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About a year ago you may remember I knocked up this bad boy for the Laced Munny Competition. Since then the folks down at Melbourne pictorial publication Damed Magazine liked it so much they wanted to feature it in their second issue which was focused around post apolcalyptic futures and recycling – which sums up the Diodon Battle Droid perfectly!

We braved endless pigeon poo and dead carcasses to grab a shot for the mag as well.

Issue #2 finally went on sale a couple weeks ago, however being a niche Melbourne publication its only available in selected outlets and directly from their website, so for those that can’t get a hold of a copy we have included the whole waffling pre-editor cut interview below.

If you have any questions, hit us up in the comments or on the Soulbridge Media Facebook page.

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If you would like to tell me what inspired you to created this piece?
Inspiration for any of my creative stints usually comes from either “haven’t done one in a while” or “never done that before, might give it a try”. I’ve built and painted a few of these in the past but never to this extent. I wanted to give a proper whole hearted shot from initial design and configuration, to prep, to build and finishing and really take my time with it. Like anyone, when youre excited about a project, you get impatient and just want to get it finished as soon as possible but I am learning that its much better to let it evolve in an organic way, let ideas simmer and to just try different approaches. If it doesn’t work then I can usually fix it and just start over.

Materials used?
You know how in the movie Wall-e where he goes about his day but if he sees something he likes or that may be useful, he collects it – so he ends up with 20 zippos but doesn’t smoke? Yep, that’s me, minus the awesome rotating bin organisers. I have boxes and drawers full of bits and pieces that I can use to scratch build (or repair) things around the house or for projects or photoshoots, so the materials were “just stuff I had lying around” 😉
Some notable mentions would be:
computer parts – breaking down just one mainboard can give you enough capacitors and inductors for several projects;
juice bottles, disposable shot glasses – the thin plastic from these are easily cut and shaped.
old stationery supplies, craft items, jewellery – beads, broken thumb tacks, I cut up an old biro as well
old toys – an old gag gift made up some of the bigger pieces after I cut it up and rebuilt the parts how I wanted. The swivel ball joints and
pin hinges were perfect to articulate the rocket launchers.
xmas lights – rewired the lights with a bit of soldering for some of that wow factor

How much is recycled?
Almost 100% – apart from the original figure and the batteries

What are your ambitions as an artist/creative person?
Im definitely more creative than I am artistic, and most of that creative energy goes into my photography, but just like my photography, if I shoot too much of the same thing, after awhile I get a hankerin’ to try something different. Under my creative construction hat I’ve also rebirthed and repurposed furniture and other items but its more just another outlet to keep the juices flowing than any thing with a defined destination. Plus we all know artists don’t get paid any where near what they should… and Ive grown rather accustomed to my current lifestyle 😉

Can people order or get there own little munny’s in your style?
This was a one off piece – with over 70 hours of work, it was definitely a labour of love which I probably wont be taking on again any time soon, however if anyone has any special requests or ideas for an interesting piece they’d like to commission parts for then Id be more than happy to discuss it. Though, while this or any kind of replica is not in the works, I am in the process of getting a few limited run made-to-rder custom pieces together for sale (of a pocket sized weathered robotic variety – there will be the option of choosing a colour and the degree of weathering). Details will be posted through my “soulbridge media” photography page.

02.25.2013

Slight colour tweak on these, enough to extend the wear past boredomtown 😉

Using Angelus Leather paint available from Laced in Brisbane.

Original
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Before and during
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After
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Before and After

A quick piece I whipped up for a friend’s birthday gift. Figure is actually only 4.5cm tall so it was rather fidgety, need to get pointers of some Warhammer geeks 😉

Brush work with acrylic and enamel paints.

So where was I the last couple weeks? Why, getting head spins from paint and glue fumes of course!

Some of you may know I also moonlight under the Saru Venom/James Saru monikers for my creative projects, in this case it was for the Laced Munny customising competition held in conjunction annually with the Kidrobot Dunny release. With top notch entries in previous years I really had my work cut out for me, not to mention one of the biggest hurdles of just getting it started (unlike previous years!). So I decided to go all out and create the Diodon Battle Droid based loosely on Robotech Mech Warriors and incorporating some freshly learned painting techniques thanks to a resurging love for model kit building. Also threw some LED’s at it for good measure 😉

The competition itself had really taken off this year with 39 entries from some talented artists but the hard work paid off as I took home 1st place in the competition! 😀

Special thanks to Laced and their sponsors for hosting another great event, now how to follow it up next year??

Check the spec sheet for build information and the detailed photos below.