The Imperial Shipyards
Imperial Creative Engineering => Custom Figures => Topic started by: Laojax on March 19, 2012, 09:58:43 AM
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(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1483.jpg)
Hey everyone! This is my first post, although I've been lurking and being blown away by a lot of the customs on here for a couple of months. I've been into customizing toys for a few years now, but a lot of what I've done so far comes more under the heading of repair and minor alterations. I have an almost 5-year old son who is central to my getting back into Star Wars collecting, and he knows to just leave broken toys on my workspace desk, where they'll be dremeled and glued back to life.
Ever since we got the new big AT-AT for the lad this last xmas, I've felt the need for a commander to go with it. Couldn't seem to find one though; they're out there but I live in Japan where Star Wars figures are pretty darn expensive and aren't even sold at TRU or other regular retail stores anymore. (I've come across some good deals with vendors on Amazon over here and in thrift shops, but it's more just sifting through what's available rather than shopping with particular figures in mind.) That scarcity is also why I'm relatively hesitant to make permanent alterations. Hence, the female AT-AT commander was assembled without cutting or painting the original figure parts. (Comic Pack Deena Shan body, Princess Leia head, AT-ST Pilot Han Solo helmet.)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1341-1.jpg)
Once I got my hands on a somewhat suitable helmet, I was satisfied for a while, but realized I needed an armored chestplate. After putting it off for a long time, a couple weeks ago I got to work on a budget method. Using milliput, made a mold (really just an impression) from a snowtrooper's chestplate (using lip balm as a mold-release agent, ghetto but it works) and shaved down the sides a bit. After the mold had cured I used more milliput to make the piece. First try came out pretty badly, I tried greasing up the figure with lip balm and pressing her into the untextured putty on the reverse side while it was in the mold, resulting in a piece that just didn't fit the figure right, so last weekend I tried again. This time I pulled the piece out of the mold before it had cured and pressed it onto the figure to get the contours right, then let the putty cure under a 100W light bulb for a while. A bit of sanding and then I gave it a shot of gray primer and was about ready to call it done, even though the armor details were horribly smudged. (I should mention that I'm very interested in getting into resin casting, but for now that road remains untaken)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1475.jpg)
Then Sunday morning I woke up and had an epiphany: use sheet styrene to make sharper details on the armor. I dremeled out the abdominal square area and first attempted to sculpt some details in fine white milliput, also filling in a big concave area on the chest piece.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1480.jpg)
That still didn't look right so I prepared a similarly-sized square of styrene with the middle cut out (micro-sizes here so I was basically at the limits of my miniature modeling ability) and then later cut out an even smaller square with some random bits stuck on it to simulate the little faders and such. For the vertical rectangular area I drilled holes and stuck pinheads in them. (I spent a whole evening once cutting the heads off of pins for another project and still have a bunch.) I know the buttons aren't really bright red on General Veers' armor, but I couldn't resist. For the rank bars I took another practically microscopic scrap of styrene, scribed some lines into it, painting first in silver and then in red and blue and using a toothpick to clean out the spaces between the squares.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1482.jpg)
Well, it's not 100% movie accurate, and has a few rough spots that give it away as a handmade piece, but I'm pretty satisfied with it. The armor fastens to the figure using poster-tack putty. Now I just need to take some pics of this commander at the helm of a walker!
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1485.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1487.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/IMG_1488.jpg)
I'll be posting some more WIPs of other projects soon, but for now I gotta get to sleep!
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Woah, how come I never had this idea before?! Fantastic, time to take her to the front page.
I think she looks brilliant and welcome to the Yards Laojax!
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great job! welcome to the yards!
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Alright man this is awesome! Great job on the custom chest plate what a great idea to use lipbalm as a mold release! My wife has so many chapsticks she will never notice that a few have gone missing. LOL Welcome to the Yards!
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Thanks guys! The ideas for casting in putty (including the lip balm) came from a link that I'm pretty sure I saw on one of the yards' forums....
http://forum.zerogunz.com/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=441
I have a feeling that some yarders who have access to a store-bought commander's armor (or sicker sculpting skills) will be able to make an even sweeter one, but yeah, it is pretty gratifying to have made it by hand and have it look pretty decent.
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I think you did a really great job!! :)
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I'm not sure if accessories belong in a figure thread or if they would be better in the diorama section, but here are some boxes scratchbuilt from sheet styrene from a few months ago, but shared for the first time here.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/3aa30259.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/d7ced243.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/c627c7c8.jpg)
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Hey Great Stuff! I dig the AT-AT commander. Welcome to the Yards.
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welcome to the yards, your fem AT-AT-Cmd is fantastic, hope to see more of your great stuff :)
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excellent job welcome to the yards!
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Again, welcome to the yards! Love the female AT-AT driver! The crates are fine in this thread, and I love them! Very nice work once again.
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Awesome! Any female version of anything in the Empire is always awesome! I have to say scratch building is never easy so kudos on that chest plate! Not the easiest angles to get either! Nice work and welcome aboard!
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Those cargo containers are great ideas. Back on the front page. I am really liking your postings so far.
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hello to the Yards from me.
i love your blue cargo.
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Very nice work on the female Commander and those boxes look pretty cool as well. Welcome to the Yards!
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you pulled off a great scratchbuild piece with that chest plate. kudos to you for keeping at it until you were satisfied.
those boxes look cool as well. Welcome to the Shipyards!
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Thanks again for the warm welcome and kind words guys. This is giving me an itch to make more!
Clonehead, I've been checking out your resin casting tutorials and it's definitely something I want to try when I have the time. As I mentioned above, figures are in relatively short supply here in Japan, making buying doubles for fodder prohibitively expensive or downright impossible, so I'll probably want to order some pieces from you at some point, too. I think I read that you ship internationally, right?
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Love her! She looks great!
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So here's one that I've been working on little by little since last summer. Not really an action figure because she has no useful points of articulation. More of a figurine, I guess. Behold, a Twi'lek street girl.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/acbeeb53.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/7d157769.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/58ab9647.jpg)
The base figure was a Japanese capsule toy based on an anime whose name escapes me. The figure was missing its face, so it had been sitting in a fodder bag for a few years. I got the idea to make a Twi'lek due to my son's fascination with Oola ;) He got the jabba playset for Xmas so this WIP Turned into an unrelated character. The face was made using the same ghetto casting method I used on my AT-AT commander's armor, although the initial results were pretty rough and needed a lot of cleaning up.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/e475a49d.jpg)
After that I sculpted the head and the tails, and got them situated on the neck.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/3b425030.jpg)
The most difficult part was the headdress, which although still a bit rough, turned out better than I expected.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/3424daf8.jpg)
Then the figure sat around for months, waiting for me to paint it, which I finally started a couple of weeks ago.
I might redo the face a bit, make it smoother. Had some trouble with eyebrow placement...
Thanks for checking it out, and let me know what you think! As always, constructive criticism is very appreciated!
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Forgot to mention that the face was cast from the bald female x-wing pilot from the comic pack I picked up at Ross last time I was back in the States. The material for the head sculpt is fine-grade milliput. The lower part of her headtails didn't cure properly the first time do I had to cut off the mushy parts and resculpt.
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Excellent work! Very impressive.
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Wow, great sculpting. Good to see you back and back on the front page.
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Super impressed with your customs! These two pageas have me yearning for more. We'll be looking at your page with great interest ;)
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Good one Tamer. I was gonna put this on the front page but my computer is down at work. Love to see the wip pics! Nice paint too.
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This is fantastic! Your work on the headsculpt is absolutely perfect, but it's the paint application that makes this outstanding, IMO. Very creative and something I'd definitely love to own/display on my customs wall!
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Really great job on the sculpting!! She looks amazing! :)
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Thanks for the input guys! I have to say that the paint job looks better in the pics than it does upon close inspection of the actual figure, but it was fun to paint. Well, I guess now I should make a Mos Eisley street scene diorama or something for her! On to the next challenge!
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Fabulous work! Make do with what you've got and then improve on it. (LOVE those boxes - I'm a cargo-nut, tho!)
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She is awesome! I really love this custom! The color choices are perfect!
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Cool, it almost looks like shes sad like she lost a parent a brother or a husband. ()rr ()rr ()rr 0/
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That's one of the most emotionally provocative figures I've ever seen. There's an incredible sadness to her. Brilliant!
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Fantastic work on the sculpting. Nice base figure choice and transformation. I really like this. I wish we had a like/love button here, because I'd be hitting it on this one.
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Seems like the average Twi'lek girl lives a pretty hard existence, so although I was originally thinking that she looked really bored, I like that people are sensing something darker from her!
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Hey everyone, it's been quite a while! This school year has been kicking my butt!
Well I figured I'd post a little update on a figure my 5 year old and I have been working on. Since last year he's been obsessed with lovely Twi'lek ladies, and after seeing ROTS he's captivated with Order 66 and Aayla Secura. He's come up with an alternate storyline where Aayla realizes the threat posed by her clones and, instead of being shot in the back, uses force lightning to kill her assailants. At that moment she succumbs to the dark side, and eventually replaces Vader as Palpatine's enforcer. I thought that was a pretty cool idea and some sophisticated storytelling at his age, so we sithified our CW figure (which we picked up last month at an import toy shop in Tokyo for a rather obscene price). If I ever get around to doing some casting I'll make a black version of the breathing apparatus, and if I'm really feelin' it I might get another fig and do a repaint. For now, though, I think of this as a 3D preliminary sketch.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/A60718F3-DDE1-4C9A-BC4D-BC2B5FD47D89-2071-0000028E159A06EB.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/CD42B0C7-0EC6-4C89-9466-F6F395007A8E-2071-0000028E08B162C8.jpg)
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AWESOME idea! That is a really awesome backstory! Your son is good at storytelling..... really good! ;D ;D :D :)
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That is a cool custom and awesome backstory!
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"Arise, Darth...Hottie".
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Hey, welcome back! Time to go get this update on the front page.
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Good to be back! I'm trying to get back into customizing after a summer that kept me really busy, sweaty and unmotivated to do anything too taxing in my spare time. My son has been asking me to make him some custom Jedi lately, and although I'm more of an OT guy, I'm happy to see him interested. Last night on the way home from work I stopped off at the hobby department of Yodobashi camera and picked up some silicone mold rubber and casting resin, so hopefully I'll be able to cast some additional parts for this figure and get the creative juices flowing for some other projects! You can bet I'll be poring over clonehead's tutorials!
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These next pix I submit with the caveat that I feel a little out of my element customizing clone troopers, especially with so many excellent customizes exploring that area already. It's all at my son's request; "Daddy, take some pictures of these and put them on the internet! Orders are orders!" So here we are with some really simple, nondestructive customs (more like acessorizing, my wife was laughing at us for playing dress-up with our dollies!). It seems that even when Woof becomes Jedi knight Kiracki he can't seem to lose his sheepskin skirt. (Cloak courtesy of ROTS capt. Antilles.) The clone trooper was envisioned as perhaps a deserter from the Coruscant Guard, I'm thinking he was one of the clones who developed a conscience and chose not to follow order 66. Got this idea for a ragtag band of runaway post-Order 66 clone troopers who later form an anti-Imperial militant group which is eventually absorbed into the Rebel Alliance. OK, so why is he in phase I armor? Umm...cuz we don't have any phase II troopers!
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/2017DC62-35C5-4453-990D-1DECCBA2BE6C-5304-00000593493AFC3A_zps0130f4dd.jpg)
After Liam went to bed last night I got the idea to load him up with more equipment and take a few more pics.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/E48C1D9B-EA77-4A4B-88AB-74B9946AA575-5304-00000593355753DD_zps5f0a417f.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/D689E4C2-F018-46A2-9294-E991F994910E-5304-0000063F5807BEE3_zpse7e509e1.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/04831A9E-B86B-4456-905D-E67C94D5A6DE-5304-0000063F6BE3863E_zpsbdb8a757.jpg)
Some very simple figs, humbly submitted!
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Looks good to me.
I would love to hear a store report for Japan too! Have you been to the Kotobukiya store?
Japan, I am guessing might even see figures earlier too?
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Love these!They are so AWESOME! Love the cape on that trooper! Suits him well! :D
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Looks good to me.
I would love to hear a store report for Japan too! Have you been to the Kotobukiya store?
Japan, I am guessing might even see figures earlier too?
Well, I don't really collect the kotobukiya figures (although I've admired them in the store), so I can't really speak on the matter. As far as stores go here, you can find a lot of random star wars items at this chain "subculture" store called Village Vanguard, but it's pretty hit or miss, not much in the way of figures. TRU, while it does exist in Japan, is a pretty sad state of affairs if you're looking for US toys. When I first came over here about ten years ago, they were always stocked, but since the end of the PT's theater run, SW figs have been unavailable at TRU or any other major retailer as far as I know. The occasional scores I do make are mostly at secondhand shops, where I often find unopened POTF or later figs and snatch them up. One time I bought 20 or 30 figures in one shot, none of them costing more than a few dollars. That was a good day!
If I want newer figures I have to scour Amazon.jp for bargains, or order from an import toy shop where the average price for recent figures is about 1900 yen, nearly 25 bucks a pop! When your kid has really specific requests, sometimes you gotta bite the bullet. That's why I'm so hesitant to start chopping up these figures or buy lots of doubles for fodder.
Parts list for the trooper: coruscant guard from the battle pack that xame with Yoda, cape is from POTF Boussh, Boba Fett backpack (duh) and binoculars from Hoth Han, pauldron from sandtrooper. Cape and jetpack are stuck on with poster tack, one of the greatest substances known to humankind. Thanks Mando Assassin, I thought the cape looked pretty cool and I'm glad you agree! The beige goes well with the kind of rusty brown CG ensignia.
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(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/8AD9296E-E6D0-491B-90AF-A2CC99949A51-8276-00000A5FD645BBA1-2.jpg)
So this is something I've been Keeping on the back burner since last summer, but I thought if I shared some WIPs it might motivate me to actually finish it. This is a Kotobukiya Mega Man (or Rockman as he's known over here) kit, super poseable. I have another one that I built straightforward; the only customizing I added to that one was some neodymium magnets in the hands and feet, which I also did with this one. This one started out with me just wanting to make a mega man in one of the alternate costumes. Y'all children of the '80s will understand when I talk about the Metal Blade weapon from Mega Man II, uniform is tan and army green. From the color scheme I got the notion to make a megaman which resembled an old piece of military hardware, maybe WWI, so I was thinking to give him a pickelhaube (pointy German helmet) or a WWI stahlhelm, make a gas mask, etc, do some weathering, make him look like a walking tank. Recently I started to rethink this idea and now I'm leaning more toward making him a WWII Imperial Japanese robot. The groove that runs down the length of his buster cannon is going to accommodate a magazine of bullets, or a chain feed of I can find one of a suitable scale.
The most time-consuming part of this bad boy so far has been the rivets, which were individually-snipped pinheads, drilled and glued down. I'd like to have more but I think they look pretty cool now without covering everything else completely. Gotta seriously think about the helmet...
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/5CE0485B-DA39-4330-8529-E745DAF248C8-8276-00000A608A241E57-2.jpg)
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Nice job !!! Isnt it funny how much power kids really have at convincing the parents ...lol I totally remember mega man nicely done ell
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Sweet! Looking AWESOME! ;D
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Great job! I love all the female characters/figures too. I did the same as you by giving Deena the job of AT-AT Commander. I used the chest plate from the vintage collection AT-AT Commander (TVC#5) You did a great job with creating your own mold. Impressive. I really like your cargo boxes too!
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Wow, I really like hearing how international collectors get their stuff. Thanks for sharing.
I would love to get your take on collecting sometime on CAFN.
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Yeah I would have used the AT-AT commander chest plate but couldn't find that figure at a reasonable price, so I did the only sane thing (well maybe only slightly less insane) and DIY'd it! I was a little concerned that a regular sized plate would be too big for the female body; did it look alright? I'm actually planning to do a resin cast of it and then do some shaping on the inside of it so that it fits her contours better. My other idea is to cast a copy of the helmet and modify it to include a snowtrooper/GM style facemask. I think that would look pretty ill if I can get the sculpt right (or find a Galactic Marine, which the boy has been asking for anyway, and cast his helmet).
Tamer, I don't know if I'd have much to say about international collecting except that here in Japan it kinda sucks if all you're looking for is Hasbro stuff, so no major retail store carries them. Guess I ought to check out the kotobukiya stuff, but heck, I'm much more into toys that get played with than stuff that stays in boxes...
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Well just kind thinking out loud about doing an international segment on our upcoming state of collecting podcast Chad and I have planned with Paul Harrison of JTA this coming spring. We think its bad here in the states, but I think we have no idea what you folks go through.
Anyway, back to the great customs in here.
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Alright, well if there seems to be anything I can add to the discussion or if you guys have any other specific questions I can field, I'd be more than happy to contribute! Thanks!
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A scene I was working on a while back...
Captain Siina Esserlin and the crew of Imperial Walker Carrion Angel have been dispatched to the remote planet Gepthine to apprehend a band of pirates and slavers.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/CD4D4283-F2F1-4AF1-9195-4D4EB1BEBA5B-1385-00000211509F00C4.jpg)
My first attempt at resin casting; a custom pauldron done up in a color scheme reminiscent of the Imperial Japanese Army. (I'm teaching a class of 11th graders about the Pacific War right now, so my brain is fixated on the iconography of that era...)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/6472E2BC-8486-4F11-9A70-934A4E19769A-1385-000002115D92C698.jpg)
Slaves and contraband located! (Including a cache of lightsabers!)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/E16123FF-AB00-4BAB-A7BA-7BBC046BB84A-1385-00000211665DC94C.jpg)
Captain Esserlin holds one of the slavers at bay with a confiscated lightsaber.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/B42F9083-8DF9-41B1-AC43-540A18671A3B-1385-0000021178A6F0C5.jpg)
Even Imperial military officers are capable of compassionate acts.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/5A3E69F3-D27A-4CFB-827F-A8D747CA82BD-1385-000002118F1FF244.jpg)
Seizure of contraband!
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AWESOME
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Looks good to me. On the front page. Still really like that female AT-AT Commander and that custom sculpted Twilek.
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Yeah, since I haven't really had much time to get in the workshop and create new works lately I figured I'd ride these ones out for a while! ;) Gotta keep my name out there!
Since Xmas is coming soon I'll have to start working on a present for the lil guy, figure I'll do that Sith version of Aayla for real now that I have the means to cast some new parts!
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(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/3E73FEEA-DF24-489C-A6DA-150C2A3835F5-1708-000002538474B11E.jpg)
School's out, and while I still have to go in for various administrative duties, it's not every single day, so the boy and I have been finding some time to get our customizing on. A while back I found several POTJ EV-9D9s on amazon dirt cheap, and they had been sitting in a box with other fodder-bound figures, so we opened a couple and got to work. Mine is the green one, Liam's is the tan one. He told me where to drill holes in the head, and we added some of his mom's earrings which I had rescued from the trash. For mine, I harvested some greeblie-bits from an old asthma inhaler (actually a "diskhaler" with lots of complicated moving parts, gears and such inside, not the pump type.) a gundam capsule toy's gun, and a pen finger grip. Painted them by using a rusty metallic base coat, applying salt before the main color, and brushing off the salt after the paint dried for a chipped, rusty look. I think they turned out pretty good! Liam says he likes mine better, but I think the paint job turned out better on the tan one!
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/A5928CB1-2F48-48A4-BA49-EE5943EA1443-1708-00000253672F2B71.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/7E16C75A-2679-4649-9034-6D85242194DB-1708-0000025376F38D16.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/373FB9FC-B039-420F-856D-6FC4AA5AFFBB-1708-000002534D6D6A5D.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/E022F930-7E7E-4EFF-AAB1-17BA446F3806-1708-000002535A36794E.jpg)
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Wow, what a great way to use throw away bits and make something awesome. I like both versions. Bravo. Time to go share the news on our pages.
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Thanks, Tamer! I've been meaning to ask, is there a way to change the name of this thread? Seems like a lot of people on here have threads with names reflecting their most recent projects, but I just can't figure out how to do it. 2 years later and it's still touting the female AT-AT commander.
These figs don't look as cool now since I gave them a coat of matte clear-coat which got a little cloudy and opaque in spots. I'd be upset if these were really clean figures, but they look like they hobbled out of a jawa's scrap heap anyway so no worries! Next up on the workshop desk is a Rodian Sith, from a POTF2 Greedo, so not much articulation, but I think it'll end up pretty cool. Liam's idea, and he did a lot of the painting (of course I stepped in to help with the missed areas and details). .
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/5C5F540B-035E-473B-AE30-BF7CCCB22E39-2396-000002DBCD9280FD.jpg)
I covered the hands and feet so he could go wild with the brushwork without worry.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/116378AC-E314-4644-9F85-865ED0CDF368-2396-000002DD1F6A95ED.jpg)
Gonna make some kind of cloak for the guy, hopefully tonight after work, and get some pics up!
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Sure all you need do is go in and modify your very first post's title with what you want it to be called and it will auto change. Let me know what you want and I can change it for you if its a pain. Love the action shots too btw. [at1]
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Well I'm no closer to my summer vacation goal of making Jabba's Palace, but I've had some time to dabble with new custom figures. First, a Rodian Sith:
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/B392480B-EA20-420C-94FC-78528D938C8F-8870-00000A4F991FAA34.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/50A7E6E0-88AF-480F-A74D-8F694AFDC078-8870-00000A4F7180B4C5.jpg)
POTF Greedo with Labria's cape, self-sculpted lightsaber hilt.
Next, I went a little crazy on eBay and gave sinodolls a lot of my cheddar, got some imperial officers (as expected, some had two left feet or other abnormalities) and decided to make a female officer of Latina or South Asian ethnicity. Lots of trouble painting faces at this scale, especially with eyebrow placement, (need to get some smaller brushes) but not too shabby.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/EC221DB7-697F-48E1-8E68-43E3DDD7FDB5-744-000000D6CD2F695C.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/BE940B43-F0ED-48DB-A1B4-C59F94234201-744-000000D6C264B8F6.jpg)
May or may not use this as the new head for my female AT-AT commander, Siina Esserlin.
Next up will be a final version of the Sith Aayla Secura I posted earlier on this thread, as I also picked up a double of the CW version.
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The astute observer will also notice that this female officer's right forearm is a left forearm put on backwards, typical of the kinds of factory rejects that make it into a lot of these Chinese vendors' stock. Can't really complain too much at the prices they're charging, though!
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Nice, I am so far behind on my custom posting this week, but this seemed great. I like the facial work on the Imperial Officer.
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Very nice! I love the droids!
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OK, here's another female officer I dashed off quickly this evening. This one is a Chiss, the same race as Grand Admiral Thrawn, so maybe she would have been a part of his Empire of the Hand in the Unknown Regions. It's been about 20 years since I read the Thrawn series, but a little Wookiepedia search got me thinking about the possibilitilty of other Chiss serving in the Imperial military...
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/00EAC896-7810-4A30-8F45-C78F2A719CF3-2142-00000338D04EA46F.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/B5442111-F296-44BC-9905-AC4778AB3FBC-2142-0000033966E2C189.jpg)
When I checked my Thrawn figure for reference, I noticed he had no eyebrows, so I left hers unpainted, too, mostly out of laziness. (I mentioned down the thread about my struggles painting eyebrows.) I just checked some reference pics, though, and they all had eyebrows so I might have to bite the bullet.
I dig how the eyes turned out (got a new tiny brush last night along with some tamiya paints, which seem to work pretty well compared to the much thicker artist's acrylics I have been using).
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Lovely, sharp, bright paint work...great work my friend :D
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Now with eyebrows! Somewhat of a randy arch to one side...
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/24B16585-8750-4AC5-BC7F-B5E8230E4EE3-2838-000003FA6EDEB575.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/ECF1FC9C-6491-4237-AAB4-CB9DC73AB776-2838-000003F9880317F0.jpg)
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I think this one turned out gorgeous. Man what a great gal cosplay this would make too. Off to share on our pages.
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Thanks, Tamer, Wookie-Balls, and Luke Sprywalker for the kind words! It's been nice having some time off from work this summer to hang out with the little guy and devote some after-hours to my favorite hobby. The only real downside to the imperial officer lots on sinodolls is that they don't come with any accessories, so right now I'm waiting for the first half of a silicone mold of some officer headgear (and a Deena Shan head so I can make some more variations) to cure so I can give these ladies some lids. And yeah I would love to see Scruffy Rebel or someone get some red contact lenses and do a cosplay version of this...that would rock!
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Happy New Year, Yardbirds! I've had a little time off from work lately, hangin' with my son, and I got an idea for a new figure.
There are tons of roughly 1/18 scale bishojo-type figurines being sold on the cheap at a used collectibles store in the neighborhood, so I picked up a bunch to use as fodder. My previous twi'lek girl was a conversion from one of these.
Decided to give the process another try since it's been a while since I sculpted anything.
First the donor fig, a blue-skinned rocker chick:
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/CCA34A74-AC73-4EA7-AA16-20ABD7B40CA5-3562-0000044901D0DBCA_zpsa0ef24e5.jpg)
I like the detail on these figures but the faces are always so stereotypically anime, so a simple repaint won't convincingly bring them to a galaxy far, far away.
Used a resin cast of a Deena Shan head:
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/DA90A924-DC4F-4D53-9083-0F94B3E64482-3562-00000449123F7D31_zps81dd05ad.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/B5A896F5-9980-43CF-8929-FCD400664191-3562-000004491AF71A4F_zps578411fc.jpg)
Drilled holes and installed paperclip armatures for her lekku. This time I wanted to challenge myself and sculpt one head-tail draped over the front rather than two straight back.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/9C04BE7E-D334-4AEC-9782-019886A825F6-3562-0000044925A4BA92_zpsce2ab173.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/E75E618D-4390-4E7F-8960-086AAC6EB80E-3562-000004492FDC33F0_zps27f338da.jpg)
Put foil over the figure and sculpted the new tails and headdress with fine-grade milliput, which I may not have mixed well enough because it still seems a little soft. (really need to invest in some aves!) I think I might make a mold of this head after I clean it up a bit, because this is a head I could probably use on several figures.
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/261FE8B1-7DC2-4863-9FBF-2C4238E9EDEF-3562-000004495179205F_zps46994c34.jpg)
Waiting for the epoxy to cure before I clean up the rough spots, but you get the idea!
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/041B06C5-6718-460E-979A-7A28B973CC67-3562-000004495F2B7B74_zps1bfba952.jpg)
(http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q622/Laojax/ED1C9AEA-73F0-4286-9DB3-DD1BF933D255-3562-00000449658C0372_zps1fa8d944.jpg)
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Wow Amazing! Can't wait to see the end result!
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Wow, I agree. Great start. Looks very convincing to me. Off to share.
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Ah, that Twi'lek figure is going to be so cool. Great idea. The fodder figure is nicely detailed. I look forward to see it completed. Thanks fir sharing the in-progress pics.
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Looks like the putty didn't cure properly in some spots, so I guess I will have to resin cast this head after all. Did some detail work drilling holes in the headdress and inserting pinheads for a punky studded look. Can't wait to finish this piece, but have to go back to work this week, so looks like this gal is on hold for a while...
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This looks great! Sorry to hear the sculpt material didn't cure properly.