Topic: flaccideagle's Custom Vehicles ~~ UPDATED 9/26/2011

[artilarytrooper321]

cool

[flaccideagle]

  As a friendly tip, the plastic used for toys is a pretty dense and durable surface..meaning it's a little resistant to some paints. An easy step in the process is to always spray your vehicle down with a bonding primer and any brand will do. They're typically pretty cheap and a good base coat to follow should prevent any chipping or peeling of the paint. And it gets rid of the general plastic look of the vehicle too.
  And thanks for the tip on the type of paint you use. Sometimes I tend to get a little tunnel vision when it comes to my paints..and start scratching my head wondering what I've done wrong..but it may just be a simple switch in brands.

Thanks for the advice, I tried a bonding primer before and it took away a lot of the detail in what I was doing... it also wouldn't stick to some of the plastics... maybe I need to try another brand!  I will begin looking into this as I haven't found a base spray I'm 100% happy with...

Tamer thanks for the front page, that is so cool and unexpected!

[flaccideagle]

Ok so I have made more headway on a few of these projects.

So the droid is almost done... He still needs some dirt and grime though.  I love it when customs are all grimy and dirty.



I also started in on the seats for the new convertible "Hot Rod"  I've been working on. 

I fought against it very hard, but ultimately decided to go with yellow for the insides.



I hit a stumbling block with this however, when I was painting the engines (which are from an unusual space station/satellite model kit) the paint I used wouldn't stick.  It seems that this thing is coated in a heavy, gloss coat that won't allow paint to bond to it, or it does something chemically... any paint I applied to the painted engine would crack as soon as it dried, and fall and flake off.  Very unusual with this brand of paint I'm using...  I wish I noticed that it had a semi-gloss coat on it before... ah well, it was pretty easy to fix.   I left them soaking in mineral spirits overnight, and almost all of my gloopy paint (and about 3/4 of the gloss layer) came off easily with a toothbrush, gloves, and a little elbow grease.  There's still some in the cracks & crevasses, but it should be fine.  A quick cleaning and the parts are ready to go for painting again tonight (with more success hopefully!)

I also began working on some panels to cover up the holes left by  the removed action feature:



I may scrap this if they look sloppy and go for that "Rat Fink" type of exposed engine look.  This is my 3rd attempt at them, for some reason that curve is really tough to duplicate.

...and an engine for the back:



***

I wasn't sure where to put these, but here are some custom figures I've made over the last few months.  They're pretty much headswaps or painted a little.  Hope you like them!

WEEQUAY STAR CAPTAIN



SHIRA BRIE - ALLIANCE HEROINE



SUPER-ARTICULATED BIGGS DARKLIGHTER REBEL PILOT





(from a quick jackofalltradez recipe)

TIE FIGHTER PILOT ACE



(from leftover parts, probably going to sell this guy someday soon)


Thanks for looking as always!

[hannsfartknocker]

sweet customs

[CaptainLux]

Amazing looking customs!

[darthdaddy]

Really love your stuff!! Would be great to add your vehicles to the "Customs I Wish I Owned" section of our blog.  Give us a thumbs up if we can have a green light on the project and we'll send you the details.

[Tamer]

How did I miss this update? Well no longer, you are on the front page. I am really liking the superarty Biggs and the Tie Pilot.

[SITHHAPPENS]

awesome job cool colors !!!!!!!!

[artilarytrooper321]

good pilots

[Clonehead]

cool figures. I like the red visor you added to the tie pilot!

[Mungo Baobab]

Cool stuff. I like the red visor tie pilot. Nice work.

[flaccideagle]

Thanks so much guys...  Mungo I love your jedi, not sure if i've said it before... All of them are very original and very interesting!  Great work and thanks for your comments... Tamer again, wow, thanks for the front page!

Well many days later and I have finally completed my droid.  I've had these pictures for a little bit, I've been pretty busy with the holidays and haven't had a chance to post.  As with all my work, it's ISY exclusive.  I don't post my customs anywhere else right now because you guys are so great

IMPERIAL SCANNING DROID - DEC 2010

An old, malfunctioning, full-body scanner droid, designed to prevent weapons and illegal cargo from entering the port.  Long ago shot and damaged by vagrants, all the locals know that you can sneak whatever you want past "Ol' Red" - his sensors haven't worked in almost fifteen cycles.




As many of you know, I love all things dirty filthy in the Star Wars world. 



This droid has seen better days, and has been weathered to show many difficult (if half hearted) pursuits.




Since stormtroopers can't shoot, I wanted this droid to be like an airport scanner that doesn't really work.







I've been busy lately working on the hotrod speeder I showed earlier, as well as a few non-star wars customs (like a 1/144 scale factory diorama for my toy robot collection, and some more work on 1:6 scale figures from Mad Max and Blade Runner...) - I have more on deck too, another speeder, as well as possibly some speeer bikes and other one man vehicles.

What do you guys do when you run out of room in your display? I'm running out of space fast !

Also, any advice you guys have about making clear rod "flying" stands, is much appreciated as it's holding up a long-in-the-process piece for me...

Thanks for looking!

[DocOutlands]

HA!!  I *love* this guy!!  Nice beat-up/scuffed/dirty/used-and-abused look to him.

Also love the factory-background pieces you used.  I need to buy/make me some, too.  Those pieces have the right balance of detail without looking busy, given that they were designed for 1/144th mech's.

[Tamer]

What a great idea for a droid. Expect to see the fp soon. Wow, lots of great updates here lately.

[CaptainLux]

This is cool!