The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #389 and Like a Hood Ornament #46: Rocketeer Minifigure Sculpt-along

Join this scupt-along to make a mini Rocketeer figure in real time!

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #389 and Like a Hood Ornament #46: Rocketeer Minifigure Sculpt-along

https://archive.org/download/podcast-389/Podcast%20389.mp3

This week, we are trying something slightly new.  I’m sculpting a custom Rocketeer minifigure from a base Flash figure (the DC superhero) with Aves epoxy clay in real time, and am doing my best to describe the process just through audio so you can do it at the same time if you so wish.  If you want to follow along, here are the base materials:

Tools are pretty minimal, but it may help to have an X-acto knife, some tools or pieces of thin wood to shape the clay, some Vaseline to smooth over the clay, and a Dremel for cutting down parts of the figure (if you wish – I shaved down parts of the shoulder to make the figure less top heavy) and sanding the final product.  Because of the size of the figure, it may also help to have a pair of reading glasses or a magnifying glass, though that is not required.  Good lighting, though, is very helpful (a camping headlamp can really help).

We are going to be sculpting jodhpurs, adding the front bib of the Rocketeer’s jacket, adding cuffs to the sleeves, and making the helmet.  The first four parts are basically adding pieces of clay and a bit of definition. 

The next part is a bit more complex – adding clay to the head and then a piece of carboard to provide structure for the helmet’s fin.  Adding clay to the outside of the cardboard piece will be stronger when it all dries than just trying to make the fin out of clay alone. 

Here is the final result.  After it all dries, I will do some final sanding to touch up a few spots.  I will also be reworking the shoulder joints a bit so they fit better.  I may also consider making molds of all the parts to be able to make resin casts of the pieces so make some duplicates.  

I am using the same rocketpack I used for the Lego minifigures since the scale is about the same, though you could make your own (for the movie version – two torso sized bullet-shaped cylinders connected by a central rectangle).  Next step after all this will be priming and painting.

If you made one of these along with this episode, send me a picture or tag me on social media!  Would love to see wat you created.

Thanks for listening!

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This winter, if you’re looking for an adult of child mask, check out Thirteenth Hour mask combo package on Etsy.  This fall, it became really hard to find good quality masks for our kids as they were going back to school.  There are still long wait times for some of the companies we like best, so I thought, why not try to find an alternative?  I eventually settled on the triple layer masks available for printing on by the company Flashbay.  They were one of the few companies I found that were transparent about their third party safety data (Junior: https://static.flashbay.com/images/certificates/Junior_REACH.pdf?v=1617870020, Adult: https://static.flashbay.com/images/certificates/Sky_Performance.pdf?v=1603078812) which is nice.  I was impressed by how well these masks performed on the filtration tests, even after repeat washings.  Also, I really liked how both the ears and nose piece could be adjusted for a good fit.

The Thirteenth Hour mask combo also comes with Thirteenth Hour hand sanitizer! (But of course.)

There are now Thirteenth Hour toys!  If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.

If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

Stay tuned.  Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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