Sunday, March 12 2023
Large mecha-style gauntlets are found in many games and anime titles - like the Atlas Gauntlets that Vi has in League of Legends.
I love the aesthetic, so I made some for our Smart Doll girls. I originally called these “Heavy Loader Gauntlets,” but the final name is “Mecha Gauntlets.”
Since I last showed you the prototypes, we tweaked the fingertips to give them a more refined look, added some paneling, and made the finger positions slightly more natural.
Some folks have been asking why the gauntlets have 4 fingers. Just like the amputee arms and prosthetic legs for Smart Doll, I want to ensure we are making more products that reflect limb differences - so here we are.
The slush casting molds are ready, and we are now figuring out production, which involves baking, cooling, and flash cutting.
The first thing we need to establish is baking time. The longer the baking time, the thicker the vinyl will be. Thickness plays an important role with this product which enables the various components to stay in place and hold their position after posing.
The gauntlets can be attached to a Smart Doll arm by simply removing their hand and then sliding on the gauntlet - the inside has been cast to a thickness that will enable them to hold steady on the hand peg.
Making the gauntlets with movable components doesn’t make sense for a small operation like ours, so we went with the manufacturing method that we know best which is vinyl slush casting.
We made two versions of the gauntlet body - one with the cannon open and the other closed.
There are two types of hands - “fist” and “relaxed.” The fingers on the relaxed version squish enough so that they can hold your non-alcoholic beer.
I’m currently figuring out whether to sell the whole shebang as a bundle or as two sets for folks who prefer one over the other. If they are going to be sold as two sets, then it will likely be “closed cannon x 2 + left & right fist” and “open cannon x 2 + relaxed left & right hand.”
What would your bundling preference be?
Also, apart from the Black Navy version in the photos, what colors would you like to see this cast in? Lavender?!
#tokyo #smartdoll #anime #manga #3dprinting #japan