Arm Painting And Assembly Tutorial

[Alyosha]

All done!

[Bekker]

very cool i have been waiting for you to do this,great idea Al.

[Alyosha]

All done!

[JoeRhyno]

lol.. I actually started taking pics for a "how to take apart an arm" tutorial... you can see how far I got with that one, lol

[Draven79]

lol Joe you so lazy! @smilepunch@

Look forward to seeing it Al.

Draven

[AirborneRigger]

I'm also looking forward to seeing it!

[xhairs]

same here i just pop the pins out of the arms . but i would like to know how to do that .

[Alyosha]

All done!

[Alyosha]

Well, Hell is finally freezing over and I am finally getting these pics posted. I'll try to be concise, and explain as much as I can. If I miss anything or you have any questions that are unanswered here, just drop me a note and I'll try to reply here.

 

Let's start with the tools:

 

Pot of Water:

 

Something to retrieve your parts:

 

Your parts:

 

Make sure your parts are clean, and fit relitavely well together. If the "look" doesn't flow, all the sanding in the world won't fix it.

 

Start by sanding the joint areas that will have friction or rub aginast one another. I use a dremel with a grinding router bit to remove most of the material and sand down from coarse to fine to superfine paper, watersanding the final time.

 

On the upper arms, be sure to sand the radius of the joint-ring assembly to avoid any paint cracking or flaking in the joint. Usually it's enough just to sand it flush with the actual arm without removing any material form the arm itself.

 

Next is the elbow joint. Make sure that you sand the outside radius of the rounded area. This is just insurance to avoid any flaking or rubs that would happen when the arms are flexed. Make sure to sand the part all the way around the whole radius.

 

continued...

[Alyosha]

Next make the mods that are needed to the forearms. This is crucial as this is where most rubs happen. You can also sand the inside of the radius of the elbow joint where the forearms fit in it.

 

Any further mods that need to be made should be done at this time. It's tough to make some of these mods after the parts are assembled, so be sure that you avoid having to do re-work. In these pics I have drilled a hole for the pins of posable wrists.

 

Next line your parts up and make sure that all clearances are good, and that paint has got a decent chance of sticking in the joints.

 

continued...

[Alyosha]

Now, heat your water to boiling. After the water boils, REMOVE IT FROM THE HEAT! Removing the heat source will save your parts if you forget to move them or leave them in too long. Take one joint area at a time out of the water (using your untensil) and assemble that part. I usually do the upper arms first.

 

After assembling the 1st part, remove the second part (I usually do the elbow to lower arms assembly. Make sure the parts are flexible, so that the pins will slide all the way into the joint.

 

If the parts were well heated, you should have a part that looks like this:

 

If you are unsure about a fit or whether a joint will work, you can test fit it after brushing on a light coat of brightly colored paint. As the paint dries, just move the part back and forth and it will be readily evident whether your on the right track or not.

 

When you are ready to paint, boiling the parts has the bonus side effect of helping to remove any mold release residue that might still remain and possibly spoil your paint. Also, you can try using some of the skewers to hold the parts while you are painting. I usually use spray paint for the first coat, so this is ideal to avoid any fingerprints.

 

When painting your parts, prep the parts with a cleaner such as Polly S Prep Sol or common rubbing alcohol. This helps the paint stick well, and will insure a long life for your custom.

[Draven79]

Cool pointers Al! I never thought of sanding the joints down some. Mainly because I pose my customs much. May have to do that some now.

Draven

[Alyosha]

In the next week or so, I'll try to add a new tutorial for legs. I'll have some free time since I got freaking fired Friday. This is going to cause a delay in some of the resin parts shipping tho, until my new resin arrives. If anyone has questions about that, please email me.

[Bekker]

Bro you got fired,whats up with that?

 

If you need anything bro just ask,and guess you going to start having to kick out some customs and sell them,better get to work,lol @smilepunch@

[Draven79]

Dude that sucks Alyosh. Best of luck with getting a new one asap.

Draven

[TR1ER]

Good stuff Alyo I need to try that.

[shakka85]

Thanks for the great info! You are class act dude, taking the time to give us this step by step... Also, sorry to hear about the job situation. Hopefully, this will lead you to bigger, and better things. Sometimes it is the thing that hurts more that causes us to grow stronger... I hope this is the case for you, friend!

 

Todd

Shakka85

[Doc Evil]

Hey Aloysha, get back to me with your e-mail. Thanks.

[JoeRhyno]

Nice job on the Tutorial... one thing you might want to do, is explain to the ones that dont know how to... to take apart the arms, the pins and all, I've gottten tons of requests from people asking how do do that.. I have most the pics for that tute taken, so if you want, I can edit them and post them here. in a month or five.. cause you know.. that's how I's be doin' it @loll@

 

anywho.. sorry to hear about the job.. you gotta stop customizing in the back room @smilepunch@ you should submit your work to hasbro, I talked to the head Star Wars sculpter and he said they always contract sculpters from around the world for work.. hey.. it couldn't hurt

-Joe

-Joe

[Alyosha]

Joe- Sure thing. Go ahead and post that as an addendum to my assembly tutorial. I didn't think ahead or I would've definately done that, but honestly I kind of took it a "wrote" that most customizers already knew how.

 

As for the sculpting thing, I'd love a job doing freelance or what-have-you. Truthfully though, I'm just good at adding stuff to existing sculpts, not the complete creation of a new piece. I know human anatomy, and am familiar with some of the methods used sculpting, but I think a complete project would be beyond my means and I would just embarass myself. What I'd really like to do is work on paint-masters and hard-copies, but that is usually farmed out to people who have other desirable skills (sculpting, graphics design) in the business.

 

I appreciate all the kind wishes about a new job, and am already pursuing a couple of things, but the next few weeks could be very rough since I had $0 set aside due to cost of living, and other expenses. If anyone needs to contact me about any deals I have made with them, please don't hesitate as I will be fulfilling these ASAP. I have about 1/2 of the heads I need to send out cast, but am waiting on a little more money to come in so I can buy more resin. Again, contact me with any questions. THANKS!

[xhairs]

 

anywho.. sorry to hear about the job.. you gotta stop customizing in the back room @smilepunch@ you should submit your work to hasbro, I talked to the head Star Wars sculpter and he said they always contract sculpters from around the world for work.. hey.. it couldn't hurt

-Joe

-Joe

hay joe thats a great idea about haveing AL contacting hasbro for a job . the work he dose is really good. they need to hire you and him.