I promise this is the last lame entry i'll write.

I'm selling more stuff to buy a new PC tomorrow! Not having access to download stuff, fast broadband, and being unable to upload pics of my new creations is not good for my creative flow. I know having a good PC wouldn't seem to matter much when making toys but I want to make videos, design header cards, and all that stuff. It keeps me thinking about the toys and what I can do with them.
I'll miss my old PC. It's a huge gaming beast i shipped back from Japan. BIOS just went bad one day. Tried a new hard drive and everything but no dice. Graphics card is built in so no joy there in terms of salvagability.
A few more BattleGaze then i'm calling it quits on production until we've got a few episodes and promos under our belt. No point selling a designer toy no one knows anything about.
Blockmen baby, thats where it's at.

Time to get rocking again.

Been really busy the past few weeks selling off a lot of my old wrestling figure collection as I need the space and money, and spent four brilliant days on a canal boat for my best mate's stag-do. Too much fun. Good to be reminded I do have a capacity to be happy when not surrounded by arseholes.
On that note, money's good, space is better and am about to make big casts for lots of blockmen and associated accessories. Also been sculpting some new keshi when there's nothing else to do. I do like my BattleGaze but they're just so pricey to make, I can't justify it until I know people are likely to buy them. As cool as they are, I need space and you can have too many cock shaped aliens in your house.
Also thinking more about Micronaut casting in general. Since learning the ways of the compressor, i've realised just how much you can do with resins - with Golddober as the best example of all round toycrafting, you can do almost anything.
Still no good PC of my own - I believe good pictures to be very important when it comes to making your stuff look good. If all I have is a bunch of waffle and a few rubbish pics, why would anyone be interested in what i'm doing?

On a plus note, I  got some ricockulously good hauls on e-bay this month. For almost no money at all, these incredibly mismatched colour abortion Mexican Starriors Bootlegs!

Then, just when I thought it was safe to put my wallett away, someone put this Palisades lot on UK e-bay at a crazy price. I bought it within hours of being listed. It came with all in this pic, plus 3 red falcon variants. Good times.

Don't know much about this push down and go bike but it says it's made in the UK. Fits 3 3/4 figs. I had two of these when i was a kid and loved them a lot. We used to have some awesome bootleg-style toys produced in the UK in the eighties. Shame that all died out.

Last but not least, MY FIRST GLYOS. Someone actually had some available here in the UK. The postage from the States so far has put me off buying but i'm so glad I did. Plan to make a few custom heads for these bad boys.

TONS OF PICTURES! BATTLE GAZE THUS FAR AND FIRST BLOCKMAN EFFORT!

For a couple of months, i've been without a decent computer to blog with. Haven't seen the value in investing in some thing that's going to make want to play games as soon as I get it so i've been using my clapped out old laptop with one USB hub, that i need for mouse.

I've had my share of making Battle-Gaze for the time being. We've got enough to make our little comedy show at riversiderambo.wordpress.com for now and until people are into the story, there's no value in making them to sell. So here are Phallofax, Space Phallofax, Homophobos-Z, and as a means of showing the detail of the sculpt, Beastman. With a big steamer.

I've had very little time to cast this week and will be busy for the rest of the month, so i'll be sculpting a lot and doing what I can for the Blockman project. I expect it to feel pretty easy after what i've been doing this month.

Some great TGB CUSTOMS and fancy plans for my posable M.U.S.C.L.E.

TGB CUSTOMS: C2E2 Glyos Voss Granthan Kabuto Mushi & Leo Armorv...

Going to get my stuff sorted and post some decent pics on here of latest stuff using my girlfriend's PC sometime this weekend. Just thought i'd share something pretty great. TGB's casting of MUSCLE toys a couple of years ago was one of the first things that inspired me to endorse in a pot of silicone. Since i've re-discovered micronauts, the craftmanship and perfectionism of Gold Dober also makes me keep on trying to keep better little by little.
In terms of pure aesthetic and execution though, these are just insane. Look at 'em! So schmexy!

POSABLE MUSCLES - in urethane, it just aint happnening. The ball joint are far too brittle. I was in the bath last night and had eureka moment - magnets! I'm going to try the idea out this weekend. A lot of little toys have die cast or pewter parts where plastic wouldn't hold up.In the same way magnos use bespoke screws with rounded heads to give plastic limbs a metal ball joint of sorts, i can't see why doin the same in smaller scale wouldn't work, with a very strong magnet cast in the little MUSCLE body.

TMNT METALHEAD CUSTOM GOING CHEAP!

In order to fund the BattleGaze and Blockmans projects, i'm selling off lots of stuff on e-bay this month. All my other customs i'm selling will be posted here too :)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180859089477?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

X-com managment and anatonically correct BeastMan going on sale.

X-com is still one of the best games of all time. It taught you to be thorough, and do all you can to get the job done. You could sell alien bodies for research to fund your own.
The famous cky beastman skeletor video featured a sexualised beastman. It was funny. To help fund the battlegaze project, I’ll be putting this one of a kind hard Dick beastman on e-bay within the next couple of days. 100% pure orange plastic.

BlockMans!

I was going to hold off this project until I finished with the first battlegaze figure series but I was too keen to see how my recycled silicone sandwiches worked.
They really work! The mold for this was made with 50 percent recycled silicone and works great!
Need to cut a few more ducts in this blockman mold but the joints fit and it works. This will be a very exciting project as I am getting help from a few people so as well as making something I like and can sell, I'm doing it as part of a community which makes it way more fun!
Ill be making these alongside my battle gaze figures and once I can afford more silicone, the project will really go crazy. :)

Recycled silicone sandwiches.

Recycling silicone... works!
Using the method I posted about the other day, I've made a new mold using a mere slither of fresh silicone. The rest was an old mold I casted of a rubbish looking Bryan Danielson head. That I chief into cubes and put into the mold box, which I then topped up with a mere 40g of silicone resin per half. The uneven iceberg looking surface has been topped with a hard resin w shell. The results are great. All those old molds can now be reborn again and again.

Homophobos-z

Please say hello to phallofax'a first general in command, homophobos-z!  This particular version is clear orange with a bug filled body  (the last of my rubber bug supply!).
I sincerely hope my friends in the microNaut community don't mind my choice of head. Its the only thing I could imagine working when I imagined this character, how he might talk, what he says etc.
A lot of half done figs at my desk. Should have ten done by next week. Then I'll move onto my first takara sf project which I expect will be a lot more fun to make as there will be no damn painting and its a toy I personally really want!
P. S.  Homophobos means 'fear oneself'.

Kaiju Korner: Onell Design studio visit

Matt Doughty's studio = the dream. Just a few more quid a month and I can get a place with a garage. We've got the UK's first designer toy convention this time next year. I'm telling you now, I intend to arrive armed!!

Kaiju Korner: Onell Design studio visit: As part of my travels through the Northeast, I was lucky to have the chance to visit my buddy Matt Doughty, the mastermind behind the Glyos ...

More money saving ideas for men who cast.

With the big molds I've been making recently, I've been inventing ways to save  silicone.
one that I can tell you works its using just enough to fill the level where the original model ends . For example, the tip of a nose if you're making a mold of a face. After saw few hours ,the silicone will be semi cured and it's possible the nose will be sticking out. No problem. Scoop the silicone from areas of the mold where its not needed. Drag it over the nose or whatever until you've made a little mountain. You  might need to come back and do our again if the same silicone is still runny.
Now for the smart bit.I use for fibre glass 4as its cheap. Wear a respirator and keep it away from people. Pour your resin (plaster, gypsum, or urethane should work too ) onto the silicone once it's fully cured until all the silicone is covered. You're left with a sturdy shell that supports the silicone mold and keeps it in shape when casting. I estimate that for what I'm making,  I'm saving half on silicone.
...and here's my new idea on fully recycling old molds!
Take some old mold you wont use again. Cut it up into little pieces. Put those pieces in your box, before you pour fresh silicone in. I've just left a mold to cure like this. As you can see, it looks like  it'll be uneven whenit's done.  That's OK, I'll finish off with a hard resin shell. Should save some money if it works.

VIDEO VIEW: Onell Design's Matt Doughty Interview

VIDEO VIEW: Onell Design's Matt Doughty Interview

Rad.