Topic: Rebels, pirates, imperials and citizens.

[Blizzard Force]

Great work on that group of Imperials! I was planning to repaint the helmets as well (would have gone for another red plus a coat of gloss varnish), but I'll now try to get my hands on the Tamiya colour you used - it looks perfect! 

Wonderful work on the Emperor as well, I only have one recommendation - try to get your fingers on a ROTS Sidious hood - I think it's an even better match.

[JDeck]

Man, sign me up for these. Nice! Off to share.

Thanks Tamer! The red clear coat made a huge difference with the helmet. If i had the foresight i would have done a comparison.

Great update ! i did almost the same thing for the emperor Except i used the face from the first saga collection and i used the hair from another Emperor.

Thanks MR.JEDI! Im thinking of using the saga papls head as an alternate, non angryface. Its strange he's missing the back of his head.

Yes i found it weird that he was missing the back of his head and the face was a great sculpt , imo one of the best sculpts  so thats when i decided to put hair on him  .

  The trick is making it a ball socket, that'll take some engineering. I kinda like the angry face palp coupled with the sid hood. All you see is his mouth and nose. Looks like he's  about to shock the mess outa someone.

[JDeck]

Great work on that group of Imperials! I was planning to repaint the helmets as well (would have gone for another red plus a coat of gloss varnish), but I'll now try to get my hands on the Tamiya colour you used - it looks perfect! 

Wonderful work on the Emperor as well, I only have one recommendation - try to get your fingers on a ROTS Sidious hood - I think it's an even better match.

  Thanks, Blizz. Yeah the Tamiya clear is great because the helmet is already a red like color, so you dont need to repaint exactly. The red tint helps get the desired color and gloss. The more coats you use the more gloss, and deeper the red. However, you dont want too many coats, 2 meybe 3. Ill keep in mind the rots sid hood, that might be a cheaper option.

[Starchaser]

Hey JDeck, nice job on the paint improvements. The helmets look great. Your combo version of Sidious is better than any single Hasbro version so kudos!

[Foxtrot Delta]

Hey JDeck, nice job on the paint improvements. The helmets look great. Your combo version of Sidious is better than any single Hasbro version so kudos!

Yes Absolutely much better look on the helmets for the Royal Guards, and the parts swap for Sidious, better versions on both

[JDeck]

Hey JDeck, nice job on the paint improvements. The helmets look great. Your combo version of Sidious is better than any single Hasbro version so kudos!

Yes Absolutely much better look on the helmets for the Royal Guards, and the parts swap for Sidious, better versions on both

    Thanks Starchaser and Foxtrot! I was a tad nervous painting such a hard to find figure as the Royal Guard, but yeah it worked nicely. I still dont know why Hasbro couldn't use the sidious figure with different head and hands with added cane.

[JDeck]

    Now, I have a whole squad of custom stormtroopers, that's 12 troops plus a commander. The only problem with the new Stormtrooper helmets is they are too nice. They make the body look dull or yellow. The SL11 blended better with the SA figure. I adjusted the helmets to try and make some look tall or short.  I like em they have that imperfect ANH look.
  I made a custom helmet for the commander, I tried to mask it, but it was so smooth it wouldn't stick, so painting wasn't any easier. However it made cleaning up excess paint easy. I think the new head on the commander looks much much better.

[Starchaser]

I agree JDeck, the stormie commander looks really good. I do like the height difference, it adds realism to the bunch. Nice job on these!

[Tamer]

Interesting thoughts on the buckets too. Off to share the latest.

[mr.Jedi1977]

Great job on the stormtroopers , i too agree the way you pulled off the differences in height makes it much more realistic ! Well done .

[JDeck]

I agree JDeck, the stormie commander looks really good. I do like the height difference, it adds realism to the bunch. Nice job on these!

   Thanks Starchaser! Yeah I always wanted to army build since I was a kid, but I didn't want them all to be exact carbon copies. So having subtle diffrences gives them personality yet still be uniformed like stormtroopers should be. They aren't clones, at least in my SW universe.

Interesting thoughts on the buckets too. Off to share the latest.

Thanks Tamer! Yeah its like that toothpaste comercial were that woman holds the tissue to her teeth to see how white they are. The pearly white r1 helmet makes the bodies look bad. But I'll take it until Hasbro makes something better.

Great job on the stormtroopers , i too agree the way you pulled off the differences in height makes it much more realistic ! Well done .

   Thanks Mr.Jedi! Another variable is the different series stormtrooper figures I used TAC, TLC and TBS, they all have different  stances and looks that gives them more subtle variations.

[hemble]

Great squad JD and your right the new 3-3/4" helmet looks heaps better and they would look great for your squad.

Ron

[JDeck]

Great squad JD and your right the new 3-3/4" helmet looks heaps better and they would look great for your squad.

Ron

   Thanks Ron! Yup i have all my stormtroopers modified exept 4, with either the sl11 or R1 heads. Much better than the skinny soft helmets prior.

[JDeck]

I started experimenting on how to convert a TIE pilot into a ground crewman. For this I used a spare saga TIE pilot. Its only a couple of extra poa, but I  don't want to waste a good vc Pilot on a fly by night experiment.  I just sliced up the r1 ground crewman. First his neck then his front and back armor plates. Then I cut down the Tie pilots chest and back plates to accept the new, and blended the seams with miliput. Looks like hell now, but you get the idea. I may give him some knee pads and other details once this is all cured. We'll see how it works out  once its all painted up. Meybe my next one will be better articulated.

[JDeck]

   The putty cured and I painted the armor black then I gave the armor and helmet a coat of Tamiya Smoke clear. Its a black tinted clearcoat, much like the Tamiya clear red. It works great for black armor like Vader, Tie Pilots, ect. but I use it mostly for tinting glass, or eye pieces for stormtroopers.  The uniform isn't exactly like the R1 ground crewman, so mine is more like a naval deck crewman. This guy is in charge of storing TIE fighters on their hangars. I like mine better, not only for the added articulation,  but the figure is larger, and has a better stance. It's mostly finished just a few details to add. I may of may not make a super duper articulated version, its not really necessary.