Gempei war era (12th century) samurai

[Timotheos]

This is my first attempt at a Japanese custom.

The samurai is fashioned for the era of the Mongol invasion (late 1100s) wearing haramaki type armor (lamellar / laminated apron, not a breastplate; the reason the armor looks like cloth is due to the thick laces used to bind the laminate plates together).  He is armed with a naganata.

This didn't turn out exactly as planned--as I like my customs "useable" and he clearly can't move.  Next time I may try painting the "kusazuri" (girdle) so that the guy can sit down and move his arms properly...  but I worried painting it would look cheap...  At least the yarn counts as experimental.  That was completely spontaneous.  I started with a breastplate, intending the yarn as a belt.  Next time, though, may try painting it...  I'm afraid to try squeezing a sword into the belt for fear of tearing it all off.

[Jimbo]

Konnichiwa, Tim.
Cool Samurai.  Great job on the armor, and I like the paint work
on the legs and sandals.   Neat idea for the naganata.

Kiwotsukete,
Jimbo

[starhorse]

Awesome!  It looks really cool.  Great job.

I also like the stuffed Totoro in the background

[Timotheos]

Thanks for the comments.

Next time I will try to make the armor from fabric so that it will be removable. 

I'm not happy that the guy not only can't move but is flimsy.  And the yarn came out a mess.  I should have tailor-cut each strand and glued it into place instead of spontaneously wrapping and gluing as I went along, trying not to knock off the foam girdle and shoulder protectors.

Great paint job; bad execution...   

[macgayver]

think your idea is great

keep practising on the execution 

you'll get there

nice work

[Timotheos]

think your idea is great

keep practising on the execution 

you'll get there

nice work

Thanks MacGuyver 

I've been watching Kihachiro Kawamoto's modern stop-motion puppet movies set in the Heian period of Japanese history (around 1000 AD).

http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/kihachiro_kawamoto.shtml

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/04/kihachiro_kawamoto.html

He makes all his puppets and props from scratch.  It is really inspiring.

-Tim

[Knightmo]

Very cool.

The flimsiness is tough obstacle. I may try 'Mighty Putty' on my next one. The armored samurai I made a while back fell off the shelf and is now sipping sake with his ancestors. -- he's just not fixable.

[Timotheos]

Thanks Knightmo.

I wish I'd remembered the putty for the armor, instead of using the glue.

What I was worried about--the acrylic paint, even with binding undercoating and sealant, damages easily.  So I bet the putty would have torn off paint.

For the naginata, however, the putty proved my last recourse.  The glue simply wouldn't hold the blade straight, and I found the putty to be the best option short of making a pin or trying to cut a "male-female" notch in the pole and the blade.

But, yeah, as with your samurai, if this guy takes a dive, he won't be coming back up for air.  I'm working on a new armor technique and am tempted to salvage the guy's legs, but I doubt I could even take him apart without completely ruining the paint job (short of sawing off the head to avoid stress-causing Hans-on Method).

-Tim

[Jimbo]

 

 

 

 but I doubt I could even take him apart without completely ruining the paint job (short of sawing off the head to avoid stress-causing Hans-on Method).

-Tim

Hi Tim,
If you need to pop off the head neatly, remove the hair, just drill down through the neck area, 
drill down far enough to weaken the neck post, not all the way, then pop the head off.  The head is done for, but the rest of the figure is in perfect shape.  Use a drill slightly smaller than the diameter ot the neck post...I think I use a 11/64" drill bit.  Go slow and easy, use a hand drill.
 

Anyway..just a thought

Best regards,
Jimbo
 


,

[Timotheos]

Thanks Jimbo I'll give it a try.

I have a new cloth armor created; hopefully I've broken through.

Would like to make a whole line of different style Samurais.

The Sohei or Yamabushi (soldier monk) is in my sites.  Will have to use cloth for the scarf-coif because PM doesn't represent a wrap-around veil and hood (unless you hack it with the Virgin Mary cowl plus a bandit handkerchief mask).

-Tim