“Burn in the fires of Inferno!” It’s been a while since I painted a full figure so it had to be a Beast Wars character that pulled me back in- and I ended up doing far more than just painting this one. I’ll use spoiler boxes to separate the process stages and add a gallery post below. Spoiler: DSFX Drama So, first things first; anyone who was suckered into the DSFX Beast Warriors debacle knows that the pieces forming this figure were used as part of a scam production. As the scumbag in question was losing plausible deniability, he began shutting down shop and selling off the excess parts he’d used to create the illusion of an actual mass production process. I picked up a set of unpainted, un-cleaned/trimmed resin molded parts and then filed a claim to call out the scam and shoddy quality on offer and received a full refund. I hope everyone who invested in this phoney project also managed to at least get their money back. Spoiler: The Parts Here are all the pieces as received They were cast in a flexible resin from molds made using 3D printed parts. Various details were softened or lost in the process and the screaming head was missing a few teeth which I had to sculpt back on. There was a fair bit of excess resin still attached so I just shaved it all off with a scalpel. It was a simple but slow process. I had to insist on his fb page that something suitable was provided to use for the pin joints. The seller/scammer said that metal pins would just eat right through the resin so I received a string of plastic printer filament. It did the job… Spoiler: Modding Now the dremel comes out. It turned out that all the ‘tunnels’ for threading the filament pins through on the feet and ant abdomen/gaster had not been cast so were just solid plastic. Luckily, a dremel drill bit is the perfect diameter so a slow rpm, steady hand and more time consuming work had all these holes back in place as they should be. Reports from one other who had received a poorly assembled, flimsy and tragically painted version of this figure described the fragility and brittleness of the joints which had a tendency to snap clean off. Flexible resin indeed. I knew I’d have to reinforce the joints so dug out some copper wire I’ve had lying around for about 15 years. It’s pretty sturdy yet easily bendable and cut-able with pliers. I got a proper drill out this time and drilled through all the ball joints in order to feed the copper wire in to add some durability. As I got to the arms and hands, I realised there was no way in hell this guy was ever going to be able to hold the weight of his dense, resin guns with the puny 2mm, horizontal peg in the handle- especially after I attached the flame effects I had my heart set on. Out came the dremel again so I could feed some copper up the forearm, through the hand peg hole and then angle it up to slot the gun on and hold it all super securely. I also had to drill in some holes for the flame effect. Flame effect is parted out from Hot Toys Mandalorian figure. At this point, I had decided that I could use the copper as a rigid endoskeleton that would be set in a desired pose and would hold securely. The option for an articulated figure would still be there but, as I tend to find my ideal pose early on and then leave a figure like that, this would work for me. The thruster was the next obvious issue as the pathetic connection peg would never hold its weight securely so I hollowed it out as much as I felt was safe and drilled some more copper connectors in to make it easily attachable to I fern I’d torso. I ended up sculpting a little over the exposed copper to closer match the show design. I also decided not to include the transformation joints that allow the ant head to hinge up and over the robot head because I would never be using the beast mode and those parts are not remotely show accurate so I filled in any untidy exposed parts with apoxie. I also put some copper in the ant head so it could slot into the main torso piece instead of having to use glue. The only parts requiring glue would be the upper back panel and the lower ant leg attachments. The parts are ready for painting now and more mods would come later for the thruster and feet. Spoiler: Painting I always forget just how long it takes to get parts on the grabbers and prime them. First time using black gloss primer as I wanted to see if it really did bring out a more metallic effect. I think it definitely helps for the metal sections but I absolutely will be using flat grey or white for fleshier parts in future. The amount of red coats required before anything even resembling red began to emerge was shocking. I also tried masking for the first time. I definitely see the benefits for laying down base coats but still had to tidy everything up with a brush after. The biggest struggle was getting that metallic, orangey red tone which differentiates Inferno’s robot parts from the fleshy beast bits. Primary Reference Pics Sometimes Inferno looks silver, sometimes blue, sometimes almost turquoise- but this shade best represents my recollection of him. All painted and sealed. Followed by light airbrushing of black wash which I finds adds a little extra touch of ‘grounded’ realism. One final hurdle arose- the abdomen ‘propellors’ were flimsy as anything so I checked some more reference pics and saw some parts missing from the sculpt I could make myself that would keep them open. Assembly began and then I just had to wait for a stand to arrive from Hong Kong. Due to the weight of the figure and the lack of accessible areas to attach a stand, options were limited but I seem to have ended up with the perfect choice. I sculpted over the pin holes on the feet and then had to match that tricky metallic orange paint again but managed after a few tries. The fragile ant leg pieces would be glued on once I had the stand attachment all sorted out.
And here’s the finished piece all put together in my chosen pose with a whole load of flame accessories. Enjoy Spoiler: Inferno Gallery “For the glory of The Royalty!!”
Considering the story behind this custom - they say you can’t polish a turd. I’d point to this custom as definitive proof that you can. “You did an amazing job lad. Amazing”
It looks nice, almost like a pricey statue, but reading all you had to do to get there I can't help but think you could have gotten there with a lot less work just doing some sculpt work on the original figure and guns from shapeways, and it'd transform too. I'm just assuming this one doesn't, and if it does, sounds kinda risky... Is this MP scale? I'd never heard about the scammy figure you mentioned, but if it was to be an MP inferno I can see the draw there, and why you'd do all that instead of just giving an original a new head, the guns, some chest resculpting, and a new paint job. I know I'd love to have a good masterpiece Inferno figure ASAP in my collection.
Yeah it’s MP scaled and has a few visual improvements over the original figure. The quality of materials is just not there. The intention was to essentially create a mildly poseable statue. It could be reposed just by altering the angles in all the copper rods I’ve fed through it but I’m happy with this pose. I think it’s pretty close to the original artwork that was created by a fellow fan like us for the scam figures box art but I can’t find that to reference it. Simply gotta have those flame effects on full display- spraying fire indiscriminately all over the gaff- and I’m still hopeful for an official MP which would cover the beast mode. I also reckon it’s safe say that all the tedious work I did will prove necessary in order to ensure this thing survives the test of time on my shelf and holds this pose long term. Kind of wish I got the resin parts the guy sold off for a Scorponok he was also intending on scamming us on before the con fell apart. I would’ve enjoyed putting that together as well and claiming my money back at the same time!
tldr; a gentleman (and maybe his girlfriend) with a 3D printer and some fine modeling skills has been using various pseudonyms to start kickstarters of his own designed-and-produced figures for various fandoms that fail to materialize while he (maybe) gets away with the money. his latest scam were an MP-style terrorsaur, inferno and scorponok that started off seeming really legit until it all fell apart over the past ~3 months, though this time the jig may finally be up because the sleuths on TFW found all the ties connecting his pseudonyms and his scams LOL like @Chopper Face said the guy tried to sell off some garage kits he supposedly already produced to prove he was legit but i think Chopper Face was the only member here to get one? and yeah the flash and washed out detail was NOT up to the standards the scam artist promised, obviously. i think his fake(?) name for this project was David Lee but i don't know what came of it. kudos for making the best of this @Chopper Face, if i were in your shoes i'd barely have the motivation to even keep this thing, much less actually improve it and make it a one of a kind piece. maybe david lee's crying as he sees this and wishing he hadn't burned his empire.
It does put a smile on my face to know that I have a superior version of the figure to the human garbage who made it and has been scamming folks for years.
Wow this the coolest Inferno I’ve ever seen, made even better by the story of how he came to be. Amazing job. Just wow!
Seeing your finished version makes me even more disappointed the original designer couldn't deliver on promises. Looks phenomenal.
Amazing work! You really knocked this out of the park. The whole finished piece! Love everything. I got scammed, couldn't get a refund and I had hoped to just get a kit like you did to make somewhat into a statue like you did. I'm okay. I don't need the money. What I would like to offer is to make you a Predacon logo base for the stand. If you would want one and if it's still possible to remove the arm. I would need some measurements from you though. I can make some truly beautiful acrylic inlayed symbols and I think it would finish this piece. Hit me up if you would be interested. Enjoy your crazy good custom work!
