Inspiration and Planning

First Attempt

I only mention the first attempt because of the horrific way it turned out. I wanted to get right into building the rider and knowing that I could adjust the size of the bike to fit the sculpture it made sense to start it that way. This was a massive mistake. I spent all of my time and frustration to create an inhuman Amazonian blob that couldn't hold herself up much less the entire bike. Nothing on this "creature" was useable, except maybe her chest and posterior which my girlfriend created. I was at a point ready to quit; the deadline was nearing so I bought a 1/6th scale female kit of Judge Anderson by Halcyon. Now I had a scale reference of thighs, legs arms hands and face. I started again and after completing the legs my confidence began to rise and I felt it was time to get busy building the bike. The deadline was in less then two weeks. If things came to worse I could build the Judge into my insane cyclist.

To Build A Racer

With the entire time wasted I was now in a panic to complete my vision. I would start with a tubular frame like any motorcycle builder would. It was because I rushed at this crucial step that I would have alignment problems through the rest of the project. I built a box to house a glow stick so I could have lights on for a photo shoot. Then I went about detailing the engine. Starting with large blocks of wood and household items like electrical components and even a plastic bottle cap I kept adding stuff to the engine compartment to make it look mechanical. If you ever doubt you are on the right track with this kind of build go ahead and paint it with primer. I seriously questioned how the massive amounts of glue and junk would ever look like a 200 mph contender, until I painted the whole thing with auto primer. Once I did that I could not work on it enough I was so excited to add every little detail. Then the best news of all, the deadline was extended and I could now take the extra time to do things right. I even found time to fly it around the house making turbine sounds as it zoomed over the couch and down the hall. During the build it is important to keep in mind the whole picture. I knew the effort it would take to paint the engine and the racing scheme, especially with all of the plating that surrounds the bike, so I designed it into sections that could be added at the appropriate time. First built were the engine, frame and tail. Then I built and kept separate the seat and fuel tank. The seat is Super Sculpey to give it a more foam filled and comfortable look then I could get with plastic or wood. Then finally came the massive front cowl, which was also designed to hold a glow stick. The base is just a piece of wood that was routed on the edge and a checkered flag airbrushed on top. Going through the base is a ¼ inch bolt then attached to the bike is a bolt coupler. To attach the bike to the base you simply screw it on. This allowed me to offset the support stand and have a better chance of hiding it with the girl's leg. The paint scheme used in the game seemed lame compared to today's racecars so I found some pics of the Mountain Dew racecar and used it as a starting point for the color layout. The paints are all pearl colors and they add that extra amount of show quality to the bike. The sponsorship decals were purchased at a local hobby store. The other decals and numbers were designed in Photoshop and printed onto regular paper which was then trimmed and spray mounted to the cycle. I chose not to weather the bike because I wanted it to appear as if it was a photo shoot for a turbine cycle magazine or a photo from a calendar of bikes and riders. These vehicles are always polished and clean.

Building A Pilot

Technically I am done I could photograph the model send in my 5 dollars and return my kitchen back to a place you can actually eat in. However my original intent was to build a rider and that had not changed. The pose and clothing was as crucial as the color scheme or engine detail on the bike. At my girlfriends suggestion I modeled the pose and outfit off of a reference photo that I had once written off because I wanted both legs on the ground so the bike's weight could be cantilevered. Now that the bike was already supported by a stand I could even have the woman leaning on it. The build went well until the crucial steps of detailing the hands and face. After several attempts I have scraped the idea of me creating a human face and I will kitbash my Judge Andersons head and hands. Turns out this plan was as poor of an idea as me sculpting the entire figure. The decision was made to cut apart Judge Anderson and reposition her figure with plumbers epoxy putty and turn her into the model pose that I wanted. I used the epoxy putty from a hardware store, to add the extra details to the figure and filled in seams where the vinyl had been repositioned and Bondo car putty filled in the smaller seams. The figure was then painted using airbrush paints and sealed with Testors Dullcoat.

Budget - Time and Money

Actual cost was minimal. The clay for two figures was $8 (waste of time and money because neither was used on the model) and I used 3 sheets of plastic stock and an entire bottle of the dark green paint. The sponsorship decals were $5 and I probably used a dollars worth. All the other costs like red paint, light green paint, and spray mount were not considered because they were not actually used up on the model. For instance the $12 can of spray mount will be used on several other projects so I do not include its price in this model. The Judge Anderson figure was purchased at a local hobby shop and I never had plans to build her. I was just using her as a scale reference. Then I had no choice but to use her. So budget wise there is about $10 dollars in the bike and $20 for the figure.

I keep a spreadsheet of all the time spent on any project so it is very easy to go back and see what took the longest or to see where the last 2 and half months went. The total project came to 108 hours not counting any photography time. Out of the 108 hours, 52 went into the bike and its base; 26 hours went into the new figure and 30 hours were sent straight to the garbage can. Since you can learn more from failure then success I had a great learning experience with polymer clays and epoxy putty.

Image: Front view

Image: Rear view

Image: Top view

Image: Beauty shot