Wow. I can't believe the awesomeness that abounds here in this thread. LOVE all the eye candy. A toy lover's dream
Just finished my Mini-Rig Contest entry, but I'm not quite ready to submit my five photos yet.
It was a real labor of love. I easily put in more than 40 hours of work into this one. I made this speeder bike from an Operation Rex toy that I saw in Target on the day that the contest was announced. After that it was all fodder. An everything but the kitchen sink affair. Constructing it was an effort that was much enjoyed. I sculpted most of the controls, spare the Vader control pad. I also sculpted the around grill and the front window. Oh... and the cushioned seating, yeah, that is also sculpted.
After that fodder galore. An A-team special if you will. A beater, clunker, jalopy, hooptie. Look at your fodder and see more than what the object was meant to represent and envision what it could become with a little imagination. The grill and window were made from a G.I. Joe radar dish I found in my fodder. The front axles were made from two yellow missiles and a Momaw Nadon staff that Apoxie Sculpt hydraulic shocks fastened to what once were guns that I can't identify, but I'm seeing on Luke Sprywalker's incredibely cool entry. The nose of the speeder bike was made from a Hulk Battle Axe that is from the Hulk action figure everyone was turning into a Gamorean gladiator recently, as well as , a gold plastic mask that was in a fodder bag that we got on Ebay. The antennas at the rear are made from a Mas Ameda staff and the bottom of an Indiana Jones torch. I even have the long white tube from a krazy glue container glued to the bottom and painted purple to give it the shape I wanted. The Robonino backpack is removable and all his accessories are included and the vibroaxe is fastened with a clear rubber band. The tail fin is also unidentified fodder and is sculpted in place. The leg straps that hang down came from the guns that now hold the axel and nose in place. A pen was cut and painted to attach the missile to the bike and both the missile and pen cap are removable. A Mandolorian shield is at the rear. The engine and fire attached at the bottom are both adjustable as well as removable. After that it was all custom painted and dressed up .
These two custom action figures may live out there days in Star Wars, but they were definitely created by a desire to have some Dreadnoks for myself when Elias asks me to play with him. ELias has no interest in Joes, but the Dreadnoks were my favorite action figures growing up. I think a lot of my customs are influenced by my love for those action figures. I remember when I got my first one , a Buzzer, as the toy was getting paid for at the counter my knees started to shake because I was so excited. The toy created involuntary responses in me!! Now that's toy making.
So the driver was created from a Koffi Arana action figure, a Star Wars drummer that was in Jabba's Palace whose name I can't remember for the life of me at the moment and fodder, fodder, fooder with an Apoxie Sculpt beard. The Gunner was made from a Pirates of the Caribbean Marty action figure with Apoxie Scupt hair and a Vintage Yoda robe. Unfortunately, I dropped the gun I had for him behind the couch.
Anyway, now I'm just waiting for the battery on my camera to finish charging. Oh, and finding an appropriate back ground is also proving difficult. The speeder bike isn't easy to photograph at all. I'm submitting WIP shots of the photo shoot process instead of the construction process because as any customizer knows, that showing your work properly is also sometimes equally as challenging as getting the custom finished. So these are the photos of my WIP submission. These are the photos I have taken so far that I am thinking of using toward my final entry photos. Until I can narrow it down to five pictures that I like enough to submit as my final entry, these are the photos thatI am contemplating. They can all be found in the "Customs for the Kid" thread in the link below.
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=5123.300These are my WIP photos that I took before the camera died. There were about 13 pictures and I didn't want to clog up the contest thread.
If there are any photos that you like and you think I should use in the final entry, I'll # the photos and you can say use #'s...
Can't wait until the contest is over so I can post these pictures on our blog. I really loved this project
Even if it did take me almost the whole time we were given to make it.
