My Hintha Bird (Opium Duck)...

[Nexus6]

(Cross-posted from the RPF)

I've been searching for a good "hintha bird" specimen for a few years now. As I'm sure interested parties know, there are a couple of sellers on the 'bay that have opium weights as a regular part of their inventory.

Well, after searching & searching, & waiting & waiting, I decided to abandon my quest for the "perfect" one, & concentrate on getting one I felt had the closest basic structure (base, head/chest/wing/tail position, etc). I finally chose this 300g weight (shown compared to the screen-used piece):




Upon receiving it, I decided to get out my Dremel® & take a brass wire brush to it, which gave me this:



I looked at it for a few days, & realized that I wasn't happy with the pitted surface of my "opium duck" (I don't know if a hintha bird is a duck, but I like the term "opium duck", so that's what I'm gonna call it), & since I had already changed its original antique condition, I decided to go Dr. Frankenstein on this mug (I don't have any progress shots, cuz I really thought I was going to ruin the crap out of this thing).

First I took a [pretty big] metal file, & smoothed down the finish which also removed all of the weathering. Then I used some worn-out 150-grit sand paper & took out all the teeth marks left by the file. After that, I used a product called PC-Metal Putty Epoxy (which I have used on more projects than I can begin to recall) to reshape the crest & neck area, & once the epoxy dried, I used small files and sandpaper (150 then 1500-wet-sand) to clean-up the shape. Then I decided to try some "Brass Black" to age the bronze (which I wasn't sure would work). Turns out it works fine. Then I hit the epoxy parts (which did NOT react with the aging chemical) with some charcoal gray primer (wet-sanded to a high gloss), & finished up with an almost microscopic hint of antique gold Rub 'N' Buff.

So, long short short, VOILA (again with comparison photo):




The finish is a lot more brown than it appears in the photo *shrugs*

Anyway, I'm seriously pleased with the outcome of this piece. If anyone has questions, fire away.

One more Brade Runnah prop down, untold numbers to go.
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[Gaff87]

Turned out great!! ALOT better than it started as. I need to add one of these to my collection soon i think

[joberg]

Very nice; good job on the finished look.

[oldzey]

Excellent job on the modification.

[gomcse]

Nice job! You can find these on ebay from time to time, but none of them are exactly the same. Some mods are needed to make it look like the 2 used in the film. Congrats on making it look so good!

Dave

[joberg]

Dave, Rep13 did a sculpt of that bird and it's like the one in the movie(will prob be in resin)
So far, there's no talk of a run...but you never know, one day maybe

[gomcse]

Oh, good info. Thanks!