Flying Hiccup + Toothless Poseable Body, How to 'Make' Your Dragon 2

This instructable is actually 2 for one!

Step 7 forward is an extension to my - Flying 'Toothless' How to 'Make' Your Dragon found here, this instructable adds a pose-able body / stand for the flying model.

I hope you like my imaginative poses(?) more later..!

Anyway, when I showed my nephews my flying toothless, the first thing the younger one said is

"Are you going to make a flying Hiccup too?"

So for Damien and of course my little bro Cai, who's birthday inspired the original, this is for you guys!

Hopefully someone with some actual painting talent can re-create hiccup and make him look a lot better!?

Apologies to toothless for his busted face but its just so fun throwing him around!

What you need...
hot glue sticks and glue gun or lighter. (If you use a lighter use in a well ventilated area)

2 different types of polystyrene/styrofoam.

Standard packaging polystyrene,

a 90 degree corner roughly 10-20mm thick was handy.

And a 'take out food' type polystyrene box, 1.5-2mm thick - See photos, the white stuff, not the black!

some wire

paper and printer for templates

some paints, red, brown, green, white, black (not oil based)

a saw (almost any kind, a hacksaw is my preference)

some sand paper (again almost any grade, the finish you get from sanding polystyrene is never particularly smooth.)

Safety... Be careful with hot glue you can burn yourself.

Burning glue with a lighter causes fumes!

Careful with saws, wire can cut you too!

Use a dust mask and safety goggles when using sandpaper, polystyrene releases very fine particles not good for eyes or lungs!

Careful not to use sandpaper on previous injuries cased by misuse of hot glue, sharp objects and errr, sandpaper!

Cut your 90 degree packaging polystyrene.
Cut 2 identical pieces of 90 degree polystyrene roughly 20mm thick and glue them together, these will serve as Hiccup's body and arms.

Cut another 20mm piece of 90 degree packaging polystyrene and cut into 2 identical lengths,
Glue to the base of the body to make the legs. If your polystyrene has markings they can be put to use with a little imagination...

As you (might be able to) see in the photos, I have used the 45degree angle to create the angle of the toes on the foot. The small 'lip' gives the suggestion of a winged heel. Err yeah, as I said imagination!

Use the take out container and cut a rectangle 100mm x 200mm and cut it in half diagonally. cut another 50mm square of the take out box, this will be used for the fin on Hiccup's back.

Glue the 2 wings to the back of the arms and along the length of the body and legs, glue the fin to the back. I made the wings longer than the legs so there are some flaps to trim flight.

The head is actually quite simple, because the mask / helmet Hiccup wears is mainly featureless. Start with a rough cube about 30mm. use sandpaper to shape the cube into a rough ball, remember to leave a small neck. If you fold the sandpaper so you have a sharp corner, the corner can be used to indent hollows for the masks eye holes.

At this point you can try and fly hiccup and you will see that he does backflips all the way to the ground. Wrap a few turns of wire around his neck and he will start to glide properly.

Painting hiccup uses lots of brown's, muted grey's, green's and a touch of red for the designs on the sleeves. to make the spikes on the helmet I used 5mm - 10mm long pieces of wire and pushed them into the head leaving 1-2mm exposed. If you choose to make helmet spikes please beware that the wire is sharp, do not throw hiccup at ANYONE!

If you don't have a fine paintbrush, the point of a bbq skewer works (to the ancient, like a quill!) for the fine black outlines of the detail.

The polystyrene from the take out box should be given a 'key' (a very light rub with sandpaper) before painting, its a good idea if you give the head and undercoat of white or light grey and everything else a black or dark grey undercoat.

Pose-able toothless body / stand for flying toothless, instructable here!

I hope you like my imaginative poses!

Cut 8 wedge shaped polystyrene pieces, 6x approx 30-35mm long 2x approx 50-55mm long The wedges should be roughly 25mm sq at the thick end and 15mm sq at the narrow end.

Cut a 70mm x 30mm x 30mm piece for the body.

The longer pieces are the front forelegs

Polystyrene responds surprisingly well to sandpaper and makes very quick work of shaping. for major work such as the feet, first cut a wedge from the foreleg to get the basic shape. then sand smooth.

For the body, make one end fatter than the other, this will be the chest. sand or cut a groove along the lengh of the body to rest the bbq skewer chassis of the flying model in.

For each joint you will need approx 50mm of pliable wire. so 8 x 50mm lengths. At the ends of each piece of wire make a small loop and put a blob of hot glue on both ends. Heat the glue on one end of the wire with a lighter, about 3-4 seconds should do. (too hot and you melt too much polystyrene, not hot enough and you dont melt any.) Remember melting polystyrene releases chemicals so work in a well ventilated area.

Push your gluey, hot wire into one side of the joint and allow to cool before continuing.

Once all your legs are connected to the body it is quick work to give it a quick coat of black paint
and your done!

Not on the petunias, you know that doesn't wash out!

Have fun and please vote!