Finished a couple of Jabba's goons.
First up is the human barge gunner.
Torso/legs/hands - LC Imperial Scanning Crew
Arms - TVC Bespin Luke
Head - TVC AT-AT Commander
Belt - TBS Brock Starsher
Bandoleer - VC161 Big Daddy Jawa
Hat - Marauder Gun Runners
All the body parts are stock other than joint prep. The base color is Hi-Tech "Greige" vinyl dye, with an olive drab/brown acrylic wash. After cutting the bandoleer and supergluing the ends in back, I painted the strap with Testors "OD," the pouches with Tamiya "NATO green," and then gave it a brown wash. The pouches on the left of the belt were cut/sanded away so the bandoleer could lie flat against his waist. In addition, I sanded the backsides of the remaining pouches slightly for a better fit with the torso. I sprayed the belt with Hi-Tech "light brown," then used Testors "OD" and "brass" for the details. It also got a brown wash, with a Testors "leather" dry-brushing on the pouches. The hat is a heavily sanded Russian hat from Marauder Gun Runners. A coat of Hi-Tech "tan" was followed by Testors "burnt sienna" and a Tamiya "buff"/Testors "ghost grey" dry-brush mix on the details. The chinstrap is the holster strap from a Bom Vimdin gunbelt. It's a separate piece, and is actually stretched over the top of the gunner's head.
I haven't unpacked my sail barge yet.
Here's a comparison between the stock hat and the finished version. Tedious but not complicated.
"Refresher's full!"
Next is Yotts Orren.
Disclaimer - Rest easy. I didn't hack pristine figures to assemble this schlock. All the fodder was either incomplete or had already been cannibalized for other customs.
Torso - TVC Nikto with transplanted neck post (can't remember the source,
might've been a Tusken Raider)
Head - TLC Giran
Arms, hands, codpiece - TLC Wooof
Pelvis, legs, feet - TVC sandstorm Lando
Bandoleer - Spliced from TVC Endor commando x2 & Movie Heroes Tusken Raider
Cap, belly pack, spats (?) - Leather (bag of scraps found at Joann's craft store)
Knee armor (?) - Loop from TAC Biggs x-wing flight harness & plate from TLC scout trooper shoulder
Calf pouch - TVC Bom Vimdin gunbelt
The base color is Hi-Tech "dark gray," with a Testors "OD"/"ghost grey" mix as a wash. The shoulder armor and codpiece/holster were painted with Testors "OD" and "leather." The bandoleer was sprayed with Hi-Tech "light brown," then Testors "aluminum" details were added, followed by a brown wash. I painted the hands to match the head.
I know I should bedazzle the cap and belly pouch, but I'm hesitant to screw around with silver paint and toothpicks. Maybe someday...
I cut the armor plate from a scout trooper that already had a damaged shoulder, then sanded it down and superglued it to the harness loop. I sprayed the entire piece with Hi-Tech "brown," then dry-brushed the strap with Testors "aluminum" and painted the plate with Testors "leather" and "aluminum." Last was a brown wash. By pure chance, the strap fits perfectly within sculpted folds on Lando's thigh.
I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a solution to the spats (or whatever they're called) problem. I knew it would have to be some type of soft goods, because my sculpting sucks. Eventually I got fed up and superglued pieces of thin leather to his legs. The calf pouch was cut from a Bom Vimdin gunbelt strap. The ends meet behind the pouch and were superglued together. It's a slip fit over the spat.
The front pouch was cut from the same leather. I superglued it into place as I rolled it, then glued it directly to the abdomen. I added two small straps connecting the back of the pouch to the bandoleer so that it doesn't look suspended in space. It was painted with Testors "field drab."
The cap is also leather. I worked through several trials in different materials, ranging from Jedi robe scraps to vinyl, until I had the general size/shape figured out, then repeated the process in leather. The disadvantage is that I had to pre-poke all the thread holes with a pin, because there's no way I could've pushed a needle through. The tremendous advantage is that the leather will form to shape when wet with hot water and left to dry. I pinched the cap at the sides and back, and by the end of an MST3K episode it had formed nicely. To be on the safe side, I used a dab of Shoe Goo on the back of the head to hold the cap in place. I considered a strap so that it would be removable but figured it would probably deform the shape. It was painted with Testors "OD" and received a very light Testors "burnt sienna" drybrush.
Here are a few WIP shots. This is the last vinyl cap template, to give an idea of the pre-forming shape.
Here are the pieces stripped of factory paint. I stripped everything with Winsor-Newton brush cleaner to make sure the dyes can adhere and to avoid clogging up small details. I sanded off the shoulder armor details.
This is a detailed shot of the bandoleer. I had no idea the Tusken's bandoleer was a separately sculpted piece, until I trimmed some pouches from his torso for a previous Geezum custom. Basically, I cut the fronts from two Rebels, cut two overlapping grooves in the front, and then spliced them to the back half of the Tusken straps. I made the joins behind Rebel pouches to increase surface area for the glue and to conceal the seams. I prefer to use sandpaper for this kind of thing, but the Rebel straps were too rubbery. Had to use a new X-acto blade and go
slowly.
Lastly, I re-visited some Han customs based on the carbonite torso. I wanted to use the FACE! Bespin Han head, but the stock neckpost was too short. I spliced in posts from a pair of BS Ponda Babas (loaded up on them when they were clogging the Burlington Coat Factories around here). I know the Bespin Han legs aren't that good, but they're better (IMO) than the strangely angled carbonite Han legs.
I sanded the neck posts into cylinders, trimmed them, and then grafted on the Ponda posts with screws. I haven't sanded or painted anything here to give an idea of measurements.
Even unpainted, the modified post isn't visible.
