BATTLE GAZE HATH BEGUN!!

The moulds are done - all machinery is primed and ready, and next monday, a fresh supply of resins, and a decent PC to upload decent pics, design header cards etc, will be in place.
A test run of 10-20 figures will be produced - 4 different characters all varying somewhat, all unique.

Any suggestions for colours, styles etc, you'd like to see would be much appreciated!!! :)

Yesterday's pic is a “proof of concept” figure. It was made almost entirely lasy night, once the moulds were finished. It’s not a pure BG figure – It has borrowed Spikor’s left arm for the sake of having a picture taken, and is made from crappy fibre-glass whereas the real deal will be urethane (much smoother, more robust).

For the time being, the lore of Battle Gaze, the hype, and design artwork can be seen at:
http://www.riversiderambo.wordpress.com

Cheers!

phallofax the first

he's here to commit total body penetration. the first completed battle gaze action figure. the torrent of erectile hyper function begins. ...
will post about production method and plans tomorrow. x.

oblivion imperial city miniature

bit of a change  from my usual stuff but here's a model  i made of the imperial city from the game oblivion . if anyone wants a copy for a few quid for materials , let me know and I'll make  a mould and cast some in the color and transparency of your choice .:)

Terry man and Robin mask tee.

Just thought I'd post this quick before I head out for fun times. It's my favorite item  of clothing given to me by my friends the kumano family. My two favorite kinnikuman characters in a lock up. Cool as it gets gritty black and white sketch. Nice eh ?

Call me a drama queen...

I can never relate to my girlfriend when her PC freezes and she gets upset. I basically did the equivalent thing with my pressure pot. A little coupling broke, I didn't know what the hell it meant, and freaked. I now know exactly how she feels and will spring to her aid next time Media Player spends five minutes trying to open an XVID file in vain.
 One quick chat to a friend and I see all I need is a couple of things that cost a couple of bob on e-bay. Expect tons of awesome toys very soon indeed :)

NEWS: BigMan Toys - MUM! I've made it to That Figures!!

NEWS: BigMan Toys

If you're not massively into toys yet but dig what I do and would like to enrich your life with the aesthetic wonderland of designer/indy toys , i'd encourage you to check out the That-Figures Blogspot.  They've got good taste!

Why does God hate me?

Still bloody ill. Oh well at least I can cast some stuff ! No. No I can't.  New adaptor broke and I'm stuck with an unusable Compressor until the remains are out which I don't think I have the means to do. Will leave alone for now .asked Austin, my go to guy and will Google. Seems like a shit old job..

Day one with pressure casting .

I can finally make what I thought I was going to be able to when I first got into casting and knew very little. About a year a g o I had aspirations of making articulated muscle figures. Of course with no pressure system, out was a bunch of shit bubbles. Just tried out the same mould and look what I got! Ha Ha! It's my first pressure casting and although not perfect makes me very hopeful about my upcoming projects.

P-p-p PRESSURE!!

(It's a Queen song)
With massive MASSIVE thanks to my friend Austin, I am pressure casting. I'm sitting with my first ever pull in perfectly clear resin and i'm breathing like people breathe when they're watching rude videos. WOW!! HAHAHA!
Also, I recieved some wonderful items from Austin today. He's an absolute gent and anyone who knows me personally will know I don't say that for many people.
I'm actually home, sick as an old arse today - I believe I burned myself out last week making the molds for the BATTLE GAZE figs. THAT PLASTER IDEA WASN'T GOOD!- Maybe ok for very large simple mouds but not medium size complex 2 parters. They all seem fine save for the most important - the lower body. There is no way i'm paying for a kilo of silicone just to make sure the knob is attached to the hips, so i've removed it, and will be adding it to the mold, to stick on after. It won't look quite as good with clear casts but it'll have to do.
Well, I still have to soundproof my compressor somewhat and re-make the BG lower body section's mould, but apart from that, I believe we are rocking.
Also, the mould I have in front of me is a M.U.S.C.L.E. project that is bloody exciting. A mould I made over a year ago and haven't had a decent pull form until now. :)

Real Chrome effect for free!

Since my computer died, my android is having lots of old fun. I found this free application called Picasso. You can draw Chrome, the elusive precious effect all microNaut fans have been seeking. Here you go, movie quality cgi Chrome free for life.

Plaster and silicone. If only I'd known!

So it turns our there are many ways to save on silicone by using plaster. Not sure how the plaster element will hold up in the pressure pity but it's worth a try.
It's called something like a sleeve or glove mold. Quite a satisfying process. Will see the results soon.

Slow and low. How I make great curry and great toys.

Well, my new compressor didn't arrive today which means I didn't get to start on my new takara molds and finish the battle gaze base molds so I've been sculpting instead. Here is the head of the main villain. A taste of things to come all over the custom figure scene.
In other news my awesome mate Adam is sending an  on the sprue diaclone driver for me to repro. Life it good.

Thrusting industrious possum.

I am lucky enough to have some of the most creative and genuinely talented friends who are enthusiastic to be joining me in the Battle Gaze project.
My co-author of the RiversideRambo blog has "dug up" this interview with original Battle Gaze conceptor Tressel Gunmetal from an old VHS filmed in Yonkers New York. Enjoy. It's excellent.
CLICK HERE FOR THE BIG INTERVIEW.
Big tub of silicone rubber, super strong magnets, and compressor all due to arrive today. Exciting.

Bloody hope this works.

I ran out of silicone today, even using plaster of Paris to make a shell for the mould itself. So I used my time to put about a hundred wrestling figures on eBay. Using my girlfriend 's vista laptop has completely exhausted me. I had to save the listing for when my computer is fixed. Anyway, here's part one of the mold for the first battle gaze figure. Right now its full of Clay, plaster, bits of AWOL rubber, and a figure im trying very hard nor to disturb. Will come back to this after work tomorrow.
Off to read chopper 2 in the bath for a bit.

Silicone for bigger scale figures. How the Hell do people afford it?

I must admit when I get a new batch in the post, I do tend to get a little silly and just make mould of anything i think would look cool in a different colour or whatever. However, time to get military with my resources.
I'm trying a method i'm sure must already exist, but as far as I know, I may have invented.
I'm casting a lower body for 5" a MOTU/Remco style fig. The legs are bent at the knee which means a lot of space to fill in with expensive silicone.
F' that! I've made 3 cardboard tubes and put them either side of the hip and between the legs. Once the silicone is cured, i'll pull the tubes out and fill the crevices with plaster and let it overflow so the surface of the silicone will also be covered in a layer of plaster. This means the 3 tube spaces will be joined up and the silicone will have a backing board that will not slip when the time comes to put the two halves together and pour the resin in. I hope this works as it'll save me money and allow me to be more ambitions with what I cast.
I'll put up a pic from my phone as i'm using a dying old laptop with only one USB hub.

Phone only blogging now!

To be perfectly fair  even though it takes a little longer,  it's a lot of fun and with no computer, I can work on my toys more. By the end of this weekend, I will have my first prototype of a very cool f figure which I plan to make a lot of as a lot of people are interested in buying already. Plus I've hot my best mate who happens to be a media master by profession,helping with promo.
It's going to be a motu style figure that I imagine some hardcore fans might not like but all I can say is I love my motu just fine and believe in being original and having a sense of humor at all costs. I got beat up at school for not compromising and it paid off in the long run. If  you don't  count my job and lack of all round satisfaction with things.
Seriously though you can't do anything worthwhile without pissing someone off. And the good will definitely outweigh the bad.

"It'll never happen to me"

I like to call it "bareback internet". Enjoyng maxinmum use of my CPU and bandwidth by having minumum security. I'd been doing it or years and now i've been caught out. PC gone spazmo at BIOS. Never though i'd be the guy who couldn't even startup in safe mode. Using a dying old laptop. Will never go bareback again God, I promise. Typing that last sentence, I managed to dislodge my (d,e,_g) key. I'll make this short.
I've got 2 big projects going on. One is a Takara Sf (using a toothpick to press the f) project that will be more to my toy friend's tastes. The other is something my "homies" and I think is completely hilarious and I plan to have a lot o' joy with. 
In case you're very interested in the latter mentioned one, you could google "riversiderambo" to find the comedy blog I do with my old chum.

Howdya do?

Hello - this is something i've been hoping to be able to commit to for a few years and have only now found the time.

I'm not a "crazy guy" (no drugs, nothing like that) but am considered a bit of an eccentric and have put a lot of my lifetime into pursuits like making music and masked pro-wrestling. I've had to slow a lot of stuff down to try and make real money at work and get myself sorted financially. This means I spend a bit more time at home, which means a bit more time spent making toys. It seems like a good time to start bashing out ideas i've had for a long time and seeing where I can go with them. I've attached a few pictures of my old customs/casting etc. 

Pressure pot is here and compressor is on it's way so i'll finally be able to start producing what I feel are really good ideas. these days, i'm very influenced by the versatility and aesthetic of the scifi toys by Takara/Mego; Micronauts/Microman. I think scifi is coming full circle and it's not just nostaliga - you see something like an 80s robot or a kaiju and it looks so fresh compared to most of the constantly rehashed ideas of the last 15 years or so. All grey with cogs and pipes everywhere is ok but seeing as this is our imagination, why not have it full of beautiful colours, translucent, chrome, whatever looks good.