Topic: Echo_Six's customs

[Echo_Six]

Thanks for the comments gentlemen, and thanks for the front page Tamer.   

[StarFall]

Wow! Your work is amazing! Love how clean and precise everything you do is! Impressive. Most impressive!

[Echo_Six]

Finished my take on Vul Tazaene.  Thanks to 'Scummer DarkKnight07, whose recent version gave me a kick in the pants to get mine done.  Also heavily influenced by (i.e., blatantly stolen from) Jabbapalacespy, whose work is largely responsible for setting me down the dark and twisted customs road.



Base:  TVC Weequay Skiff Master
Arms, hands:  TLC comic pack Luke
Head:  TLC comic pack Sharad Hett - The finest sculpt of Michael Ironside I've seen.
Neck post:  TAC Tosche Station Biggs
Feet:  Indiana Jones, I think... Seems I already used Weequay's feet on something else.

After prepping the shoulder joints, I stripped all the paint and washes from the upper torso parts, then sprayed them with VHT "Satin Black."  The belt and holster were re-painted with Testors "Burnt Umber" and "Leather" dry-brushing.  The "satin" VHT was tremendously shiny, so I gave it a blast with Tamiya "semi-gloss" clear to get it under control a bit - A little bit of shine works here.

Utinniii's awesome pics in DarkKnight07's Rebelscum thread show that Vul should have leather bracers, but I went with metal versions.  Largely because I can't sculpt worth a hoot.  The bases were 14-16 gauge (blue) butt connector sleeves.  After I cut and sanded them to the same lengths, I slipped them over a bolt shimmed with masking tape and turned them in a drill against sandpaper to thin their walls a bit.  Last step was to blast them with Tamiya "Gold" lacquer.

Utinniii's pics also show that Vul's sleeves have some sort of fur or feathers at the ends.  I skipped that completely, but find myself wondering how 12" G.I. Joe flocking would look.

Comic Luke is my go-to for bare arms but he has one brown gloved hand.  The original TVC sandstorm Lando is my preferred hand source because the skin tones are a perfect match, but I went a different route this time.  I never realized it before, but the gloved hand is cast in flesh color then painted.  I stripped the hand with Winsor-Newton, then cut/sanded away the cuff and seams, ending up with a perfectly serviceable matching right hand.





I knew the neck would be the hard part. Long-neck Weequay was my base - As the name suggests, the neck is ridiculously long, thin, and projects forward an excessive amount.  I sliced the post off at the shoulders, and carefully sanded a flat area to receive the new post.  The photos below show the first attempt using the post from a swivel-shoulder Imperial officer, but I ultimately used one cut from TAC Biggs.  Biggs' neck covered more of the torso's flat spot and had a more accurate-looking collar.

Should note that I drilled/Dremeled Hett's head before cutting Bigg's post... Didn't want to stress the neck after gluin' and screwin'.  The neck color is a mix of Testors "Skin Tone Tint Base," "Skin Tone Warm Tint," and "Leather" for a bit of ruddiness.





After the torso and neck post were sanded, I drilled a small pilot hole all the way through the post, then superglued it into position.  Next I drilled through the pilot hole into the torso, and used a 3/4" #2 stainless screw (counter-sunk at the top of the post) to attach them.  I usually drill holes into both parts and screw them together with a headless screw, but I needed a bit more precision for this job.  The last step was using small strips of sandpaper to round off the edges of the torso's flat spot.  I lost a tiny bit of sculpted seam detail, but you'd have to look very closely to notice.

Here's a couple of comparisons between a short-neck Weequay and the new neck post.  Big differences are the height, thickness, and the actual collar.





Thanks for looking!

[Starchaser]

Nice job building this. He looks great. I can appreciate the modifications for the neck peg, I've had to do things like that myself. And who say Vul doesn't have second set of bracers he wears on opposite days? 

[Tamer]

Man, just an awesome job on that neck post. Thanks for sharing that story.

Off to share on the front pages.

[FialaFernbrugg]

Your Vul Tazaene looks great.
That is a very clever and stable way to adapt the neck peg.
Very well done.

[Echo_Six]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.  As far as I'm concerned, these are Vul's "goin' to town" bracers.
 Thanks again for the front page, Tamer.

[Echo_Six]

Another mild upgrade using the amazing new Bespin Lando sculpt.



The head and hands are a perfect fit and required no modifications. The neck was repainted with the same paint mix used for Smuggler Lando earlier. I thought the photoreal General Lando re-release was pretty good, but this new head blows it away. The Stormtrooper Han is still my favorite head sculpt, but this is a close second.



I trimmed the cape's bottom edge, carefully removed the stitching holding the elastic strap on, and rinsed the cape under hot water to remove the thread holes.  Then I then made a replacement strap using the thread and crimp beads shown below that I got from a Jo-Ann fabric store.  I don't remember the name of the thread's color, but the number was 414.  Some shade of gray.



I used a piece of florist wire to make a threader. I've included a few shots of how to use it below. My strap is a little over a cm long, not including the crimped beads. YMMV. I crimped the beads hard, in order to mash the thread flat so that it would fill the bead and look centered. Small dabs of E6000 adhesive hold the beads to the cape. The last step was to very carefully melt a few threads near the strap to neaten it a bit.







Thanks for looking!

[Starchaser]

Brilliant job! Super helpful tutorial and boy does that new cape look great.

[Tamer]

Awesome tutorial. Thanks for sharing that. Great custom.

Back to the front pages!

[Echo_Six]

Thanks guys, comments are appreciated.  And thanks again for the front page, Tamer.   

[FialaFernbrugg]

Thank you for the tutorial. The new cape looks phenomenal.

[Echo_Six]

One new goon and a very mild revision.  First is Gela Yeens:



Head - Black Series Biggs Darklighter
Torso, pelvis - Black Series Emperor's Royal Guard
Arms - TVC Dr. Evazan
Hands - TVC Luke lightsaber construction
Legs - TLC Bespin Wing Guard
Vest - Saga Han
Lower tunic - Trimmed from TLC Padawan Obi-Wan
Goggles - Cut and sanded from unknown Naboo pilot's helmet
Belt and harness - TAC Tosche Station Biggs, holster from TVC Endor Rebel, pouches from Marauder Gun Runners
Cap - Marauder Gun Runners
Blaster - Saga Legends crate pack-in



After prepping all the joints and stripping the factory paint, I sprayed the torso and arms with Hi-Tech "Brown" so there wouldn't be a color difference between the base red and beige parts later.  Then I sprayed the torso, arms, and lower tunic with Hi-Tech "Off-White," the legs with HT "Brown," the vest with HT "Cappuccino," and the belt/bandoleer with HT "Tan."  I dry-brushed the boots with Testors "Leather," and gave the vest a wash with a mix of Vallejo "Iraqui Sand" and "Flat Earth."  The neck got a mix of Testors "Skin Tone Tint Base - Light" and "Skin Tone Warm Tint." 

I used an ERG pelvis instead of the Bespin Guard's because it interfaced better with a belt and the upper ERG torso.  The hinged Luke hands let Gela achieve his trademarked thumb-hooked-on-holster stance.  I'll also note the lower tunic's fabric texture isn't as noticeable in person.

The vest's arm holes needed a lot of enlarging to let the arms hang [almost] naturally.  An X-Acto would've probably been quicker, but I used sandpaper wrapped around a paintbrush handle.  Slower, but harder to screw up.  I also sanded the inner vest surfaces to let it fit closer to the torso. 



A few WIPs.  Here are the main pieces after stripping all the factory paint with Winsor-Newton brush cleaner.  Dr. E's shoulder pegs are big and took a bit of effort to seat.



I cut the factory holster off the Biggs belt, then added the elastic strap, the holster, and the MGR pouches.  Had to cut/sand the mounting pegs from the pouches and add notches for elastic clearance.  Used the standard Loctite Ultragel super glue for the belt pouches and holster, and E6000 glue for the bandoleer pouches.  E6000 doesn't set up immediately, so I had a little wiggle room to center the pouches on the elastic strap.   I painted the pouches with a mix of Testors "Leather" and "Gloss Black."  I was going for a darker shade of leather - What I should've done was just dye them brown, because that's basically what I ended up with.  The pouch snaps got toothpick dabs of Testors "Gloss Black."  A bit of super glue anchors the bandoleer under the vest, so that it doesn't slide next to the collar.  I considered sanding a notch on the left shoulder for bandoleer clearance but held off.





Below was plan "A" for the goggles.  I cut them from the helmet, sanded them as thin as reasonably possible, sprayed them with VHT "White," and glued a 1/8" elastic strap.  I then painted them with Testors "Gloss Black," allowing a thinned mix to seep up next to the white lens frames.  When I put them on, they were entirely too bulky so I went with plan "B."  Tore the elastic off, re-sanded, then glued the goggles directly to the MGR watch cap after I sanded the cap's rolled lower edge so that it would resemble the goggles strap.  It's hard to see in the photos but I painted the sanded watch cap edge with Testors "Burnt Umber" to differentiate it a bit from the cap.  Once everything was assembled I gave it a blast of Testors Dull-Cote.  I'm planning to give the lenses a drop of gloss clear when I get around to it. 

 

Also made a minor change to Vul Tazaene, replacing his brass bracelets with leather bracers.  They were cut, drilled, and sanded from a KOTCS Russian soldier's boots.  Stripped the paint, sprayed them with HT "Brown," then dry-brushed them with Testors "Leather" and added "Brass" details.





Thanks for looking!

[Starchaser]

Well...I was fine was Vul's dress bracers, but the new leather bracers looks really good! Gela us a fantastic build. Thanks for the detailed description and W I.P. pics. He turned out really amazing.

[Darth More]

I agree with Starchaser. That's one splendid recipe for Gela Yeens! I mean using a Royal Guard's torso is just brilliant! I'm amazed how well it looks repainted in beige.
My favorite detail is the elastic strap that you used for his bandolier. Thanks for the detailed description!

Vul Tazaene received a nice update. I think the leather looks better on his forearms.
Once I build my own diorama of Jabba's Palace, I'll look more into all his different goons.
There are so many! Great update on your custom collection! I'm glad these two joined in. Thanks for sharing!