Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Simon Belmont from Captain N: The Game Master

Completed 6/15/2020





Simon Belmont joins the team, along with Kid Icarus, Mega Man and Captain N. 








The base figure used for this custom was a Diamond Select Van Helsing from their Universal Monsters series.  An absolutely gorgeous figure packed with details.



He came with an array of weaponry guaranteed to dispatch any ghouls he may happen across.  The client wanted this figure to be as close to the animated character as possible.  So I carefully removed all of these accessories, as the cartoon version didn't use or openly carry these items.  I have an idea of how to keep these weapons together and still tie them in with Simon.  We'll get to that later.



After removing the weapons, I tried working on the original head that came with the figure.  With the aging and overall demeanor in the face sculpt, I didn't think it would work for this character.  Luckily I had a headcast from a UFC Michael Bisping figure in the bin.  Got to work with the dremel and modified the head and peg to fit onto the neck.  Worked like a charm.
The beautiful fold-over leather boots did not fit the character, so I had to grind the folds away and sculpted the boots to match the existing leather.  This entire custom was an exercise in sculpting textures to match the existing sculpt-work.


 I added sculpt to the legs to give him those aviator style pants.  This is also a good shot of the head to show how I build up the structure for his hairstyle.  Add a bunch of sculpt to create the general shape.  Then use a fine dremel attachment to grind it further into shape.  I love this particular attachment as it leaves rows of tiny grooves which are perfect for a new layer of sculpt to adhere to.


Sculpted the backpack and straps.  The backpack has an inner core of styrofoam, which gives the object its bulk and keeps it light so that Simon doesn't become back-heavy and fall backwards constantly.  I used a hot-wire cutter to cut the foam to shape more precisely before adding the sculpt.  And again, I focused on sculpting a leather texture to match the rest of him.


 All sculpt-work is complete.  The goggles are made out of some plastic caps I've saved in my random plastic bits bin.



I bulked up the fuzzy hood and sculpted the detail.  Also added details to the backpack.




Finished him up with a nice paint-job.  I created a coiled whip for him made out of braided wire and sculpted tip and handle.  It has a peg that fits into the hole that was already in the belt, where Van Helsing's gun holster rested.  I also made an extended whip (not pictured) for when he needs to snap some baddies into oblivion.