Topic: Doc Outland's Custom Figures (updated 3/26/14)

[Tamer]

Cool idea. I bet Chad has one too if you don't Clint.

[DocOutlands]

Had to open that high-dollar Mos Espa 3-pack to fish him out!  Whoo... this is gonna be tougher than I thought...   

If I do it, we're gonna have basically a repaint with *maybe* a little clothing alteration on our hands.  There's just not a lot of room to work on this guy.  I'm tempted to get a Boonta Eve fig and see how that one looks, maybe combine parts from the two.  Crud... there's also an exclusive fig in the podracer.  I like the looks of his lower limbs.  Great - three Dugs just to make ONE semi-unique looking Slicer!  Oh, the pain...  I don't want to buy a friggin podracer, so if somebody has the Sebulba from the pod...or just the arms...lemme know.

Oh, and I had an idea for Doc, the Outlands Station administrator.  He won't look anything like me at all.   

[Clonehead]

I would have to look to find mine, doc. I'm pretty sure that he isn't the racer fig.

[DocOutlands]

No worries, Brendan just happens to like the racing jacket that fig is wearing.  The hand/arm positioning on the one I have is pretty good for what I'm envisioning.

You know that lil buggar of a son of mine is already developing a storyboard for a photocomic based around this trio!  He wants to tie them into the Fixer stories too...

[DocOutlands]

Well, that's the proto-name, anyway.  Did some test-fits for photos this morning.  Here's what I got.

First up is an overall of the pair.  The base is, obviously, a pair of Cmdr Faie figs.  The spotter - on the right - is bone stock.  The sniper has his headwrap painted with Krylon Fusion Ultra-Flat OD Green from their "Camouflage" line.  The rifle is from a "Hulk-Busters" figure set and is the real-world model for the sniper-rifle from Bungie's Halo games for the Xbox.  It is the South African NTW-20 anti-material rifle, real-world info available here: http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn55-e.htm

The second shot is a close-up of the sniper's painted headwrap.  So far, I like how the Fusion color applies to an action figure.  I'm going to allow the paint to dry thoroughly - like over the weekend - and come back to start adding a camo pattern over the green.  The front-runner for pattern-choice is a Brit DPM or Rhodesian Brushstroke pattern, prolly closer to the larger more open Rhodie pattern.

[DocOutlands]

I love camo smocks.  The Rebel ponchos on Endor were great, imo.  So, naturally, I want my Snipers to have something like that for themselves.  The white softgoods on the Faie figs will have to go, so I'll be doing belt-replacement surgery as well.  But I need an idea of what to replace them with.  So, I snagged a Labria off the shelf and borrowed his cloak.  The initial fit-test went fairly well.  The cloak actually flares out in the right places for the Faie arms!  I think maybe I'm on the right track.  The cloak looks a bit...odd across the shoulders, tho.  Maybe it makes Faie look more like a well-padded football player? (fig 1)  However, the cloak has surface detail around the shoulders that look a bit like a 'Trooper's pauldron.  I think I can work with that.

However, once I put the helmet on (fig 2), we can see fit issues appearing.  The cape is a bit too thick at the neck for the Faie helmet to sit down properly.  Not by much, mind you - but by just enough.  I think a bit of judicious weight-loss surgery is in order and will let the helmet sit all the way down.  The spotter is intended to have a macrovisor on his helmet, so his headwrap will go away.  Instead, I'll fab up a pile around the shoulders of the cloak in front and back to replicate a headwrap that has been pushed back off the helmet.

[DocOutlands]

last shot...

I really want the sniper to have his full camo kit on, so I tried out the unpainted headwrap (for good contrast) as the last stage of a cloak fit-test.  I knew it would fail (fig 1), but it failed BAD!  However, I think surgery will allow the headwrap to fit down over the cape and blend in. 

If I turn them into a Sharpshooter Squad instead of a Sniper Team, the rest of the guys will have more abbreviated ("hinted-at") camo rigs, like using the piece from a Fett-clone or from a Boushh fig.  Make it look more like they have them tossed back for ventilation or somesuch.  I think the two in the more complete rigs will look AWESOME, but they will be heartbreakers to get to that point.  Besides, a well-done "hint" is as technically difficult as a properly-executed full kit, imo.  Just different techniques.

[Clonehead]

Now that's what I'm talking about, Doc!!

 I love the mix of cloaks and wraps that you have used. That OD spray-on color looks good on the headwrap, as well. I like that hulk buster gun and overall, I know that you are on the right track to some killer customs. Dude, please, keep them pics coming! I am loving this!

Are you going to have to alter that head-wrap just at the shoulders or all the way around?

[DocOutlands]

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to have to tweak.  I also have at least one other cloak I want to locate and test-fit before I commit blade to project, just to see if I can get a better fit or drape.  I'll keep WIP pics coming as I make progress.

I feel like a bloody engineer now... 

[Clonehead]

That's all a part of it, buddy! The more you do it, the more problem solving solutions you file away to utilize for your next project.
  More pics, please.

[DocOutlands]

Heh, once I've done something I'll post it.  Had to grill two meals today *and* go to the grocery store!  Did pick up another color of Fusion - Burgandy - and an Irina Spalko for 99 CENTS!!!  Ok, she was a dollar.     I *am* chasing some 99-cent fig auctions on ebay tonight, tho.  Might have found something that will work better for the camo cloak - an Anakin/Sith tabard.  The pic on it looks good, anyway.  I dug my Garindin/Long-Snoot fig out (POTF2) and looked - but his cloak has the head mounted thru it - nonremovable.  We'll see what works.

[Clonehead]

I think that the Darth Revan hood looks pretty cool. Might be too small for a helmeted head, though. Now you know that you can scout those plastic cloaks and capes for a good cape mold. I also use a POTF Vader waistcape as a Kama mold which I have made for many customs.

I must be deep into those clones not to know who Irina Spalko is.

"sighs and shakes his head"

[DocOutlands]

ee-hee... She's the female villain from the latest Indy movie.

So you mold against the *inside* of suitable rigid cloaks?  I bet wet tissue paper as a cloak will give me the thinness I need for a better fit & lay.

[Clonehead]

Yep, I use the inside and the white glue soaked tissue doesnt stick too badly when it has dried and it's time to peel it off. Sometimes, I will wet the inside of the cape with water just to make it easier to get the tissue to stay in place.  Then, I will drop a little glob of white glue in a corner, wet a brush in water and work it baby! Use the water and white glue to brandish the tissue to conform the the cape shape and dont worry about having too much tissue overlaying the edges. I just work it over the edge and onto the other side. That way is stays in place better. I use two layers of tissue and yes it is thin enough to conform with ease to the figure. Especially if you wet it, a bit with water or paint when you are fitting it to the figure. sometimes when I am painting on one, I will shape it a little to curl in or fan out depending on what I want.

that coller wire that I mount goes on after the first molding of the cape is dry and you have trimmed it around the edges and around the inside of the neck area. Just bend a U shape into a length of fine guage wire so that it will fit on the underside of the cape , in from the shoulders, around the neck hole, with the dead ends shooting out the front from under either side of the neck hole. two or three little drops of super glue hold it into place. Just rip some small strips of tissue and water and white glue it to cover up the wire on the inside of the cape.It wont take much tissue or white water.

for tissue, I stay away from the toilet paper with the floral pattern embossed into the surface. A napkin from a fast food place works pretty well and has an all over bumpy pattern which can be visually pleasing when you go to drybrush. It's that or something not embossed if you want it smoother.

Now, go find that cape mold!!

[DocOutlands]

I'm onto something!  Ok, rereading your cape tutorial looking at it with my specific application in mind.  Wire in the neck for a collar attachment - ok.  But is there a better way?  What about the shoulder pads from a GalMarine??  WOW!!  Grabbed up Brendan's Faie and his GalMarine's shoulder armor.  Faie's head and helmet fit over it just FINE!  Looks sharp, too.  Now, the headwrap will NOT fit over it!  DAMN!!  It sits jacked up off the GalMarine piece just about the same as off the Labria cape in the original fitting.  But I betcha I can trim that headwrap down carefully to fit...  I dunno - that may be a level of complication to the figure I don't want to introduce.  Primarily, it may interfere with the sniper plate - which is a MAJOR no-no!!  Have to find me Airborne Trooper and test-fit things, now.