Custom Phicen figure creation

Well ultimately this was a test mold so I don't really need to make it perfect. I'll probably cut this one up into little pieces and recycle the silicone once I start making actual production molds.

Looks like a nice attempt.

I agree, it seems very promising.

I watched a tutorial on the Stan Winston School website years ago that covered how to successfully implant a skeleton into a silicone body while casting, I'll try to see if I can find it again.

How does the 1 part mold seem otherwise? Any problems with bubbles?
I know in silicone maskmaking they usually have to have vents for silicone to seep out of to make sure it's actually reaching/filling those hard-to-get areas--not sure if it'll be necessary for something simple like this but just in case you see any problem areas.

What silicone are you using for the mold vs for the body when you cast it? Or is the silicone mold just for the clay versions? (In which case I'd assume you'd end up needing a 2 part mold at some point anyway.) What mold release?

Come to think of it, I wonder if the Stan Winston School would have any videos on this sort of thing, I haven't delved into their toy making or maquette making videos yet. The skeleton video I recall was from a series on animations "tentacle" puppets though--so that was also articulated but in a more simplified way (I think it was like an alien worm or smth, not an actual tentacle lol)

I don't think vents will be necessary for this mold because there aren't really any high points that will catch air bubbles with the way I positioned it. At least I didn't run into that problem when casting the clay. I didn't have any problems with small air bubbles while making the mold since I used a vacuum chamber to suck out the air first

The silicone I'm using for the mold is Smooth-On Near Clear 45, and the body will be Eco-Flex 20 when I get around to casting it. I'll have to use a mold release (Mann Ease Release 200) before casting to prevent the silicone body from bonding to the mold.

There's a channel on youtube that has a ton of information about silicone moldmaking/resin casting, which was where I learned about the one piece mold method in the first place. It's a good resource to look at if you're interested in making molds for action figures.

https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertTolone

Some WIP pics of another body sculpt based off the s12. I think I'll ultimately make a mold of this one first before the s29 skeleton since that one needs a lot more work.







It still needs a lot more polish, but here's some of the things I've done or am trying to do with this new sculpt-

-More realistically shaped torso. I increased the width of the torso overall, namely towards the top near the breasts/armpits. I really wanted to get rid of the weird bendy straw shoulders a lot of older TBLeague figures have. I think it looks pretty good so far but the ultimate test will be to see how it looks in silicone with the arms positioned to her sides.

- I'm trying also to make the shoulders/clavicle area look more realistic in general. Even in the newer TBLeagues the area around the shoulders looks a little balloon-like and rubbery.

- I changed the shape of the breasts slightly to look more realistic. They have more of a teardrop shape, less orb-like. Still roughly the same size as the s12

-I made the hips wider like the torso, and a little more voluptuous. Her thighs are a bit larger as well. I'm adding a little more detail around the knee joint, but I don't think I'll change the size of the legs below the thighs too much because that will make it harder for a lot of s12 sized clothes to fit the body.

-A little bit more muscle shape in the upper arm. Not going to change too much since I plan on making more muscular figures later if this is successful.

-A little more definition of the back muscles, but again not a whole lot more.




- I also gave her a larger/curvier butt. I like big butts, and I cannot lie.

-The figure will also be anatomically correct when I'm finished with it, but obviously I can't post that here.

Anyways, that's all I've done so far. As I mentioned previously if all goes well I want to do some more athletic and muscular figures, but those will be quite a bit more work. I'd like to do something that looks like this woman here-

Looks like some really cool progress with the modelling of the body. Fingers crossed the molds and silicone will cooperate.

Squeeeee!!!! I like everything about it!

Just one thing that raised some alarm bells: that additional material in her arm pits make the shoulders more realistic and 'attached' looking, but I wonder whether that would tear when raising her arms, since silicone is not as elastic as skin?

I appreciate the saddlebags. There's nothing wrong with saddlebags.
And I love the slight enhancement of the muscles!

Geez has it really been a year since I started this? I sure procrastinated on this one.

Finally got around to finishing the body sculpt and making a mold of it. Here it is encased in a block of silicone.



Currently figuring out the best way to cut it out. Tomorrow I'll remove the sculpt, stick in a TBLeague skeleton, and see if this whole process was a success or not.

Looks like a prisoner waiting to break free.

Didn’t you make a two-part mold?

By the way, it’s been almost 1.5 years since you started this…

If you mean the very first one yes, but that was a mold of a tbleague body, not a sculpture of mine, and it had all sorts of problems since it was my first time.

Unfortunately, this attempt turned out to be a failure as well, though not without its positives. I was trying to make a brown skinned body and unintentionally made it look almost exactly like the clay I was sculpting from, but these pictures are silicone, not clay.

I underestimated how difficult it would be to insert an armature into the mold without parts of the skeleton sticking through the surface of the body, and didn't plan the mold accordingly. You can see where the metal skeleton ended up poking through the skin since it was too difficult for me to position the skeleton in the mold correctly. The bigger problem I had was that I underestimated how sticky this silicone was (it's softer than anything I've used before) and didn't put enough release agent onto the surface of the mold, so when I tried to remove the body it ended up tearing off pieces of the mold with it. I'll have to make another one.










On a more positive note the actual sculpture/shape of the body I thought turned out really nice. Actually being able to hold it in hand and move the body around I was very pleased with how the anatomy turned out. The bendy straw shoulders are completely gone, the breasts look more natural, and the hips and buttocks look more natural as well, especially when posed.

I'll have to go fix up the clay sculpture and try making another mold soon.

That’s a good attempt, and I do like your body sculpt. I wonder if small pegs placed into the back part of the mold as spacers for the correct depth of the armature would help?

I would also imagine that finding a way to position the armature correctly and securely within the mold would be trickiest part.

Sorry for the disappointment, but it amazing to me that you've even attempted this at all. I hope you find a way to make the necessary improvements in future.