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"Are the internals accessible for refills and battery charging/changes?"
Both of the skulls are attached to the base by neodymium magnets. The short horned skull removes completely. The long horned skull can be tilted up. All of the batteries and vape tanks can be easily accessed.
* All of the 3D elements for Frostmourne were created by Vertvixen
“How did you mask off the blade runes for painting?”
Since the blade runes have a 2mm inset I was able to mask them with thin craft foam.
To do this I cut out all of the shapes (by hand with an xacto knife) at a slightly wider size. I then stuffed the foam into the recess for the runes. The pressure of the foam against the inner edge of the rune seals off the area acting as a mask.
After all the priming and painting was finished I carefully dug out the foam.
* All of the 3D elements for Frostmourne were created by Vertvixen.
“How did you light the eyes?"
Lighting the eye sockets was a particular challenge. Normally I diffuse LED's with a clear lens made from acrylic or such. After testing many variations I came to the conclusion this was not an option due to the fog needing to pass through the sockets.
Turns out the solution I found was super simple. I glued the micro-LED's directly to the skull in a circle around the sockets. There are seven LED's per eye and it lit up pretty well. The LED's were hidden and no visible hot spots could be seen. But it needed something more to look great and I needed a way to direct the fog up through the sockets.
I decided on adding a backer to the sockets by using concave shaped pieces of eva foam. I wanted the light to bounce off the backer so I tested the eva covered with aluminum tape. I wrinkled the aluminum up and it looked great with multi-directional lighting reflections. I also painted a light wash of acrylic blue over the aluminum. That way even if the LED's are washed out by daylight the sockets are still a reflective blue.
It really looks better than I would have imagined. At times, in the right light, the aluminum appears to be gems.
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most rewarding.
* All of the 3D elements for Frostmourne were created by Vertvixen.
“How does the fog only appear through the eye sockets?”
Due to the cramped space inside the skulls I had to create a way to route the fog out of eye sockets. I accomplished that by creating a u-shaped ducting from EVA foam. The fog blows up then the ducts re-route it downward and out of the tops of the sockets. I made these by dremeling out a channel then covering it with another thin piece of EVA as a lid. It’s sealed with hot glue so no leaks occur.
I also had to take in consideration that the vape's tank would need to be accessible and removable in order to refill the fog juice. The vape system stays in place with a pressure fit which seals nicely against the EVA.
* All of the 3D elements for Frostmourne were created by Vertvixen.