I Put an Eel in Epoxy Resin

[Music] how's it going everyone welcome back to boyy hobby time today I'm making a deep sea diver facing off against a fearsome sea creature and I'll be using one of the helmets from these astronauts and converting it into the deep sea diver's helmet for the body of the diver I wanted someone in a nice combatant pose so I grabbed one of these French Foreign legionnaires from this box that was gifted to me by the Craftsman I started the customization by removing the head of each character and drilling a small hole for a styrene rod that will hold and support the connection between the two pieces this plastic doesn't take glue very well so I found that this little step makes a world of difference when it comes to stability giving me confidence that the head won't just pop right off when I begin painting it after the head was in place I added some windows I made little rings that I sliced from a styrene tube and I placed them on the front sides and top of the helmet I also removed removed all of the excess fabric from around the Soldier's legs I wanted the diver to be an actual scuba diver so I drilled a hole in his backpack and connected a small piece of guitar string from the helmet to the newly drilled hole giving the guy a way to be untethered and breathe while he swims around on the ocean floor a black powder rifle is obviously not the best choice for an underwater monster encounter so I carefully bent a teeny tiny styrene Rod to make the rifle into a Harpoon Gun and I drilled a mounting hole in his back and I moved on to the monster I decided to go with an animal that has spooked landlocked me since I was young and that is the Moray eel the deceptively calm demeanor and the blue unblinking eyes are a killer combo this terrifying giant sea banana is definitely something you wouldn't want to run into uh if it were the size of a killer whale I found this eel miniature at my local hobby store in the D and D section and Not only was it the perfect creature that I was looking for it also came with a nicely detailed base so so buying it was a no-brainer I drilled the hole in the base and I mounted the diver in position and I left him slightly elevated off the ground in order to be able to place some flippers on his feet which I cut from some Thin styrene sheets which I thinned even further using some pliers I glued those into position on his feet and then I went back and I added a small Barbed spearhead to the Harpoon to make it more appropriate for larger sea creatures I took it from this Goblin sorry about that pal I then cut up a small bit of XPS foam to act as the base for the diarama and I only needed just enough room to fit the miniature comfortably I glued the base of the eel to the foam with some foam safe superglue and once that was dry I used UV resin around the whole Edge to ensure that no bubbles would Escape into my larger resin pore after I had cured the UV resin with my little UV flashlight I coated the rest of the foam in Mod Podge followed by a texture paint from Citadel I used a a pallet knife to create some wav like patterns that replicated sand and once the sand was dry I took the whole thing outside and I primed it black with the priming done it was time to begin the painting process and while I do that I'd like to thank all of my patrons I've recently been watching a lot of tutorials and videos from mini painters with hopes that some of their skills will rub off on me and it's incredible but after just a little bit of practice I can definitely say that I need more practice but it's incourage in to see little improvements here and there and slowly add tools to my painting toolbx one of those tools that I've been intimidated by for the longest time but glad I finally decided to dive into was oil washes I've painted on canvas with oils for many years and I'm quite familiar with oils so I don't know why I was so hesitant to put them on Miniatures I'm still not entirely confident with them but slowly integrating them into my painting process has been very rewarding I'm particularly happy with the results that I've seen from blending oils directly on my rocks they create a look that is both artistic and natural looking at the same time and because of the extended dry time there's not the added pressure of having to work quickly like you do with a bunch of acrylic washes one of the best videos that I've seen recently was from Marco Fon of njm I was shocked how quickly he was able to accomplish such an incredible paint job with some relatively simple steps and what really stuck out to me was just how much work an airbrush and oil washes can accomplish with very little effort as long as you know how to use them definitely an inspiring video you should go watch it if you haven't another recently discovered painting tool that I have gotten some good use out of is light colored contrast paints this includes Brier Queen chill and Apothecary white and a few others that create brighter recess areas unlike most of the contrast paints that cause the recessed areas to appear darker two ways that I I've used that recently have been making quick patina on metal as you see on the diver's helmet and I also created some unique contrast on some bird wings I haven't dedicated much time to getting better at painting on this channel but recently I've been inspired to do so I'm pretty happy with this little yellow diver and his giant eel friend I'm looking forward to continuing to improve my painting as time goes on before pouring the resin I decided to wrap the base in a layer of masking tape this was so that hopefully removing the acrylic later on would be a tiny bit easier after throwing on some gloves because most of the stuff that we're about to do is bad for your skin I peeled the film off of some acrylic sheets and then I glued them to the base of the diarama using a silicone sealant and adhesive which I applied directly to the outside of the tape I spread the silicone out with my gloved finger to ensure that there was good coverage from end to end and then I stuck the acrylic sheets in [Music] place once all four walls of acrylic had been put in position with the corners sealed I applied some UV resin to the inside as an added safety measure followed by one more final safety measure which was to seal the whole thing with another acrylic sheet underneath when I had gone above and beyond with the silicone to ensure that there was absolutely no way that this thing would leak I left it for 24 hours before mixing up my resin after the gloves were on I broke out some slow curing two-part epoxy resin which takes four full days to cure but I found that that means far fewer issues related to overheating I mix some alcohol inks to create nice tropical blue ocean water and once the resin had been mixed thoroughly and degassed in my vacuum pot I poured it into the acrylic [Music] box after monitoring it for a couple hours I was relieved to see that there were no leaks or bubbles so I covered it and I left it to cure for the allotted Time 4 days later I came came back to it and was very happy to see that nothing had gone wrong it was time to remove it from the acrylic mold it was being a little stubborn so I applied some heat from my heat gun which loosened everything up just enough for the acrylic to come free the resin was a little flexible which may be due to the heat but could also be that the resin ratios were slightly off hopefully over the next few days it will continue to cure to its full heartness I cleaned up the edges of the resin with my xacto knife and remov the green masking tape which was an okay idea but I probably will not do it again it might not have come off as easily if the resin wasn't as soft as it is once the sides were clean and free from tape I went back and I added some more tape this time it was black to clean up those sides and after that I called it [Music] good that is it for this video thank you all so much for watching hope you enjoyed huge shout out as always to my patrons you guys are the best have an awesome week everyone I'll see you next time

Channel: Boylei Hobby Time

Views: 221,258

Keywords: Scratch Build, Do it yourself, How to make, Make it yourself, Diorama, Miniatures, Minis, Painting, Wargames, Warhammer, Scale Model, Realistic Terrain, Terrain tip, Tips, Tips and Tricks, Build, Custom, Customized, Customization, Star Wars, Wild West, Wild Imaginary West, Colorado, Rockies, Hobby Time, Hobbies, DIY crafts

Id: Ff5ZEhdNdFE

Length: 8min 55sec (535 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 18 2024