If you have been following my recent customs, you will know that I am on a Dr. Who kick right now. I am currently finishing up a set of four aliens and monsters, including Morbius pictured above. If you are unfamiliar with the character, you can see a screenshot of his apearance in The Brain of Morbius here. Morbius had some unique challenges, so I decided to take some pictures during his creation.
The main problem was how to make the clear dome on his head that would encase his brain. I considered Mysterio’s head, but it was not hollow, and hollowing it with a dremel would have made it too rough inside to see the brain. I had nothing else in my parts bin that would work. I spent some time at an office supply store looking for a clear marker cap or something similar to use, but came up short. I finally found a solution at the hardware store – a tiny lightbulb:
This is a size 516 bulb, and I’m honestly not sure what it is usually used for. I have never used real glass on a custom before, and I had to get the bottom of the lightbulb off. The bulb is all one piece of glass, with the wires contained inside. I took it out to my belt sander and put on some gloves and safety glasses. The first two lightbulbs cracked across the entire dome when I tried to sand off the bottom, but on the third try the bottom sanded right off with no problems.
I also wasn’t sure if you could superglue plastic to glass, but Morbius needed his eyes and bolts. I cut the bottoms off two lego antennas and scored the plastic with a hobby knife. They glued to the glass without a problem:
While letting this dry, I started sculpting a base for the dome to sit on. I knew it would be difficult to fit the dome to the base AND have it blend in with a minimate torso all in one try, so I decided to sculpt it in two parts. The first part would be the base and brain, and after this cured I would place it on a minimate body and sculpt around it to make it blend in seamlessly. I pressed the glass edge into the clay and sculpted my base:
Later I would add some more sculpted detail to the brain, as well as the bolts and circuit plate on the glass dome. While this part was curing I started working on his claw. I used a Witchblade arm as a base, and sculpted the claw around it so it can still be rotated:
At this point I decided to use a decal for the chest, since Morbius has a lot of detail there:
The next day I was able to superglue the base onto a minimate torso and finish blending it in and adding hair. Once everything was sanded and cured I was able to apply the decal and paint the figure. I used Citadel paints for everything but the eyes. I wanted very shiny eyes, so I used a mix of Model Masters glossy red and black, with a coat of clear gloss afterwards.
Luke, this guy fits your “Customizer Advantages” article perfectly. Outstanding – although I am absolutely not familiar with Dr. Who – how you’ve chosen parts and combined them. Great ideas! (And that claw somehow reminds me of MotU’s Clawful…)
Brilliant. And thanks for sharing.
-Bob
Once again, very, very cool.
That looks so cool!
dont know who this guy is… but the details rock! wow! awesome!
Well, it’s too late now, but one of the things you could have tried is the Mr Freeze dome head from the old BTAS figure. Also, they just released a Mr. Freeze as part of the Imaginex Super Friends line, which has a dome that I think would be Minimate compatable. I thought of snagging one for a Freeze custom, but he’s beyond my current abilities.
Those are both good ideas, Hellpop. Although I do like the idea of it being glass instead of plastic. 🙂
At first I thought it was plastic container from $25 vending machines. Good Job!