Colonel Cotton Lyndal Hill (September 15, 1927 - November 11, 2007) was the father of Hank Hill, Good "G.H." Hank Hill, and Junichiro (his illegitimate half-Japanese son). He was also a WWII veteran who had his shins "blowed off by a Japanman's machine gun" in combat, and later had his feet attached to his knees .
I am a huge King of the Hill fan and one of my favorite characters was Hank’s father, Cotton. There was a limited run of action figures but no Cotton!
I found the original model sheets for him online. You can’t ask for better reference than that.
I made a front and side profile vector illustration from the model sheet. These views were imported into Strata to model the figure.
I started with the head to test out the 3D printing. I was hoping that Shapeways’ full-color Sandstone would be a good solution.
Here is a test print in the Sandstone. The resolution is a little rough but at arm’s length, it has a nice natural feel.
This test also allowed me to double check my measurement. Cotton was as tall as Hank before his injury.
Here is the final model. I sculpted all the body parts separately to make it easier to adjust the polygons, flip symmetrical parts and export each part for color mapping .
Overall, I am very happy with the results. Obviously, resolution will get better and cheaper to produce, so one day I will reprint the figure. For now, I’m super happy!
Detail of this handsome devil!
His poor shins!
To cut down on cost, I made the torso and legs hollow, adding holes in the bottom of his feet to allow unused material to be extracted.
Cotton with Hank and Bobby, for scale.
The whole crew, so far!