Making Mojo

Has it really been 6 months since my last update?? I knew it had been a while, but I didn’t realize it was that long! I have been getting back into customizing again lately, so I expect to be updating this site more regularly now.

The first time I gave some serious consideration to buying a 3D printer was about two years ago. I made a list of all the things I would like to make, assuming the resolution was high enough. One of the items on that list was parts to make a Mojo Minimate. I grew up reading X-Men comics and watching the animated show, so he has always been on my wanted list. And visually he is one of the most interesting Marvel villains.

Fast forward to early December 2013. I realized that my Birthday Elephant gift had to be mailed in less than a month (Birthday Elephant is a tradition at the Minimate Multiverse that is basically a Secret Santa exchange for people’s birthdays that lasts year round). My recipient made a list of his favorite characters, and Mojo was on the list. I was finally comfortable enough with my Form 1 3D Printer to attempt something as complex as this.

I already had some basic Minimate parts modeled in 3DS Max for use in other projects, so I started with a torso and head. Next was the most important question – how big should I make the belly? His girth changes from artist to artist. Also Minimates are not always proportionally correct – the style is more important. I played around with different sizes until it felt right to me. Then I added a second gut and some lovely man boobs.

I had his body mostly finished, but he still didn’t look right to me. The last thing I added was his two double chins. That gave him that extra bit of obesity that screamed Mojo to me.

The rest of his structure was made from basic shapes. His hair is made from dozens of long cylinders that were bent around the top of his head. His tail is a curved box with lots of little boxes added along the length of it. His legs and tail weapons are made from more cylinders and spheres.

The first print took over 7 hours, and failed, as they usually do the first time. I tried to print him all in one piece to make things easier, but there were too many overhanging pieces, and the legs were too fragile. So I separated the legs and tail from the body, and 7 hours later, I had a working set of parts.

I made a face for him in Illustrator and printed it on vinyl adhesive film. I have him some Minimate arms and I dusted off my paints. His silver parts took 2 coats, while his yellow parts took 5 coats (darn yellow).

I really like how he turned out, and my Birthday Elephant recipient loved him, which made me very happy. I am making a few small changes to the design and then I will be making a 2nd one for myself, and some extra 3D printed parts to sell. I will have more info on those later. Thanks for reading!