Project 1 : Galaxy Empress Nobell part 2

Welcome back!

 The work on Galaxy Empress Nobell continues; this time around I'll be focusing on the restructuring of the Nobell's head and upper torso.

I had issue with both being far too girly for my taste, so I decided to rebuild them to suit my needs.

 First, I cut the rear of the Nobell's head off and filed it nice and flat. Second, I cut 7 small squares of 3mm plastic all about the same size but slightly larger then the Nobell's head. I then glued each piece together into a stack, took the Nobell's head and coated the shaved side to the top of the stack, and put it all in a small vice overnight.

Almost looks like a tiny hunting trophy!

7 Layers might be a little too much..

 Now I had more than enough raw material to carve a new head!

The actual carving was extremely tedious, and made more aggravating by a personal vow not to use any power tools! I also discovered that the v-fin on the forehead was constantly getting in my way, and I soon removed it, deciding to replace it later.

That's better! It looks terribly rough but that can be smoothed out with high grit sand paper and fine hobby files.

 I had already decided to exaggerate the crest on the top of the Nobell's head and give it a heavy lip around the bottom, like a very stylised Roman Centurion's helmet. I also didn't want the entire thing to be perfectly round (or at least, not fit into a sphere) and made sure to carve and file in a way that gave it noticeable length as well. 

 The crest was drawn and cut to fit across the top of the head and once I got it to fit snugly, I cut two more and used the 'sandwich' method to create the new material. Hobby glue was applied and the new crest was kept in place with a small vice overnight. 

 To add detail, I carefully cut two small pieces of 1mm plastic and glued one to each side of the front part of the crest. Afterward, I very carefully used scribbling chisel to carve a channel in the front to mimic an actual Gundam crest. Best advice I can give is take your time! 

The crest is in place (sorry I didn't take enough pictures of the process), and panels have been added to the sides to thicken it up and make it stand out.

 As you can see if the picture above, I also decided to use a little putty to fill in unwanted gaps and help smooth out the surfaces. When you use this kind of putty, always let it cure for at least 24 hours!

 Next was redesign of the torso. Since I had already decided to do away with the absurd bow that was normally far of the chest, what I was left with was rather uninspired.

Wow that's bland. And really not mecha-esque either..

 Having heard of Epoxy Putty and seen what could be achieved with it if you were cleaver enough, I decided to give it a try. 

 Since it comes as a two part compound, you need to prepare equal parts of each, and really mix them together. You're doing it right if it's becoming pretty sticky and it's fairly warm in your hand.

Yeah I know, it looks like chewing gum..

 Once it's had time to cure (I waited a good 24 hours just to be sure), it becomes a solid mass, and is pretty easy to sand and file. I used a 600 grit sandpaper wrapped tightly around an old pen, and on a small wood block to get the smooth planes and curves you can see in the picture below. 

With minimal work, chewing gum turns into brand new torso!

 Much better! it's still a little plain, but I'll add detail to it later. the important part right now is to get that new design down, because there's still a lot more heavy customising to be done! This is definitely a few steps in the right direction though. 

Here's the original head and torso vs the customised ones, side by side for comparison. Pretty drastic changes!

 That's it for now, but there's (much) more to come! And feel free to ask any questions!