.

The larger stuff (my Daleks & TARDIS) I keep at my training hall where I teach.

I've got my K-9, Mr Sin & Time Lord collar at home.

Some stuff gets repurposed into other builds.
Other bits are so badly made they just break up through use & are binned.

Everything else generally gets packed up & stored away.

I have reluctantly had to let a few pieces go, due to space restrictions.

I would hardly say I could make a living out of it, but I do manage to recoup at least the material costs of my builds.

It is great if my hobby can pay for itself, especially at the moment when times are tough.

Many thanks for your interest,

Regards,

Russell

[fivefingeredstyre]

Aaaand finally...

I popped down the local church to get some more Gothic style atmospheric shots...

















I had so much fun doing this little lot!

So I hope you get a kick out of the pictures.

Thanks for looking.


All the best,


Russell

I bloody love this!

Absolutely bonkers and brilliant at the same time

[russellsuthern]

Thanks!

As long as you guys keep liking this stuff, I'll keep churning it out!

Russ