In Progress » Shadow of the Minotaur » Armature and Roughing It

This project marks the start of Group Build #5: Period Piece at the FichtenFoo Forums.Here’s the premise:

Group Build #5: Period Piece

Create “mecha”, creatures, or transportation from the an alternate past. 1959 and earlier. Also includes “fantasy” type builds. Only rules are that creation must be pilotable by a human and be based off of a specific era in history. Aside from that, go crazy! Deadline for completion: 9/30/2009

I was trying to think of what I can do for this GB. For a while now I’ve had this idea of making a Steampunk Minotaur piloted by a dwarf in a top-hat. Weird I know, but it’ll be cool whenever I get around to it. I could also complete a put-off Steampunk project or two and maybe I will once this is done.

Instead of all that however I decided to make a stone golum minotaur possibly piloted by a Druid. More magic than mecha, it still contains a pilot and is set in ancient England. Perhaps it defended Stonehenge at some point? Who knows. Mostly it’s fun and cool. I was inspired by the PS2 game Shadow of the Colossus where you battle enormous megalithic colossi. They’re very earthen and look like walking relics. This creature is based on that premise. A giant stone creature with ages of plant growth and bronze armor/chains.

To start I need to thank mtomczek and my friends at Facebook who gave me some tips on creating the armature. I had a bunch of leftover CPVC from the Dagobah trees so I put them to use here. They were bent using my heat gun and put together with PVC glue and screws. The right hand which will be holding some sort of mace still needs bent to level out the weapon.

The armature was attached to a 2×4 scrap where it will remain forever. This will be sunk into my future groundwork and hidden so no worries.  I bulked out the armature using crumpled out phonebook pages since I have several old ones and no newspaper for some reason. These were held with painters tape of which I have lots. Then once I got my desired shape I covered the mess with aluminum wire mesh. I got it at Michaels with a 40% off coupon. The roll was $20, but I saved almost half and I got a size that will be perfect for scale chain-link fence in various scales for future projects.

Anyway, the beastie was covered in the mesh them I wrapped it in floral wire to secure it. Once the wire was wrapped on and twisted I used some pliars to twist parts to tighten it.

Now I’m roughing out the shape of the beast with Super Sculpy mixed with black Sculpy III which makes details easier to see since the Super Sculpy is flesh tone and slightly translucent. Once I have the beast roughed up I’ll start adding the texture and details. The head was created a few days ago and has already been baked. I just need to add the horns. While most of the body is made from megalith-type stones, parts will be cut-stone like the head is for variety. A tarnished bronze chariot will be chained to the back for the “pilot”.