HBK leg comparison

I've be putting together 2 more HBKs for paint and I thought I'd take a quick snap to show side by side comparison of how the lower leg articulation works.

The hunchies legs are made with ball joints for the hips, ankle and an arch for knee. The basically lets you set a pose in however you like. Above you can see one it more classic robot straight the other is more at ease I'm not that adventurous what leg posing I'm more concerned with stability and a level hip joint with a forward rake.

Most of my designs use this method of leg design and after making a few I thought I'd write out what process I found to be best. You should find a hard flat surface that's out of the way to do this for me its the far corner of my pc desk as its not likely to get bumped or knocked. I also like to glue the legs just before bed time. I'd like to say its because it means the kids are out of the way but to be honest its because it stops me from tinkering with it while the glue sets.

• First I like to test fit everything and compare it to how the in game models stand. A lot of the MWO designs don't have a locked knees but stand with the leg bent so its good to check. I design the legs to stand in this pose more or less with as much articulation as I can get without chopping out large sections of model. On legs that are really counter intuitive I add reference pencil lines
• Then I drill pin wholes in the alignment I want then counter sink those holes to get some wriggle room. I put wire into the hole and bend the wire until it all sits correctly, the pins and friction should hold everything together at this point and you can make tweaks to get it how you want it.
• I glue one leg together first (2 part epoxy glue) and let it cure for 24hrs. this gives it a pretty good bond and you're not likely to break it when handling.
• Then I glue on the hip. Now my top tip is to have it side to level with a small rake to the front 2-5 degrees. I found if you do have a a big tilt it might look fine in the intended pose but as torso rotates it'll look awkward, I guess that because in reality the hip moves to compensate. Prop the hip and leg up gingerly and allow the glue cure.
• Last to be glued is the other leg. I do a second dry fit to make sure it fits into the hips ball joint with out pulling up or down. Then working on the hard flat surface I glue the knee and ankle at the same time you could glue the hip ball too but I like to leave it unglued from painting. I put the leg assembly together propped together with hip/leg assembly.
• This should net you a wobble free set of legs with a level hip joint. However things can go wrong parts might get knocked while setting etc. You have some options break them apart which is risky, if you going to do that do it within 24hrs given the glue bond can actually be stronger than the resin. The other is heat the legs with a hair dryer/hot water resin with soften you should be able to bend them into the right shape (you can see it here with the elementals they are all the same model just been bent into different poses)

Its much better than trying to glue everything at once and having to prop up a big wobbly game of jenga and hope for the best. If you're really a masochist and wanted to drive yourself mad you could make a balanced jogging pose you'd need to shave some parts down and section the front foot, I reckon it would stand up with out the need for a base.

I know updates are a bit slower the kids both came down with something at more or less keep one or the other up at night crying/vomiting/coughing/fever for nine days at the same time are child care ran for the hills all of which kinda turned me into the weeping dead. I also have to remake a 3 moulds for the HBK because they became torned up super quick (silicone was too soft) and I also have to fix the seal (read make a new seal from scratch) for the vacuum pot all extra time not accounted for.