"Never! No outsider will ever rule Mandalore!"Bo-Katan KryzeThe Clone Wars
This build marks a few more firsts for me. Bo's armor and accessories are once again composed almost entirely of 3D resin printed pieces. While most have been scaled down from full-sized armor files and edited extensively to fit, this time I built some of the designs entirely on my own! The 3D printer has really been a blast so far, and I'm excited to continue using resin prints going forward. Someday I'll share my thoughts on and experiences with operating a printer for a couple months in a separate thread.
Bo is the first character from an animated series that I have adapted into action figure form. For her unmasked portrait, I used a likeness of Katee Sackhoff, the actress who, as you probably know, voiced the character during both Clone Wars and Rebels and will be reprising her role in live action when Mando Season 2 hits. I know that realistic portraits of animated characters don't always hit as many prefer to see the characters as stylized as they appear, but in this case it made sense to me to combine features of the actress and her animated character.
Finally, this character is the first custom commission that I have taken. I fielded a few requests after sharing the Mandalorian wave earlier this year, but had not planned to go ahead with any of them as I generally prefer to keep what I make. However, Bo has been on my shortlist for a while now, and when the client requested her, I accepted. This build presented a great opportunity, alongside the Beskar set, to learn how to best to use the new printer and to familiarize myself with some of the editing software. While I do not expect to regularly take commissions, it is exciting to think that this custom will become a part of a passionate fan's collection!
Composition: VC Doctor Aphra torso, arms & thighs, CWCollection Cad Bane shins, JoyToy 1/24 Mech Pilot rocker ankles & boots. Resin printed armor plates, weapons, jetpack, helmet, and alternate hands. Unmasked portrait from Watto's Scrapyard. Leather belt & pouches.
Process: This build was fraught with quality control issues and complete failures, almost comically so. Prints I ordered arrived undersized and/or damaged (twice); figure sets I bought with the intent to use solely for their joints came, naturally, with broken joints; some items shipped within the country took over a month to arrive while others never even shipped; at one point I was mailed a 10" saw blade in place of the product I had purchased. All of these setbacks ultimately ended up working to the benefit of the build (except for the saw blade- that one was just nuts) as they gave me more time to think about what I could improve and forced me to fabricate more of the parts myself.
At the outset, I had a few female figure bodies that I had hoped might work for the build: Planet Green Valley, JoyToy, Hiya Toys, even a couple Marvel Ultimates 3.75". After considering proportions and height, I ended up ordering some Aphras. I still do not love the Hasbro 3.75" ball hip, but the Aphra body was the best proportioned SA I could find for this figure. After sanding down all the joints, I tried out some Cad Bane shins from the fodder box that ended up a good fit and modified them to accept the JoyToy rocker peg.
Bo's armor set came together concurrently with the Beskar. Both sets presented a perfect opportunity to familiarize myself with Meshmixer and Tinkercad, maker software programs that allow you to build and edit 3D files. The sets took a fair amount of trial and error fitting, and I found myself working in fractions of millimeters to get everything just right. The hip plate holsters and Westar 35 pistols were some of the first pieces I edited and printed, and to say that it was exciting to see digital designs materialize out of viscous liquid into solid action figure accessories would be an understatement. With all parts printed, I magnetized the jetpack and drilled a small hole in Bo's helm to articulate the rangefinder.
One thing I've always disliked about Hasbro's 3.75" SA line is the fact that most female figures do not have ball wrist articulation. It makes sense, of course, because the wrists are simply too small to support it in many cases, but this does not prevent me from wanting it. While waiting and waiting on ordered parts, a workaround option presented itself: interchangeable hands. With the printer, I now had the ability to produce, at will, any sort of object I'd like. I found some hand gesture files and joined them with wrist pegs I'd designed to fit. This also allowed me to attach options for a bracer shield and knife for Bo, two accessories I had been hoping to include.
Process Photo Gallery
...And of course...
