| DIVULGUE
O SITE E AJUDE O LOUCO
A CONSEGUIR UM PATROCINADOR E VOLTAR PRA REDE. |
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| COBRA
DE AÇO |
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THANKS TO JOSH
SANTANA FOR THIS TRANSLATION.
HE IS
THE BULLETPROOF ENGLISH
MONK.
The origin - Maybe some of you don't know, but Cobra de Aço
was only produced in Brazil.The head is a type used by one of
the good guys, the
Snake Eyes. The body is the same used for Raio
Laser, another good fellow. It's funny that one of the coolest
Cobra is not a "real" Cobra and neither was created
by the American designers, after all they are the original creators
of the whole series. What's the reason why this figure has so
pleased the fans that way much? Well, it's easy to know only
looking at it. It's incredibly cool! The name is very good too.
The Estrela team was really inspired that day. When I've got
my first ones I've got really impressed. |
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Until
that moment I only knew Star Wars. They were great, and the
number of joints in such small figures was amazing! Not quite
enough, in every new series they came even more articulated,
more detailed and with more equipment attached. The "profile"
sheet behind the chart completed the perfect figure. When Estrela
released Falcon again, back in 1994 I instantly though that
we would have a 12 inch Cobra de Aço among the enemies.
Unfortunately it didn't happen. Since I started with the website
I have been thinking in something special to present you. What
would be more special than a 12 inches Cobra de Aço?
So, with no more dragging: |
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LEARN
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN COBRA DE AÇO! Let's
begin with the easiest thing:The head-
Take anyone, a head that you won't miss and which has a good
fitting. I used a Power Team Peacekeepers one. Place the head
in a cup with water recently boiled, during one minute. Cut
the hair off using a modeler's knife, wait it dry and fix
the head on the body, filling in with epoxy putty. |
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THE
MASK
- Now it's time to make the hood. Prepare once more a little
portion of epoxy putty and make a flat and uniform soccer, as
a pizza. Calculate the correct quantity necessary to cover the
whole head. Use some object similar to a roll for a uniform
distribution. Keep your hands wet all the time, this way it
won't stick on and it will get very smooth. Apply the putty
over the head and smooth it with the finger. Don't press the
putty against the head, wet the finger and pass it very slowly. |
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| SCULPTING
- Keep in mind that the head must look as a mask. You can't
let the put loose neither press too much. Think about the Spider
man mask. It's not marked by the expressions of the face but
it's also not loose, hanging on. Take a look on the head from
all angles to check if there are no imperfections and wet it
for the finishing. Take special care to don't let your fingerprints
on the putty. When you're sure that's done, get the visor. |
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If
you don't have a spare visor in hands you can try to get it
from an old toy or ask a friend. There are a lot of very cheap
parts at the flea market too. Align the visor by the nose, take
a long breath, and fix it. Press a little bit to fix it properly
but don't deform what was sculpted. Carefully check it to be
sure that's not twisted and right after make the nose's holes.
Remember that the epoxy putty dries up in two hours, so don't
take too long. In one hour it will be already hard to handle. |
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PAINTING
- Wait
12 hours for the complete cure. If everything is right and your
little brother didn't destroyed the head, let's continue. Use
a very soft sandpaper only to remove the little grains and imperfections.
When it's done, prepare yourself for the painting. I used Tamya's
Bright Silver spray. When painting, don't get the can closer
than 10 inches to avoid runs. Paint the head and hands carefully.
Let it dry for a few hours and apply a second layer until you
get head and hands well covered. |
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CLOTHING
-
To make this overall you can use an old one from other figure.
In Brazil, there's a perfect one from the Força de Ataque
collection. Now, use clothes tingeing paint to tinge it black.
Boil it in a pot for 15 minutes (ask help to an adult if you
under 13), wait it dry and wash the coverall in flowing water.
When the black residual paint stops to flow, hang it on the
shaft. In the side pictures we have the dry tinged coverall,
ready to be used.Attention: don't let the coverall boiling more
than 15 minutes or it runs up, ok?
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DRAWING TIME
- Let's go
now to a little more difficult part: the badges. You gonna need a
good drawing software in order to make them. I use Corel Draw, version
10. It's plenty of tools and it's very well known. You can ask help
to a friend. What's good about this software is that it's used by
many professional printing shops, so, if you don't have a good printer
you can bring the file there and get a good quality printing. To make
the Cobra symbol I used a photo and with the node edit tool
I made it all over again. It's a lot of work but in the other hand
you can change colors and modify parts as well. The other parts were
drawn also using sizes of the same figure as reference. To give the
shield looking I stuck the drawing on anti-skid fabric. You can find
this kind of material on fabric stores. Buy a neutral color, as grey
for example.
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FINALIZING
-
It's always good
to make a sample before the high-resolution final printing.
In the right picture we can already have a good idea of how
the figure is going to be. If the sizes are correct, it's time
to finish the work. I've used brown synthetic leather to make
the bracelets and a very thin masking tape to close them. At
this moment I'm using gel superglue. It's more expensive but
you can avoid wastes. To fix the yellow shield I've used the
synthetic leather too. I wanted to give it a looking of knee
protectors. At this point the figure is almost done, use a little
silver enamel to paint the bracelets. Take care: don't use spray
this time, buy a little paint bottle. |
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NOW IT'S PIECE OF CAKE! -
Thank
God, we're plenty of 12" scale weapons. The Peacekeepers
collection comes with perfect suits and accessories. The belt
with the knife and gun is from this line. The backpack and shells
are from GiJoe Hall of Fame. The modified machine gun is a Falcon's
one, the same that comes with the Piloto Rastreador from
the Força de Ataque collection. The rope that
fixes the weapon to the backpack is a black elastic band. You
don't necessarily need to use that same equipment. Make adaptations,
use different weapons. There are many ways to make figures,
this is just one of them.
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SHOW
YOUR WORK - To
finish up, I've decided to make a reference to the original
small Cobra de Aço chart. The Falcon's package drawings
were very good, as long as the Comandos em Ação
too. In order to reproduce the explosion I've used special paper
bonded to a hard brown card. I've used many orange, yellow,
red, purple and white shades in order to create a luminously
atmosphere. On the ground, a little portion of black garden
sand. |
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| Originally
written in December 2001 |
