Steam punk racer

I'm still enjoying making mechanical contraptions as part of my figures. While making The Professor in his walking chair I played around with the angle he was sat, or in one case reclined, which gave me the idea of a steampunk sports car. I haven't decided on the style yet (sleak and curved or more along the line s of early Victorian steam cars) but it will ahve lots of moving parts behind the figure.

The plan is to make a static version and then recreate it as an automata.

So far I've made the basic figure (a close copy of The Professor) from a wire armature covered in folded newspaper and card for shape/bulk.

In the second photo you can see where simple card shapes have been added to the armature with masking tape to create the basic jacket. The figure has just been covered in PVA to keep the masking tape from peeling off and create a smoother surface. I've found that building up layers of tape and glue gives a better finish than covering with a layer of tissue which tends to hide detail and wrinkle.

Below you can see straps and buckles drying ready to add to the coat. The straps are cut from a double sheet of newspaper (glued together before cutting) and then wraped in a piece of tape for strength and thickness. A brass ring is being held in place while the glue dries. Holes will be added with a spike and a small piece of brass threaded through to create a buckle. The back looks messy but when glued to the figure looks fine.



More bits to be added, you can just make out straps for goggles and 2 pieces for the coat, made in the same way as the straps but with thin wire all around the edges. The result is very strong and flexible, far better than the sculpted card in ealier figures.

The chair clamped toghether while drying.

Finally a couple of pics I found while searching for ideas