[Stoney-VA]

Finished 12-12-12 CB 2012 Moebius Black Widow

Although the Black Widow model looks fine out of the box, I will be performing some surgery on this kit that will require the removal of the head and hair.
The goal is to make the model look as much like the box art on the left as possible.

As you can see the box art head is tilted more toward the right shoulder and downward. Note also that in the box art that the part in the hair is to the left side of the face, rather than centered as on the model. The hair drapes differently due to the center part and notice also that both left and right sides of the hair, on top are basically at the same height.

Once the head has been removed, I will be re-sculplting the face, to more closely resemble Scarlet Johansson and changing the head angle. Once the face is completed I will add it back onto the model and sculpt the new hair with two part apoxy putty.

I'll be posting photos as I progress.

 

[Els]

I am glad that you are working on this. I wanted this kit when I heard it was being released but after seeing it I wasn't crazy about the sculpt of the head and hair.
I will be very interested in watching how you deal with this.
Els

 

[MonsterModelMan]

Stoney,

I don't know if you are a member of the Clubhouse BB but someone there is doing just what you described...
http://theclubhouse1.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=94702

Maybe you can get some tips on yours as well...

MMM

 

[captainmarvel1957]

Stoney! You're going to cut off her head??? I'm looking forward to seeing how you achieve that slight tilt and turn to the right.

I'm actually having fun with my build doing some minor alterations to the kit I'm building. So I do really look forward to seeing how you're going to accomplish this feat!

 

[Stoney-VA]

Stoney,

I don't know if you are a member of the Clubhouse BB but someone there is doing just what you described...
http://theclubhouse1.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=94702

Maybe you can get some tips on yours as well...

MMM

I am Stoney over at the Clubhouse and also at the Horror Monster Model Association on Yahoo groups as well.


I had not seen Ant's thread over there as the CLubhouse has been down for a few days. He has taken the exact approach that I was considering.

I had thought that the front and back of the head, as well as the hair, were all molded into the front and back of the body. The only piece that is molded to the body is the back of the head. The hair is in two separate pieces. I sliced the back of the head off of the body using a hobby knife. Now that both pieces of the head are no longer connected to the body, they can be assembled, filled with milliput and the head can be resculpted to look more like the boxart. Filling the head will provide additional material in case I end up carving all the way through anyplace on the head. If this does not work out I may try my hand at sculpting a new head from scratch.

I'll post a photo of the head as it is now after removing the back of the head from the body.

BTW:

It's fortunate that the model is built this way as it opens up the possibility of a producer making a resin replacement head, complete with hair for the kit.

 

[Stoney-VA]

Stoney! You're going to cut off her head??? I'm looking forward to seeing how you achieve that slight tilt and turn to the right.

I'm actually having fun with my build doing some minor alterations to the kit I'm building. So I do really look forward to seeing how you're going to accomplish this feat!

It was easy to cut the back of the head off of the body, I'll post some pics.

:wave:

 

[Tanis-uk]

hope this helps, my work on the Black Widow
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=349950

 

[Stoney-VA]

hope this helps, my work on the Black Widow
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=349950

Thanks!
I'll consider myself very fortunate if my model comes out looking half as good as yours does. :thumbsup:

The hair looks great and I noticed that you have gotten rid of those lines around the bottom of her mouth as well.

 

[Stoney-VA]

OK WIP photos, thus far.

Here you can see how the back of the head is attached to the back half of the main body. Note that the front half is not attached. I scribed a line across the back of the neck, just at the same spot where the face will join the rear of the head, using a hobby knife. The head is pretty much cut off in this photo.

The cut is finished and now the front and back are assembled, minus the head, which is now in two separate pieces.

The assembled head is mounted to a T shaped stand, made from Balsa wood using a heavy duty paperclip for support. The paperclip was first super glued into the center peghole inside the face. Now all we need to do is fill the head with apoxy and start refining the sculpt. The stand will be removed once the work to the face is finished.

 

[hedorah59]

I'm looking forward to watching this progress. I am way too chicken to try anything this drastic myself!

 

[captainmarvel1957]

This is the second Moebius female figure kit I've seen where the head is bald, this one and Elvira. Did you remove the hair or is it a separate piece like a wig?

 

[Stoney-VA]

Don't be chicken, hack away like I am and be a happy modeler!

The hair is in two pieces, left and right. I doubt that I will be using either of them.

BTW: My right index finger is all wrapped up and in a splint. I sliced it open last night with a folding pocket knife that decided to fold back upon my finger tip as I was cutting. :freak: LOL at least it wasn't a modeling accident with an xacto knife.

 

[captainmarvel1957]

Stoney-VA, OUCH! I hope you heal fast! I did do that while building a model back in the 1990s. It was the Horizon Wolverine kit and it got the index finger on my left hand. It was so bad that at the emergency room the doctor asked me if I could still make a fist. Six stitches later ---

So we probably won't see any more progress on your kit for a couple of weeks. And just when it was getting good!

 

[Stoney-VA]

I will not let this slow me down too much. I'll consider my stiff pointer finger a tool for artistic measure rather than a temporary handicap. :tongue:

 

[captainmarvel1957]

Soldier on, Stoney!!!

 

[Stoney-VA]

OK , so slicing my index finger didn't really slow me down any, but everything else did. I decided to go ahead and mount the head, build the hair with Aves. then work on the face. Here is the head mounted with the initial hair added.

I need to do a little bit of carving and sanding on the hair to define the curls, but I'm pretty pleased with the shape of the hair, and the tilt of the head, at least as compared to the original stuff.

I still need to work on her face. I think she needs a little less cheek, a little bit of rhinoplasty and maybe some thinning of the upper lip. I'll wait until I'm finished with the face before adding the long curly strands of hair around her face.

 

[MonsterModelMan]

LOVE IT! She is looking FANTASTIC!:thumbsup:

This is such an improvement!

MMM

 

[Stoney-VA]

Update 12-21-12

Well the world did not end today, so I continued to work on her.

I made some modifications to the face to hopefully look more like the actress who played her.

I also reposed her arm, note for anyone else doing this ... repose the arm before you add the hair, that way you can actually get her hand on her hip, rather than on her thigh. I also added more loose locks of hair to her head.
She's ready to prime and sand, I may be able to fine tune the hair a bit as well once the aves fully cures.

Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18 Show Content

 

[captainmarvel1957]

Wow! Your project is turning into a resculpt! Great! What did you use to make the alterations on the face? Fine grit sandpaper? A Dremel? A Beverly Hills plastic surgeon?

 

[Stoney-VA]

LOL. Combination of gentle scraping with hobby knife, various shaped blades, fine emery board, 600 grit wet sandpaper and small spatula for filling in with Aves. I have her primed now and the small scratches were filled with the primer. I tried to thin the upper lip but was not having much luck. Hopefully I can make the upper lip appear thinner with my paint technique.