{"id":1346,"date":"2005-11-12T09:55:21","date_gmt":"2005-11-12T17:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2009-02-11T09:59:28","modified_gmt":"2009-02-11T17:59:28","slug":"completed-%c2%bb-santa-armored-fighting-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fichtenfoo.net\/blog\/completed-%c2%bb-santa-armored-fighting-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"Completed \u00c2\u00bb Santa Armored Fighting Suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fichtenfoo-santaafs-00\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Story \u00c2\u00bb<\/p>\n

Just like the Marines of today and their “Toys for Tots<\/a>” program, the Mercenaries of Earth’s distant future too have their holiday
\ngift-giving traditions. With his red “suit” and large belly, Santa still visits Earths children on Christmas. The times nessecitate him to be a little more armored, but the spirit of giving and the look of joy on the childrens faces makes the dangerous trek across the war-torn landscape a worth-while cause.<\/p>\n

About The Build \u00c2\u00bb<\/p>\n

This is my fat-type conversion for Nitto’s 1\/20 scale Super Armored Fighting Suit kit. From the start I planned on making jolly old Saint Nick the focus of my build. Who else would need such a large variant of the SAFS? I started with the base hull for the body and using plastic Easter eggs and lots of Bondo, Magic Sculpt, Apoxy Sculpt, and sanding I molded the large belly and bum for this piece.<\/p>\n

After some requests for casts of it I decided to make this a conversion kit. Since all the other Fat-type SAFS pieces I’ve seen used the Raptor gun arm, I built mine and had it cast to go along with the body. This particular build is using one of the first pulls from the mold.<\/p>\n

The ‘bulk’ of this suit was just following the normal SAFS instructions and just replacing the torso and gun arm with the 2 new parts. I molded new joint covers from Apoxy Sculpt for the elbows, knees, and ankles. I think these are my best joint covers yet.<\/p>\n

After priming, I painted the kit in white, then masked off the stripes and painted the kit a bright brick red. Then I added various clear-coats and weathering. So I don’t have to retype what I did for this SAFS since it was mostly the same as my last, please click
\nhere<\/a> for my Bloodwind in-progs.<\/p>\n

Once main weathering difference was the addition of mud splashes on the SAFS and boy. Since it is winter the melting snow would
\ncause for muddy paths. I used a combination of Light Dust and Europe Dust MIG Pigment powders for the mud color. I mixed it with a little water and brushed it on for the caked mud and spattered it onto the sides and lower arms with a stiff brush to simulate mud spatters from walking.<\/p>\n

I modified the SAFS Pilot head and the Eddy Amsel figure for this build. For the pilot head, I just added a beard and mustache using Magic Sculpt. For the poy, I holled out under his coat and made the scarf and ear muffs from Magic Sculpt and lead foil. They were then painted with oils and acrylics.<\/p>\n

About The Base \u00c2\u00bb<\/p>\n

For the base I wanted to depict a muddy and heavily traveled path. I used a combination of Celluclay and Joint compound for the groundwork. When it started to set-up I used the legs of some 1\/20 figs and made lots of overlapping foot prints in the mud to make the road look very used.<\/p>\n

I painted the ground as close a color as I could mix to the Pigment Powder. Then when that was dry I painted the pigment powders mixed with mineral spirits onto the road to complete the color matching of the mud on the suit and boy to that of the base.<\/p>\n

For the snow I mixed together a slurry of baking soda, water and white glus and merely spooned it onto the sides where there’d
\nbe less foot traffic. Immediately after I used a brush to clean up the edges. Then I watered down the mixture and added drops of shush into the road cravases. I got a few compliments on the realistic looking snow at a recent show I took this piece to. Thanks to maxwinamp for the snow tips<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\t\t