Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

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Cylon-Knight
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Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by Cylon-Knight » Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:11 am

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Do you remember another one season Glen A. Larson show - Automan?
It was on the winter of 1983/1984.
Never seen it? Imagine Tron as a cop.

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Here is Automan himself - played by Chuck Wagner. TOO COOL...
I thought I'd try my hand at a custom figure after seeing some online and noticing a blank figure one day while at Joann's. For this first figure I just decided to paint it. No mods to it. Many custom figures I have seen online, people sculpt new items like hair, even heads! They are such an inspiration that I wanted to get my feet wet with a simple project. And since am currently on an Automan kick... here we go...

CALLING AUTOMAN...
CALLING AUTOMAN...

ENTER ACCESS CODE: CRIMEFIGHTER


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Here is my completed figure! AH-HA! *SURPRISE* I completed, what, like - two projects now?! LOL
I've been working on this guy for three months. Started on 3/11/15 and finished on 6/17/15. I have one minor accessory to add, and a case to buy - but the figure is DONE.

Now you are all WONDERING about the "build?"
Don't worry, of course, I took photos :twisted:
:CK:

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This is how he started out. A Rose Art Color Blanks - kind with a cube head. There are quite a few different types of the blanks, pretty cool stuff. And then I bought some new acrylic paint. Now I have a huge stash of acrylic paints, but got new Khaki for the hair, some new black and flesh - just in case, and then Neon blue and sparkle blue - two new colors for me.

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I did a LOOOOT of research on Automan's suit from watching the show. I drew out the panels on his suit the best I could figure and here I've copied it to the blank to get a feel for how to translate the shapes to a chibi figure - so short and round.

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Time to get at it... so OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

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Three or four coats of the Neon blue here.

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Disaster.
After so many coats the acrylic forms a skin as you probably know. And I didn't realize the shoulder joints had become encased in the paint. After I let it dry overnight I picked it up and moved his cute little arm up and down - then screamed :shock:
The paint tore off in a big chunk as it tried to move along with the arm. Here you can see I stripped the arm fully and started to repaint it.

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While the "repairs" to the arm were underway I tested some of the glitter panels.

Got frustrated here. Shoulder in ruin. The pencil lines still showed badly threw the paint. And the blue had color shifted from neon to a very deep blue. He seemed to blueberry and not "glow-y" enough to me. It's true - in the second picture above - from the show - that the "non-glow" spots are very deep blue... but my figure wouldn't have a visual effects team to jazz him up while on display. I wanted my figure to be more bright overall.
So.......

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Took off every bit of paint. TOTAL start over.
One nice item was the pencil marks came off with the paint too. Good riddance.

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Back to the drawing board. New paints.
New idea was a bright, bright blue with a satin/pearl blue on top of that. Hopefully it would give it a little depth.

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I didn't want another train wreck so I did the arms with my new idea.
The looked good. :)

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Cleaned the arms... AGAIN... as my test was just to learn from.

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New base coat done.

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The satin/pearl half on. Looking all "glow-y." Like it. Let it dry and moved on to the head.

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*Fingers crossed* hope this goes well.

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Base coat on the head. Geeking out.

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Head set aside to dry. Panel work started.

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The face.
I got a Chuck Wagner promo pic from the web. Scaled it to my figure's head.
(Printed some spare copies.)

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Traced Chuck's face on the back of the page with a pencil.

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Transferred the pencil to the head by rubbing with the Scissor handle - oh the things you learn in grade school! ;)

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Now I have my guide for my Automan to look like Automan! (i.e. Chuck)

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Starting the DETAIL work.

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Moved to a smaller brush - on the right.
Look, it is about the size of the lines on notebook paper - YIKES - SMALL!

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Automan is doing a Batman impression (no pupils) - lol

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Now, I busted out some of my old paint for the hair. REAL OLD. See the yellow bottle on the left? OLD.
The Apple Barrel packaging / logo have changed... note the retro Wal-Mart green price tag as well.
Yes... my paint is from 1993 - AND STILL ROCKIN' :sunglasses:
OLD SCHOOL CYLONS RULE!!

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Here's lookin' at ya.

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Painting the day away.

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Almost done.

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Tiny, tiny details added.

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Look! Didn't get any on the table cloth :)
(Well... none that anyone ever noticed yet. :roll:)

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Ears! Same process as the face. Drawing transferred, etc.

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Geeking out again.
"One a scale of 1 to 10... think of me as an 11." (That's a quote from the show, from Automan himself.)

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Hair details done.

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Even little finger details added!

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More panels put on. The lower legs / feet are hard to see in the show much. There are no real close ups of Automan's feet. The best views are when Automan is dancing disco. Yes... disco. :oops:

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In the show, Automan has a little helper - Cursor.
Think of "the bit" from Tron (floating, fast moving) + R2D2 type of personality. Cursor draws various items Automan needs to save the day - disguises, cars, jets, anything. I thought I could make Cursor out of a sparkle pom-pom, or maybe a iridescent bead for a bracelet or something. Finally I thought of the odd shaped game dice. It is a distorted version/shape - but similar just like the figure. Had this one around that became my Cursor.

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Gooping on the paint THICK to cover the numbers. Same process as Automan, but skipped the base blue.

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I went back to the store and got gloss coat for the body and matte for the head. I didn't want all my hard work to get chipped or scratched!

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Matte coat applied!

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Gloss coat applied!
Now, after this I realized I was back at the same screw up as before. Up until now Automan's arms could swivel. After the gloss coat, once again, there is a skin at the joint that can't flex with the arm spinning around. I tried it and cracked up a chunk of shoulder again and said something sort of like
:frack:
I was able to patch him up and no one will ever tell there was a repair.
I did try to cut the gloss coat free at the joint, but it was just starting to make a mess. I decided that no one will ever get to mess with him / move his arms so he'll be okay as is.

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The moment was at hand! All the parts were done... three months of work and Automan was ready to have his head reattached.

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Automan!!!!
(And, yes, in the background - there is Cylon-Puppy - ;) she is always watching)

Now, I have:
  • Cursor to finish - long dry time with THICK paint
  • Buy a display case - as soon as it goes on sale at Michael's (picked it out already)
  • Print out the city/Automan logo image I have used above to put in the back of the case
  • Install Cursor with a wire painted black - so he "floats" as suggested by GroupLeader Zeta
Then Automan and I will be ready to fight crime. :)

Thanks for looking.


"All Baseships are now in range to attack the Colonies."
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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by Red Eye » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:14 am

What a nice innovative build... thanks for sharing this report!

He really came out great. :loveit:
"There can be no survivors. So long as one human remains alive the Alliance is threatened."

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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by GoldCylon » Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:48 am

I wonder if the actor would approve knowing he is now a block head...LoL. Great work, and like the last photo with doggy in the background (since he didn't attack it) I approve. Great work. :cylongold: :byyourcommand:

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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by bishopdonmiguel » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:11 am

LOVE THIS!!!

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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by Hand-Schaub » Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:34 pm

way cool!

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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by Cylon-Knight » Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:35 pm

Thanks guys! Glad you liked him. It was a fun project.
@GoldCylon - I shared the page to Caroline she asked to share it.
I mentioned she should share it with Chuck if she knows him/his people. It would be fun to hear what he thinks of it... himself :)
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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by GoldCylon » Thu Jul 02, 2015 10:58 pm

Cool
Image :cylongold: :cylongold: :cylongold:

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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by Cylon-Knight » Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:38 pm

Update. Got a case.
Not the one I first had in mind... decided that was too big for just one figure, and too expensive as well. I got the below case last night.

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Added a backdrop, and logo.

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Here you can see the backdrop better. The City that Automan keeps safe! ;)

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Background is photo paper, scored and taped to the case with some double sided tape.
The logo is the same, sized to fit in the front of the base.

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Here is the case. It also includes a clear base if you don't want to use the black... or want to pick it up and see the bottom I guess. I didn't use it for Automan. It was $6.99 and I got it with a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby. I didn't have the measurements of the figure, and guessed it would fit. It turned out good. I think the beveled edges of the case compliment the "blocky" figure.

I didn't add Cursor yet. That'll be the next and final item... I have to find him again - oops! *clutter* :oops:
Not even sure I've finished painting him yet. heehee

Thanks for looking!
:byyourcommand:
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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by Red Eye » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:32 am

Excellent choice for the base / display case! :loveit:

Awesome work as usual, my friend.
"There can be no survivors. So long as one human remains alive the Alliance is threatened."

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Re: Cylon-Knight's Rose Art Color Blanks - Automan

Post by GoldCylon » Mon Mar 21, 2016 2:05 pm

Just in case. :salute:

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