By Jatta Pake
This is the first part of several articles which will detail the custom production method of a 2.5″ Marvel Rhino Minimate. Many of the techniques described in these articles are adapted from the brilliant custom making article by Mini-Myte called “Custom Making 101″. Found here.
With the announcement that the new line of DC Minimates would take advantage of the different possible scales of Minimates to better reflect character sizes, I felt it was very important to “up size” some of the classic Marvel characters already released by Diamond Select Toys and Art Asylum. Part of the reason I chose these characters for an increase in size was due to the licensing restrictions already on the Marvel Minimates. Marvel Minimates are restricted from being larger than 2″ in size due to licensing agreements with other toy companies. Based on the comments from Diamond Select Toys representatives, it appears that the hope of larger Marvel characters currently remains an impossibility. But fans are certainly free to make their own.
I also made the decision because I dediced to buy a case of Lord of the Rings Minimates which were offered by AFX.com on a deeply discounted sale. The total cost for 72 Elrond Minimates worked out to be little over a dollar a Minimate which is a great price for even 2″ Minimates. The fact that these were 2.5″ Minimates and came loaded with accessories made the decision an easy one.
After experimenting with some of the techniques in Mini-Myte’s article, I decided to record and document my progress with my application of those techniques involving the making a Marvel Minimate in 2.5″ in size. I had already used those techniques to successfully make several Big Hulk Minimates at the 2.5″ size (found here), and I was eager to expand my skills with a new character. I decided to tackle Rhino.
I partly chose Rhino because I believed the hardest part of making customs involved the painting techniques. Rhino was two colors, so this afforded me an opportunity to focus less of my energies on painting. However, I would soon learn that the hardest part of custom making is sculping pieces, and Rhino’s helmet proved to be an extraordinary challenge.
I started with a simple 2.5″ Elrond Minimate. I opened the package and “undressed” him to get him stripped down to his basic parts.
Elrond comes with a bunch of extras which won’t be needed for the Big Rhino custom, but will be useful for future customs.
The extras are bagged and stored for future customs. The stripped down Elrond serves as the base for the Big Rhino custom.
Next I prepared the craft wire. Craft wire is used to string up the painted Minimate as it is painted and dries. I bought this bolt of wire from Michaels Craft Store near the check-out counter. It was 24 guage wire, which I found perfectly sturdy enough to handle the weight of the 2.5″ Minimate. I had used a lower gauge copper wire while making the Big Hulks, and I was often frustrated because the wire was not strong enough to hold the Minimate without bending. You need a strong, medium gauge for your wire.
You should also note that I used the wire cutter part of the red pliers pictured above to cut the wire.
I looped the craft wire around the center hip post of the Minimate. This configuration allows me to prime and airbrush the Minimate without touching it. I can hold the wire and spray the Minimate. I found that is best to have the wire lead come out of the Minimate’s stomach rather than the back. Why? When I hung the Minimate to dry, if for any reason my paint application causes the paint to pool, it was much better if the paint pooled on the back (which is less likely to be viewed when on display). If the lead came out the back, any paint pulled down by gravity is likely to pool on the front of the Minimate.
I primed the Minimate with a fine surface primer. The purpose of priming the Minimate was to create a base for the Acrylic paint to bond to strongly when I painted. As you can see, I used a Gray color primer. This had nothing to do with the fact that Rhino is predominately gray; I would be later painting him with a gray acrylic paint.
The next step in the process was to shift gears and focus on creating the Rhino helmet. I wanted to make Rhino’s helmet removeable, so I decided to use Elrond’s hair as a base for the helmet sculpting.
To be continued …
(Stay tuned for Part 2 of Making Big Rhino!)
