've been wanting to do a conversion of my Starling kit for some time, and I'm finally underway on it. Since the likeness is Jodie Foster from Silence of the Lambs I thought why not take a casting and convert it into radio astronomer Ellie Arroway, the heroine of another great movie, Contact.

Gabriel Marquez did the original sculpture for the Starling, and I'm doing the conversion on a resin copy. The first stage was to chip, saw and grind off all the hair and her suit. This was quite a bit of work. I also drilled some dimples into the casting to help the clay adhere to the resin.

1: the original kitt (painted), and 2: the casting prepared for adding clay

The clay is my usual mixture of Super Sculpey and Sculpey III. I put some drops of superglue in the dimples on her head and then put clay over it. When the clay is baked, the superglue will help it adhere. I put Vaseline over the rest of the resin to help the clay stick.

3, 3a : rebuilding the head with sculpey

Adding ears and working on the braids

There's a magic moment when you're working on a project when it comes alive and begins to resemble what you're shooting for, and that moment occurred as I worked on the hair tonight. Agent Starling has finally become (for me, at least), Ellie Arroway! Here are the photos.

Ears done, working on the hair

Head is complete and baked (gray spots are epoxy putty); I've started roughing in the clothing and armored vest

Alas, another problem. The collar doesn't fit correctly around the back braid. I had to cut it off and will sculpt the collar first and then the bit of braid going down into it. It hurt to cut off most of the lovingly detailed braid, but it had to be done.

So long, braids -- at least the rest of the hair looks pretty good

Refining the vest o' steel and uniform -- getting that smooth steel surface ain't easy!

Second baking to cure steel vest and uniform. Note epaulets on shoulders and small crack in her hairline.

She's nearing completion now. The only thing left now is details on the steel vest. The resin has been expanding and contracting during baking, causing a number of hairline cracks. I will repair these with epoxy putty. I don't think I will bake her again, but will cure the vest details with a heat gun.

The braid is fixed now, and looks a lot better--it was worth redoing it. Did a lot of sanding to get the steel vest smooth.

She's done! I finished out the vest details and added the patches to her sleeves.

Front view of completed conversion.

Rear view.

She still needs to have some cracks repaired and some sanding, but the sculpting phase is finished. This has been a fun conversion, but I'm glad it's done as I'm anxious to move on to other projects.

Next up: Beulah from It Conquered the World.